VOLUME 32, ISSUE 2
Scott E. Kercheville, M.D.
ASA District Director
San Antonio, TX
Interim Report - March 2020
The ASA Board of Directors held the 2020 March Board Meeting in Chicago (Rosemont) at the Loews Chicago O’Hare February 28th to March 1st
Dr. Scott Kercheville (Director, TX) and Dr. Crystal Wright (Alt. Director, TX) both arrived early to attend a meeting of the Section on Fiscal Affairs on Friday for ASA budget planning and the usual review of the financial status of the organization.
Meeting of the Western Caucus:
The meeting of the Western Caucus began on Saturday, Leap Day at 7:00 AM with Dr. Wright (Vice Chair, Western Caucus) serving as Acting Chair due to the absence of Dr. Linda Hertzberg (Director, CA and Chair, Western Caucus) and Dr. Brian Mitchell (Alt. Director, OR) served as Secretary. The Texas Delegation included Drs. Mary Dale Peterson (ASA President), Patrick Giam (ASA Vice Speaker), Wright and Kercheville.
Dr. Johnathan Pregler (CA), Chair of the Rules Committee reported to the Chair that there were no rule changes for this year and none had been proposed. Dr. Kercheville, Chair of the Candidates Committee announced that there would be a meeting in the afternoon for Western Caucus candidates and prospective candidates to network and discuss strategy for future elections.
Morning Educational Session:
Dr. Peterson, President convened the Morning Educational Meeting at 8:30 AM and gave a brief recap of activities within the Society since the last Board meeting and actions taken by the Executive Committee and various officers. Mr. Paul Pomerantz, ASA CEO then reported that membership is up again and projections reflect an increase of approximately 3.8% by the end of the year. The Annual Meeting revenues came in below projections due to lower international registrations and decreased exhibitor sales. On the positive, the budget was still in the black mostly due to unexpected CME sales at the end of 2019.
Drs. Michael Champeau (CA), Treasurer and Don Arnold (MO), Assistant Treasurer gave a brief overview of the fiscal notes in the reports contained within the handbook. After that, they gave a very detailed presentation on staffing inside the ASA utilizing demographics and statistics comparing like organizations and medical societies within the U.S. There is some very compelling data that counters the notion that the ASA is “overstaffed” and argues that the members are benefitting from a very efficient, competent group that are compensated fairly and well within accepted ranges of salaries and benefits
The Session concluded with a presentation by Dr. Jeffrey Mueller (AZ), Vice President for Professional Affairs and Ms. Roseanne Fischoff, Economics and Practice Innovation Executive. They recounted the history of the Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) with a brief recap of affiliated organizations and practice locations (currently in 32 states and one foreign country). The essence of the presentation was to ask the Board to approve a plan to monetize the concept. The plan consists of three parts.
First and foremost, all activities going forward with regard to the PSH would be in-house and not utilizing outside consultants. Second, there would be the creation of a “White Paper” delineating lesions learned and basic tenets of operating a PSH in a wide variety of practice models. This document would reside on the ASA website and would be available free of charge to all members. The business aspect of this proposal would involve the creation of a tiered “Certificate Program” for the PSH that would be available in three price points for organizations to assist in setup and maintenance. The anticipated goal is that such a program would be something that the ASA could use to bolster non-dues revenues to help keep the budget positive. But like all business models, there is a cost for implementation at the beginning so the Board was asked to approve $441,000 over two years out of the designated Unrestricted Reserves.
Board Review Committees:
Review Committees began at 9:45 AM and concluded early before noon. They consisted of reports from committees under each of the following divisions of the Board of Directors:
Committee on Administrative Affairs
Committee on Professional Affairs
Committee on Scientific Affairs
Committee on Finance
Drs. Kercheville and Wright both served as members of the Board Committee on Finance.
Western Caucus Candidates Committee:
At 2:00 PM Dr. Kercheville chaired the Western Caucus Candidates Committee that is a forum for current candidates for office to discuss strategy and planning. Equally important, prospective candidates have the opportunity to talk with current leaders of the Administrative Council from the Western Caucus about positions and timing of races. Although a number of Western Caucus members are considering running for various offices, there are none who have officially announced besides those members currently serving.
Afternoon Educational Program:
A second Educational Session was convened at 2:30 PM that began with a round table discussion and workshop chaired by Dr. Beverly Philip (MA) 1st Vice President. The program utilized the SWOT concept so that groups of Board members looking at the Pillars of the recent ASA Strategic Plan could assist the Administrative Council (AC) on aspects on “Advocacy, Education, Membership, Leadership, Quality and Scientific Discovery”. Comments and notes from this Session will be utilized in the upcoming AC Retreat.
Dr. Kraig De Lanzac (LA), Assistant Secretary then gave the Board an update on the planned “Public and Professional Awareness Campaign” with the results of various surveys. These continue to demonstrate that many in the public are still unaware that anesthesiologists are physicians much less our value in the perioperative period.
Dr. Peterson returned and with the assistance of Dr. Joy Hawkins (CO), Section Chair on Clinical Care and former AMOC Chair presented an overview of the Annual Meeting. Current issues with attendance and financial support were discussed. Dr. Peterson presented several new options for rearranging and shortening the Meeting to help with costs. A straw poll was taken within the audience but true proposals for change were not offered at this time.
Lastly, there was a presentation by Dr. Linda Hertzberg (CA), Director and Chair on the Committee on Women in Anesthesiology. She detailed the growth of women in the Society especially noting the three women who constitute the Executive Committee and contrasting that with lack of any upcoming women officers. Dr. Tom Miller, ASA Director of Health Policy Research who detailed very clean statistical research documenting pay inequity for women in the specialty, joined her.
Meeting of the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors convened at 8:00 AM on Sunday, March 1st and following the Pledge of Allegiance and morning announcements, Dr. Peterson quickly turned the order of business over to the Speaker, Dr. Ronald Harter (OH). Possibly due to the presence of Dr. Peterson (the traditionalist) on the dais, Dr. Harter returned to the usual order of presenting the Review Committees.
Items of Interest Included:
300-1(AA) Administrative Council: Interim Report. This report contained the request for the authorization of a board designated fund of $441,000 for the PSH and asked for the release of an additional $1.2 million of the prior board designated fund for the communication messaging campaign that was created last year. Both were approved.
409-2 (PA) Committee on Standards and Practice Parameters: Standards, Guidelines and Statements: Five-Year Review. The document Basic Standards for Preanesthesia Care was approved following some discussion at the Caucus and Review Committee level. A number of members felt that certain aspects were “aspirational” and possibly inconsistent with certain practices currently “supervising” CRNAs to levels not recommended.
685-2 & 686-1 (FI) Treasurer: Interim Report & Interim Report, ASA 2019 Financial Report. The current Budget of $54.4 million as approved is slightly in the red at this writing but most importantly, the Society improved its financial position this past year. After approval by the Board and the House last year and after consultation with the Section on Fiscal Affairs, the Treasurer approved on two occasions the release of Restricted Building Reserves to pay down the mortgage on the Schaumburg headquarters. On both instances, the sale from the Investment Portfolio occurred when the stock market was extremely high and essentially allowed the Society to bank considerable gains. After paying down a total of $15 million, the current mortgage is deemed to be well within the value of the property from a resale aspect.
Dr. Peterson adjourned the ASA August Annual Board Meeting at 8:25 AM after all items in the reports were accepted or passed and all the business of the meeting was complete.
