ASA Leads Effort to Repeal The Joint Commission’s Definition of Physician
Chicago —
(April 16, 2010)
ASA secured signatures from 69 other medical associations representing over 600,000 physicians in a recent effort to repeal the Joint Commission’s revised glossary definition of “physician” that includes optometrists and chiropractors.
While the revision was intended to align The Joint Commission’s definition of terms with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, we strongly believe the term “physician” is a descriptor that should be limited to individuals who have received a Doctor of Medicine or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree, or an equivalent degree of medicine following successful completion of a prescribed course of study from an international school of medicine.
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS
Anesthesiologists: Physicians providing the lifeline of modern medicine. Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists is an educational, research and scientific association with 46,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology and improve the care of the patient.
For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists Web site at www.asahq.org. For patient information, visit LifeLineToModernMedicine.com
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