VOLUME 28, ISSUE 2

Dr. Charles Anderson (Director-OR) announced this would be his last meeting representing Oregon and therefore, the position of WC Candidates’ Committee also would be vacant. Dr. Peter Dunbar “volunteered” for this role and was approved by the members of the Caucus in attendance. The remainder of the meeting consisted of the discussion of the BOD Handbook and in particular, the various reports of interest or controversy.

The Caucus was adjourned early at 8:00 AM with a break until the usual morning Educational Session. Dr. Dan Cole (CA), ASA President convened that session at 8:55 AM and began with an update by Dr. Mary Dale Peterson, ASA Treasurer on budget adjustments made prior to and proposed at this meeting. Dr. Cole then announced a surprise for the group in the form of a video presentation.

This video was from a Congressional hearing the preceding Wednesday involving funding requests for the VHA at the House Appropriations Committee. Both the Secretary of the VA and the Acting Administrator agreed that “anesthesia care for veterans was best managed under the current team care model and they saw no access issues necessitating the changes proposed in the new VHA Nursing Manual”! (The salient portion is @ 1 hour 20 minutes in this video for just over 2 minutes.)

http://appropriations.house.gov/videos/?VideoID=VNJanEDPG8g

CEO, Paul Pomerantz gave his biannual report to the Board and updated the members on recent changes and growth in the IT Department to improve the webpage and integrate member services for CME, MOCA, Advocacy, etc.

Review Committees began at 9:30 AM and continued until 11:45 AM; they consisted of reports from committees under each of the following divisions of the Board of Directors:

Administrative Affairs
Professional Affairs
Scientific Affairs
Finance

Following a midday break and the Regional Caucus Chair Meeting, attended by Dr. Kercheville, the WC Candidates Committee met with almost all attendees at this meeting. The majority of the time was devoted to the upcoming contested election for 1st Vice President with Dr. Linda Mason, ASA Secretary (CA) going against Dr. Steven Sween, ASA Speaker (GA). The other contested candidates for office, Dr. Hertzberg for Asst. Secretary and Dr. Giam for Vice Speaker spoke as well.

There was a brief discussion by many members about the new development with the Caucus that currently has two of its members expressing intentions to go up for the same office of 1st VP in 2019. The previously announced candidate was Dr. Randall Clark, Director (CO), Dr. Stanley Stead, VP for Professional Affairs (CA) is the new candidate, Members cannot recall a previous election featuring two candidates for the same major caucus pitted against each other. Stay tuned for further developments!

There was a second Education Session held from 2:30 until 5:00 PM and included facilitated roundtable groups dedicated to the two ASA current major priorities (as identified at the recent Health Care Policy Summit in D.C.). There were two interactive sessions concentrating first on MACRA then the VHA Nursing issue. Dr. Kercheville was a table moderator of a group with several resident component members including Dr. Hale McMichael, Component President Elect from Northwestern (and Austin).

Mr. Manuel Bonilla, ASA Chief Advocacy Officer& Dr. Jeffrey Plagenhoef, ASA President Elect finished the session with more information about the VHA Nursing and ASA activities related to our efforts. Texas remains the state with largest number of comments submitted to the SafeVACare site but still remains below 100% participation relative to our number of members. Mr. Bonilla gave details of a letter to the VA by all physicians in the House of Representatives, the Doc Caucus that forcefully made our case relative to degradation of care with anesthesiologists eliminated from the care of our veterans.

The Board of Directors met at 8:00 AM on Sunday, March 6th.

341-1 Administrative Affairs: Membership, Interim Report; this report contained a recommend that the ASA create a “Fellow” status for ASA members with 5 years continuous membership, ABA Board certification and payment of $350 application fee. This would be a lifetime designation only as long as ASA membership is maintained. There was considerable discussion and concern by Board members about intent, cost and the value of this new designation. It passed only with comments.

527-1 Professional Affairs: Pain Medicine: Standards, Guidelines and Statements: Five-Year Review; this report was edited to reinsert the “FOR ADULTS” in the heading. Pediatric physicians in attendance had expressed concerns in the Review Committee about the breakdown in the document separating procedures into three categories by those not needing sedation, requiring sedation or requiring general anesthesia.

528-1 Scientific Affairs: Committee on Pediatric Anesthesia: Standards, Guidelines and Statements: Five-Review Review; this report was amended to remove the term “board certified” due to confusion whether it was for only ABA Certification in Anesthesiology alone or the more recent Subspecialty Certification in Pediatric Anesthesiology. Many at the meeting expressed concerns that to require subspecialty certification in pediatrics for this relatively new type would limit access and care for pediatric patients.

680-1 Section on Fiscal Affairs: Interim Report; the most important aspect of this report allowed the organization to amend policies and procedures to maintain only 75% of current budget in restricted reserves versus the prior requirement of 100%. This change was necessitated due to withdrawals to cover additional expenses relative to NACOR expansion and more advocacy resources towards the VHA Nursing issue.

With no single report being extracted for discussion from the floor and all matters on the consent calendar agreed upon, Dr. Cole was able to adjourn the ASA Interim Board Meeting at 8:30 AM.