VOLUME 27, ISSUE 2
Dr. Cole concluded the Session with group roundtable discussions on current issues and controversies leading to questions for the leadership to answer and integrate into the Strategic Plan.
The Board of Directors met at 8:00 AM on Sunday, March 8th.
Items of interest included:
300-1 Administrative Affairs: Administrative Council: Interim Report; this report contained a recommendation from the President to transfer $1.5 million from our Unrestricted Reserves and to allocate these funds for use as emergency expenditures in our engagement involving the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs nursing handbook. This was approved.
342-1 Administrative Affairs: Committee on Newsletter: Interim Report; the Board approved a request to change the name of the ASA Newsletter to the ASA Monitor.
428-1 Professional Affairs: Committee on Governmental Affairs: Lansdale Fellow: Five-Year Review; following review at several meetings the Lansdale Fellowship is currently on hold with budgetary dollars from this program being transferred to the Resident Public Policy Rotation in the Washington Office. This should alleviate the costs of residents living in D.C. for a month and hopefully induce more applicants into that program.
432-1 Professional Affairs: Committee on Future Models of Anesthesia Practices: Interim Report; the Board approved a recommendation that the President appoint a committee to “critically examine and redesign residency and fellowship training, with the intention of preparing trainees in anesthesiology to meet the healthcare needs of the future though expanded education and training in perioperative medicine”.
653-1 Scientific Affairs: Director of Academic Anesthesiology: Interim Report; this report had two recommendations with the first being passed and the second being referred to a “committee of the President’s choice”. Dr. Zeev Kain,(CA) recommended first that the ASA Annual Meeting contain a track on perioperative medicine—this idea had strong support. He also recommended that the ASA begin proceedings to change the name of the entire specialty to Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine. This item was referred due to concerns of designations, trademarking and copywriting but most supported the overall concept.
685-2 Finance: Treasurer: Interim Report; of note the ASA currently is operating within an annual budget of just over $48 million for 2015 with an approximate $500,000 surplus. We currently have over $88 million in reserves.
For the second time in recent memory no single report was extracted for discussion from the floor and all matters on the consent calendar were agreed upon. Dr. Abenstein was able to adjourn the ASA Interim Board Meeting at 8:25 AM.
