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2005 News and Alert Archives
 
 
   
12-15-05
CALL TO ACTION - House and Senate Meeting on Budget Bill Today-- Medicare Physician Payment Fix Not Yet Resolved. All ASA Members Urged to Contact Congress in Support of Fix.
   
12-13-05
FDA PATIENT SAFETY NEWS - The Institute for Safe Medication Practices recently issued a Safety Alert about reports of nonventilated patients inadvertently being given neuromuscular blocking agents, in some cases, due to look-alike packaging and labeling. 12-13-05
12-01-05
FDA MedWatch - NovoSeven Coagulation Factor VIIa (Recombinant) : increased risk of thromboembolic adverse events 12-01-05
   
11-21-05
FDA ALERT: Flomax (tamsulosin HCl) associated with Intraoperative Floppy Iris Syndrome (IFIS) during phacoemulsification cataract surgery 11-22-05
   
11-21-05
FDA ALERT: Long-acting Beta2-adrenergic Agonists Public Health Advisory
   
11-18-05
CALL TO ACTION - House and Senate To Meet on Budget Bill-- Medicare Physician Payment Fix on Agenda. All ASA Members Urged to Contact Congress in Support of Fix.
   
11-17-05
ASA Testifies Before FDA on Safe Use of Propofol.
   
11-16-05
Risk of Electromagnetic Interference - Patient monitors and alarms may soon be affected by mobile radio transmitters that will share MHz frequency with medical telemetry systems.  FDA says the anticipated interference will not be limited to urban areas. MedWatch Alert 11-16-05
   
11-15-05
Medicare’s Physician Voluntary Reporting Program (PVRP) CMS launches program for the voluntary reporting of certain quality indicators.
   
11-09-05
2006 Medicare Anesthesia Conversion Factors for Anesthesia Services
   
11-03-05
CMS Fails to Address Need for Fix of Anesthesiology Teaching Payment Penalty in 2006 Rule.
   
11-01-05
Urgent Call to Action: Medicare Physician Payment Reform – Congress MUST Act Before End of Year.
   
10-25-05
ASA House of Delegates approves Practice Advisory for Intraoperative Awareness and Brain Function Monitoring. This report will be published in a future issue of the journal Anesthesiology.
   
10-19-05
ASA Files Comments on FDA Propofol Petition. ASA's letter urges FDA to retain the warning label limiting the use of propofol to clinicians trained in the administration of general anesthesia and not involved in the conduct of the surgical/diagnostic procedure.
   
10-18-05
North Carolina Supreme Court Denies Nursing Board's Challenge to Physician Supervision Requirement.
   
10-17-05
ASA President Eugene Sinclair, M.D. urges Congress to fix flawed Medicare payment update formula and to proceed cautiously on pay-for-performance system.
   
10-11-05
Harvard Weekly article about Tulane University in the wake of Hurricane Katrina mentions resident member.
   
9-28-05
ASA President Eugene Sinclair, MD and ASA recognized for contributions to patient safety and health care quality by Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner in proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives.
   
9-28-05
President's Update
   
9-19-05
Women Are Receiving More Pain Relief During Labor.
   
9-16-05
FDA ALERT: FDA is notifying healthcare professionals and hospitals about a recall of CAPS injectable products due to concerns regarding the sterility of these injectable products. 09-16-05
   
9-08-05
President's Update
   
9-06-05
FDA NOTICE: Determination That Penthrane (Methoxyflurane) Inhalation Liquid, 99.9 Percent, Was Withdrawn From Sale for Reasons of Safety or Effectiveness.
   
9-02-05
Media coverage of conventions displaced by Hurricane Katrina includes mention of ASA Annual Meeting.
   
8-31-05
ASA Prepares Response to FDA Propofol Petition.
   
8-17-05
2005 Anesthesia Fee Survey Results are in August ASA NEWSLETTER.
   
8-03-05
FDA ALERT: Metallic Tracheal Stents in Patients with Benign Air way Disorders associated with serious complications 08-03-05
   
8-01-05
ASA Applauds Inclusion of Society Priorities in House and Senate Passed version of H.R. 1132/S.518, National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) Act of 2005.
   
7-29-05
ASA President Eugene Sinclair attends White House bill signing ceremony to cap week of Congressional action on health care legislation.
   
7-21-05
FDA ALERT: Baxter volumetric infusion pumps: Recall due to unexpected shutdown causing failure to deliver medication/fluids. 07-21-05
   
7-19-05
FDA ALERT: Safety Warnings Regarding Use of Fentanyl Transder mal (Skin) Patches. 07-19-05
   
7-19-05
FDA ALERT: Palladone (hydromorphone hydrochloride) sales and marketing suspended because of the potential for severe side effects if Palladone is taken with alcohol.
   
7-11-05
FDA ALERT: Duragesic (fentanyl transdermal system): safety in formation extensively revised.
   
7-05-05
New Jersey Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Office-Based Surgery Regulations.
   
7-01-05
FDA ALERT: Guidant Implantable Defibrillators and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillators: UPDATED recall information.
   
6-24-05
FDA STATEMENT: FDA statement on Guidant Corporation’s worldwide physician communications.
   
6-23-05
Wall Street Journal chronicles contributions of anesthesiology to patient safety.
   
6-13-05
AAAHC endorses ASA’s safe use of propofol statement.

AAAASF set forth similar standard in 2004.

   
6-03-05
Download ASA's Letter to CMS regarding the proposed rule on locked carts and on the postanesthesia followup note.
   
6-02-05
SGR Fix Bills Introduced.
   
5-16-05
Letters in response to "Grey's Anatomy" and the USA Today/ABC series on pain. (Members Only)
   
5-13-05
FDA ALERT: MRL AED20 Automatic External Defibrillator recall due to failure to deliver shock.
   
5-12-05
Procedural Guidelines for the Leadership of ASA and AANA.
   
4-21-05
FDA ALERT UPDATE Recall of Magnesium sulfate (piggyback) I.V. solution expanded to all lots and strengths.
   
4-19-05
Do You Need to Be Credentialed by Health Plans? See what the health plans’ accreditation agency requires.
   
4-19-05
New York Daily News article lauds anesthesiologists for improvements in patient safety.
   
4-11-05
FDA ALERT: FDA asks Pfizer to voluntarily remove Bextra (valdecoxib) from the market, and all manufacturers of both prescription and non-prescription NSAIDs are asked to revise the labeling to include more specific information of CV & GI risks.
   
4-04-05
NEW WORDING ON AUDIBLE ALARMS--ASA President Eugene P. Sinclair, M.D., calls ASA  members’ attention to proposed new wording about audible alarms for the Standards for Basic Anesthetic Monitoring.
   
3-30-05
Wednesday, March 30th is Doctors Day, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists is celebrating advances in patient safety.
   
3-28-05
LOCKED ANESTHESIA CARTS – ASA wins over CMS to our view. 
   
3-18-05
FDA ALERT: New Warning added to Xigris, indicated for treatment of severe sepsis, after patients with single-organ dysfunction and recent surgery had higher mortality in Xigris group compared to placebo, based on analyses of two clinical trial databases.
   
3-16-05
Anesthesia Financial Benchmarking Data Available. Order the MGMA 2004 Cost Survey for Anesthesia Practices at special ASA member discount.
   
3-10-05
ASA Administrative Council and AANA Board of Directors Convene in Joint Session.
   
2-18-05
FDA ALERT: Phenergan (promethazine) contraindicated in children less than 2 years old due to fatal respiratory depression.
   
2-17-05
New NEJM study: Researchers find that epidural analgesia does not lead to higher rates of C-sections in first time mothers.
   
2-15-05
FDA ALERT: Medtronic, Inc. and FDA is advising physicians about a potential battery-shorting mechanism that may occur in some implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) models.
   
2-08-05
ASA/AANA January, 2005 Meeting Update - Progress is made as candid discussions continue
   
2-02-05
SEE Volume 21A Now Available!
   
2-01-05
FDA ALERT: The FDA is recalling IV Flush brand of preloaded syringes containing heparin or sodium chloride.
   
1-31-05
ASA President Eugene P. Sinclair responds to U.S. News & World Report article titled “Medicine’s Turf Wars” in the January 31 issue
1-31-05
Liability Reform in the New Congress
   
1-14-05
Project Hope - Volunteers Needed for Tsunami Emergency in South Asia!

 

President's Updates 2005
 
September 28, 2005
September 8, 2005
July 12, 2005
 
President's Updates 2003
   
February 24, 2003
June 27, 2003

January 10, 2003

 

January 3, 2003

   

President's Updates 2002

President's Updates 2001
   

November 27, 2002

June 21, 2002

April 3, 2002