VOLUME 27, ISSUE 2

ASA DIRECTOR’S INTERIM REPORT

Scott E. Kercheville, MD ASA Director

The 2015 March Interim Meeting of the ASA Board of Directors convened on March 7th at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago. The Texas Delegation included Drs. Mary Dale Peterson (ASA Asst. Treasurer), Scott Kercheville (ASA Director, Texas), Patrick Giam (ASA Alt. Director, Texas), David Gloyna (TSA President), and Deborah Plagenhoef (TSA Treasurer).

The Western Caucus meeting was the first order of business on Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 7:10 AM. The Officers of the Caucus were Scott Kercheville, Chair; Peter Dunbar (Director, WA), Vice-Chair and Michael Champeau (Director, CA), Secretary. Following the introduction of members of the Caucus and approval of the minutes, discussion began on the Board Handbook for this meeting.

The item of most interest was an additional funding request, by the Administrative Council and the President, to wage the battle against the VA Nursing Handbook Update that allows independent practice by APRNs and most importantly, nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) in all VA facilities regardless of existing polices and current state laws.

There was also considerable discussion by the members of the caucus about activities at the AMA meeting and resolutions there concerning the Maintenance of Certification. What followed were many concerns and complaints from the Directors on behalf of members about the ABA MOCA program relating to relevance, cost and overall burden particularly to the young members. Dr. Dan Cole (ABA Director) gave an update on components of MOCA “2.0” which hopefully addresses many of these issues and should be unveiled soon.

Dr. Charles Anderson (Alt. Director-OR) announced there would be a Western Caucus Candidates Committee meeting in the afternoon. The candidates for election from the Western Caucus are Dr. Mary Dale Peterson for election to Treasurer, Dr. Linda Mason (CA) for re-election to Secretary and Dr. Stan Stead (CA) for reelection to Vice-President for Professional Affairs. Dr. Cole (AZ) will transition to President after serving the past year as President Elect.

The Caucus was adjourned early at 8:20 AM for the Opening Session/.. Dr. J. P. Abenstein (MN), ASA President began that session at 8:50 and Dr. James Grant (MI), Treasurer gave the usual updates to the Budget and proposed revisions to the Budget from recommendations made at this meeting.

Review Committees began at 9:05 AM and continued until 11: 40 AM. 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

Following a midday break, the usual Education Session was held from 2:30 PM until 5:00 PM and included updates by the CEO. Mr. Paul Pomerantz presented his yearly recap of activities at the administrative level and within the two offices. He presented some details of the ASA Strategic Plan for the next several years (this document was given earlier to members of the TSA BOD at the recent Austin Retreat).

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