VOLUME 26, ISSUE 1
Scott E. Kercheville, MD ASA Director
The American Society of Anesthesiologists’ 2013 Annual Meeting was held in San Francisco, CA from October 12-16. There were 15,340 registered attendees, which represented a slight increase over those attending the 2012 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The majority of members of the Texas Delegation were housed at the Marriott Marquis, the site of most of the Governance activities and in close proximity to the Moscone Convention Center.
The Meeting officially kicked-off Saturday, October 12th at 10:30 AM with a welcome by Annual Meeting Chair, Dr. Audree Bendo during the Opening Session. Dr. Jane C. K. Fitch, ASA President-Elect and Dr. John M. Zerwas, ASA President followed with highlights of the upcoming Annual Meeting and challenges confronting the Society as we move forward.
The keynote speakers for the event were Dr. Charles Denham and the actor, Dennis Quaid (who spoke only by videotape due a scheduling conflict!). The talk buttressed the topic of patient safety against the published reports of the medical error/overdose that involved Mr. Quaid’s neonatal twins. These gentlemen’s collaboration has led to a series of documentaries about leveraging quality within hospitals and organizations to improve outcomes and promote patient safety.
The ASA Delegates and the Alternate Delegates of the TSA met for the Texas Caucus at 12:30 PM on Saturday, October 12th at the Marriott Marquis to review the House of Delegates Handbook (HOand discuss the ASA elections. The work was divided among Reference Committee sub-groups with Drs. Tracy D. Strandhagen, John S. Scott, Christopher R. Cook, and Patrick Y. Giam chairing these groups. Dr. Scott Kercheville served as Director and Dr. Patrick Giam served as Alternate Director.
The members moved onto the Western Caucus for further deliberations and discussions. Dr. Scott Kercheville served as Vice-Chair of the Western Caucus. Members of the Caucus serving on Reference Committees previewed
the reports in the Handbook to those in attendance. Later the Officers and candidates running unopposed for 2014 were introduced for remarks and questioning. The Caucus concluded prior to 5:00 PM to allow members to attend the “new” Annual Opening Event at the Exhibit Hall sponsored by the vendors.
Dr. John Zerwas, ASA President called the first session of the House of Delegates to order at 8:00 AM on Sunday, October 13th at the Moscone West Convention Center. He introduced TSA Former President and virtuoso Dr. Tom Swygert who wowed the House with his a cappella version of the Star Spangled Banner!3
After recognizing the former ASA Presidents in attendance, he then presented the winners of the Residents’ Research Essay Contest and the FAER Resident Scholars. Dr. John Dombrowski, Chair on Committee on Communications presented the Philip S. Weintraub Media Awards. Consistent with prior tradition, President Zerwas then recognized the retiring members of the Board of Directors to be acknowledged by the entire House of Delegates Handbook.
Dr. Jeff T. Mueller, Chair of the ASAPAC, presented the final numbers for contributions to the PAC for 2012-13. Continuing the recent history, the ASAPAC remains the #1 physician PAC for the calendar year 2013 and set two overall records for total contributions of greater than $1.84 million ($40K more than 2012) and a 20.7% (up 0.4%) participation rate for all members.
The state with the largest total contributions for the third year in a row was Florida with $170K. Texas again finished 4th in total contributions with just over $102K for the year. There were 39 residency programs in the country with 100% participation rate (up from 29 in 2012) and a record five were in Texas (Baylor, Texas A&M/Scott & White, UTMB, UTHSCSA and UT Houston).
Dr. Zerwas then introduced the new permanent (and 1st) ASA CEO, Mr. Paul Pomerantz who gave a detailed summary of the staffing and administrative changes within the Park Ridge and Washington Offices. He spoke at length on the ASA website “When Seconds Count” that highlights the ASA commitment to patient safety and the importance of physician involvement in every anesthetic.
Per House tradition Dr. Zerwas turned the meeting over to
