January , 2005

ASA/AANA January, 2005 Meeting Update

Progress is made as candid discussions continue.

The AANA and ASA leadership met at the Chicago O’Hare Hilton Hotel, January 9-10 2005. Representing the AANA were Frank T. Maziarski, CRNA, MS; Brian D. Thorson, CRNA, MA and Jeff Beutler, CRNA, MS. Representing the ASA were Eugene P. Sinclair, MD; Orin F. Guidry, MD; Ron Bruns. Representing the ThoughtBridge Co. were Irma Tyler-Wood and Katharine Tyler-Scott.

The Leadership Council (LC) reviewed the work of previous meetings and the proposed agenda for the current meeting.

Both organizations discussed their continued commitment to the process and developing working relationships between the ASA and AANA. There was frank discussion on the need for monthly meetings in light of the progress made thus far and the number of issues on the working agenda. It was felt that joint work groups should be formed to work on the issues and problems identified. The work groups should present a preliminary draft to the LC which could be developed into a single text document and then submitted to each organization’s governance for approval. This method would be more efficient and focused on producing an acceptable work product which could be presented to the AANA and ASA leadership.

The group discussed whether there was a need for two ThoughtBridge representatives at future meetings. It was apparent that the comfort level between the AANA and the ASA was at a point that only one representative would be needed at this time.

Both groups expressed the support of their leadership for continued work on:

• Anesthesia Care Statement
• Split Billing Payment Rules
• Teaching Rules
• Medicare Payment and Medical Direction Rules.

The ASA leadership informed the AANA that it was not able to engage in a joint venture to develop the Wearing Mask II, DVD Series.

The ASA will be working with the AMA to lobby for the revision of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula because this issue affects all of medicine. The ASA will keep the AANA informed of these efforts.

The agenda of the February 26, 2005 meeting was discussed and will include:

• A presentation on how the anesthesiology residency educational programs are conducted, including the accreditation process, teaching rules for residency programs and the financial cost of running the residency programs.
• A presentation of how the Nurse Anesthesia Education Programs are conducted, including the accreditation process, and teaching rules for nurse anesthesia programs, and the financial costs of running the programs.
• The AANA Board of Directors and the ASA Administrative Council have been invited to participate in the Assembly of School Faculty roundtable-discussion luncheon to discuss “The Challenges of Recruiting and Retaining Teaching Faculty”.
• Time permitting, review the one text Anesthesia Care Statement

Both organizations discussed methods to spotlight success stories that have occurred at the state level and how to develop strategies to encourage and support these endeavors. One such success story was presented regarding the Alabama ANA and the Alabama SSA. It was recommended that the Alabama leadership accept an invitation by the ThoughtBridge Co. to provide a one day seminar at no charge (except for travel expenses). The ThoughtBridge process will be used to expand the working relationships between the two state organizations and provide a “bridge” for future joint projects. A letter is being sent to the presidents of both Alabama organizations by their respective national organizations inviting them to take advantage of this invitation.

The next ASA-AANA meeting was scheduled for May 22-23, 2005 at the O’Hare Hilton Hotel, Chicago, IL.