VOLUME 37, ISSUE 1

Scott E. Kercheville, M.D.
ASA Director, District 19 Texas
Annual Report - October 2024

Anesthesiology 2024, the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists met from October 19th to 23rd in Philadelphia, PA the City of Brotherly Love after a sixty-six-year absence.  There were 12,707 registered members who attended all or some of the meetings in person and 505 signed up for the virtual format only.  Most members of the Texas Delegation were housed at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, the site of most of the Governance activities except for the House of Delegates that occurred in the Philadelphia Convention Center.

The Annual Meeting began on Saturday with a welcome address by Dr. Eugene (Gene) Viscusi, Chair AMOC with a preview of activities and educational opportunities at the Meeting or in the city.  He concluded with an introduction of ASA President, Ronald Harter of Ohio.

Dr. Harter formally began the Opening Session with the presentation of the 2023 Distinguished Service Award to Dr. Mary Dale Peterson!  She thanked her family and her mentors (BPS, Arens, Viles and Zerwas then charged the attendees with her principles of service: “volunteer, do the homework, show up, speak up, do the work, plan the succession and allow new leaders to emerge”.

The Keynote Address was given by Sam Quiñones, a former reporter and current author whose most recent book is The Opioid Crisis In America:  What This Means For Anesthesiologists and Pain Physicians.  The presentation was a question-and-answer session with Dr. Harter and recounts his observations and conclusions about the current fentanyl catastrophe and the linkage back to the Oxycontin situation in the past.   His thought-provoking solutions included more law enforcement especially as related to the drug-impaired homeless population.

The Texas Delegates and the Alternate Delegates met for the Texas Caucus from 1:00 to 2:15 PM on Saturday, October 19th at the Marriott.  Dr. Scott E. Kercheville, Director conducted the meeting. The group reviewed the House of Delegates Handbook and discussed the upcoming ASA elections. The members then broke into sub-groups with the work divided by Reference Committees with Drs. Stacy Norrell, Christopher Cook, Kristyn Ingram and Jeremie Perry chairing these groups.

The members moved onto the Western Caucus at 3:30 PM for further deliberations and discussions.  Dr. Brian Mitchell, Director (OR) as the Western Caucus Chair convened the meeting and was assisted by Dr. Johnathan Pregler, Alternate Director (CA) serving as Vice Chair and Dr. Amr Abouleish (TSA President-Elect, TX) serving as Secretary.  Most of the meeting consisted of discussion of the Handbook that was interspersed by the members of the Administrative Council standing for election and the one unopposed candidate seeking the position of Assistant Treasurer.

Dr. Harter convened the first session of the House of Delegates at 8:00 AM on Sunday, October 20th at the Philadelphia Convention Center. [1] He introduced the Former ASA Presidents in attendance and Texas was more than well represented with Drs. John Zerwas, Jeffrey Plagenhoef and Mary Dale Peterson.

Dr. Harter also recognized those members serving as Tellers for the two Sessions of the HOD.  Texas Alternate Delegates volunteered well beyond other members with Drs. Till Hein, Srikanth Sridhar, January Tsai and Sandhya Vinta being appointed.  Luckily for the Director, the Chief Teller Brian Cammarata released each at various times to vote in the elections.

1            This was the first HOD Session that Dr. Ingram served as the Chair of Credentials Committee and oversaw the seating of the voting delegates.

Dr. Julius Hamilton, Chair of the ASAPAC was then introduced to give the annual ASAPAC update.  With another strong year-end push, total contributions reached just over $1.75 million but this was still well below the all-time high of $2 million of 2019.  Texas maintained the Alabama Cup as the number one state in total donations at $131,490.  Baylor-Scott & White remains the only residency program in Texas to achieve 100% participation for its residents.

Next was Mr. Brian Reilly, ASA CEO who detailed his first year of service.  Of note, he initiated an extensive expense review and froze all new hirings.  He gave an update on the Revenue Growth Strategy that has to date not achieved the goal of $5 million in new revenues but has yielded over $2 million while only expending $700,000 of the approved $2 million in expenses.

Per House tradition Dr. Harter then turned the meeting over to the Speaker, Jeff Jacobs, who then began the normal business of the House including the adoption of the Rules of Order for the 2024 House of Delegates. Most of the nomination speeches were given from the floor except that of 1st Vice President which was the only contested race.  Drs. George Williams, Elizabeth Rebello and Amr Abouleish gave nominating speeches for Drs. Jacobs, Straker and Giam respectively.

The following members were nominated for the election scheduled on Wednesday, October 23.

President Elect Dr. Patrick Y. Giam, TX
First Vice President Dr. Michael C. Lewis, MI
Dr. Jay R. Mesrobian, WI
Dr. Jeff T. Mueller, AZ
VP for Scientific Affairs Dr. David P. Martin, MN
VP for Professional Affairs Dr. Lois A. Connolly, WI
Treasurer Dr. Crystal C. Wright, TX
Assistant Treasurer Dr. Robert W. Thomsen
Secretary Dr. Dr. Kraig S. de Lanzac, LA
Assistant Secretary Dr. Paul B. Yost, CA
Speaker Dr. Jeffrey S. Jacobs, FL
Vice Speaker Dr. Tracey Straker, NY

Dr. Harter returned for his final address to the House as President.  Dr. Harter recounted many of the ASA activities for the year that he presented at the Opening Session but finished with further detailing the CRNA situation in Modesto, CA. Even though California is an opt-out state, nurse anesthetists in several hospitals were practicing outside of CA prescribing statutes and CMS Conditions of Participation.   Ultimately, the hospitals were sanctioned and made to adhere to their own credentialling policies.

Dr. Donald Arnold President Elect (MO) gave his address to the House highlighting his goals and plans for the upcoming year.

Dr. Randall Clark (CO) Chair of the Committee on the DSA submitted the name of Dr. John M. Zerwas for the 2024 ASA Distinguished Service Award (DSA). This award will be presented next year in San Antonio, TX!

The House was recessed prior to 9:45 AM to resume business on October 23, 2024.

Later Sunday, October 20th the Reference Committees were held in a staggered fashion beginning from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM also at the Marriott.

The usual highlight on Monday of the Annual Meeting is the Rovenstine Memorial Lecture, but it was particularly poignant for the Texans this year.  Besides receiving the 2023 DSA, Dr. Peterson was chosen to give the 2024 Rovenstine Lecture. Her talk, Our Finest Hour:  How Anesthesiologists Saved Countless Lives during the COVID-19 Pandemic detailed her inspiring work and collaborations during this worldwide crisis.  Hopefully this awesome presentation becomes available in virtual format soon via the ASA website.

Many members of the Texas Delegation bought tickets to the ASA Presidents’ Reception on Monday night at the U.S. Constitution Center and there was a sighting of our incoming President Elect Dr. Giam with his wife, Julie:

The Texas Delegation met again on Tuesday, October 22nd at 1:00 PM in Caucus to review the recommendations of the Reference Committees and to discuss the upcoming House of Delegates on Wednesday.

The Western Caucus began at 3:30 PM. Dr. Mitchell chaired the meeting and was assisted by Drs. Pregler and Abouleish. Besides the discussion of the handbook reports, the Caucus gave full endorsement from the Western Caucus candidates standing for office or a new position in 2025.   Dr. Yost was endorsed for elevation to Secretary and Dr. Mark Zakowski, Alt. Director (CA) was endorsed as Assistant Secretary in a current three-way race.

Dr. Kercheville, Chair of the Western Caucus Candidates Committee conducted the election of the next set of WC leaders.  The slate of Drs. Mitchell and Pregler were re-elected for another three-year term and Dr. Rebello was elected for her first term as Secretary.  All three candidates for 1st Vice President visited the Western Caucus for their presentations and questions from the members.

The Speaker, Dr. Jacobs reconvened the House of Delegates at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, October 23rd with the first order of business being the voting by the Delegates on the DSA and the officer elections.

Election results were as follows:

Dr. Zerwas received the necessary 2/3 votes to be awarded the ASA 2024 DSA.

All the unopposed candidates listed above were elected by unanimous consent at the HOD. The result of the one contested race was as follows:

1st Vice President Dr. Jeff T. Mueller

Reports of interest:

Administrative Affairs:

340-2 Committee on Governance Effectiveness and Efficiencies:  Annual Report.  This report contained the two options presented by the Committee to facilitate the transition of the Annual Meeting to a 4-day event.  Ultimately, the House rejected Board Action (option 1) and passed option 2 with the meeting ending on Tuesday and there being only one Session of the HOD on that day.  This change will not occur prior to 2026 with the multiple revisions and changes necessitated to the Bylaws and the Administrative Procedures.

Professional Affairs (no extractions):

411-2 Committee on Quality Management and Departmental Administration:  Annual Report.  This extensive report was passed with a commendation to the outgoing Chair, Dr. Rebello as she moved onto Chair of the Annual Meeting Oversight Committee for next year.

Scientific Affairs (no extractions):

Finance (no extractions):

687-3 Treasurer:  Current Year Budget (2024). The 2024 Budget was amended with both revenues and expenses both over $53 million and year-end deficit of just over $257,000.  The 2025 Budget was scheduled for final approval at the upcoming Board Meeting following the HOD.

After all extractions, motions and comments from the floor and all votes, Dr. Jacobs was able to return the business of the House back to Dr. Harter.

The Office of the President was then transferred from Dr. Harter to Dr. Arnold. With all activities complete, the House was adjourned at 9:45 AM.

SCOTT E. KERCHEVILLE, MD
Director, ASA District 19

P.S.  With this report, I conclude my 14 years as the ASA Director representing the Lone Star State of Texas and the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists.  It has been the great honor of my life to be your voice and your vote at three ASA Board meetings each year as well as herding cats every year at the ASA Annual Meeting.  My guiding principles in my reports have been to recognize and respect the work, sacrifice and traditions of our Texas members at the ASA level and add some levity. Unquestionably, the best part of this role for me personally has been meeting leaders and establishing relationships with doctors from all over the country.  Hopefully, also in this role I was able to transfer the pearls given to me back to some of the folks coming up with and behind me.  For me mentoring is what got me here and what I consciously tried to give back. Thank you all so very much and Godspeed!

Next