Meeting of the Board of Directors – March 7-8, 2009

Director Report

          The “Spring” Board of Directors Meeting of the ASA was held March 7-8 in Chicago.  Here are some of the highlights.

Political - Southern Caucus

            South Carolina along with the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico make up the Southern Caucus.  Our caucus remains VERY active in the political process within the ASA.  We have five individuals running for office, including three contested elections.  Jerry Cohen is running for First Vice-President, Arnold Berry is running for Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Gerry Maccioli is running for Assistant Secretary.  Steve Sween and Arthur Boudreaux are running uncontested elections for Vice-Speaker and Secretary respectively.

            Bottom line – The Caucus is strong and contributes a great deal to the direction and forward motion of the ASA on a national level.

Also – John Neeld (Southern Caucus) is running for a Board of Trustee position in the AMA in a June election.  John is a past president of the ASA and has been head of the AMAPAC for the past few years.  He would appreciate our support in speaking with AMA delegates from South Carolina and asking them to support him with a vote.  I have already spoken with Chad Rubin and plan to speak with the other delegates in the future.  If you are willing to speak with a South Carolina AMA delegate or alternate on John’s behalf let me know and I will send along an e-mail for the talking points he is listing favoring his run for office.

Review Committee Hearings

            Similar to the tone in the world, much of the discussion touched on financial matters within the four Board Committees.  But the seminal issues are outlined below.

            Administrative Affairs

            The House of Delegates approved purchase of land adjacent to the Park Ridge office last fall.  That process continues to move forward and the Board voted to grant the Treasurers and Executive Vice-Presidents of the ASA the authority to pursue and execute financial arrangements to close on the property.  If you have any ideas of what to do with the property forward them to Dr. Moore current ASA President.  We spent part of an afternoon session with a consultant seeking input from the board members as to the land’s potential future use.

            The Administrative Procedures Manual of the Board was in need of a rewrite to meet the new organizational infrastructure of the ASA and to meet its Strategic Plan Goals.  This rewrite was approved by the Board of Directors and will be available on the “About” page of the ASA website in the near future.

            The Board approved a recommendation from the Administrative Council that a letter be sent to the FDA and DEA suggesting that fospropofol be classified as a Schedule III drug.  This action is being taken partly because of the abuse potential of the drug and also in response to the FDA’s prior suggestion to the DEA that it be a scheduled drug.

            Two new committees were approved by the Board, the Committee on Neuroanesthesia and the Committee on Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anesthesia, pending approval of the House of Delegates this October.

            The Committee on Electronic Media and Information Technology (EMIT) was charged to evaluate the development of an ASA Image Databank with images that can be used by members.

            The Board voted to discontinue the ASA’s membership in the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) which will save the ASA $40,000.

            In the spirit of continued transparency, future Board reports will be available for review on the “Members Only” portion of the ASA website.  The reports will be watermarked “NOT OFFICIAL” to avoid confusion of them being official ASA policy.

            Finance

            The Finance Committee deals with the financial affairs of the ASA.  As mentioned above, the ASA has not been immune from the economic pressures of the last 18 months.  The ASA Investment Policy Statement (IPS) was revised to allow for additional investment positions to balance risk.  Three new asset classes were added including commodities, international small capitalization equities, and master limited partnerships.

The 2009 budget was revised to include reduced revenue targets and along with other revisions resulted in a budgeted deficit of $40,471.

Scientific Affairs

The Board approved a revised Statement on the Safe Use of Propofol.

The Board approved financial support for a Wellness booth at the Annual Meeting at which for a fee, an ASA member can have a series of blood work and other tests performed as a screening.

The Board also approved funding for the concept of an opening session at the Annual Meeting on Saturday as a Celebration of Advocacy.

Afternoon Session

The Board spent Saturday afternoon in sessions covering a Strategic Discussion of ASA’s future as well as a financial update that included a new budget process, a financial overview and trends as well as the above-mentioned presentation of additional investment strategies.

            Balance Billing activities in California, Texas and New York were discussed by ASA members in those states.  The nuances surrounding this issue vary from state to state and those presenting offered their insights and solutions for this issue.

Afternoon Session – Legislative Matters

            Mr. Ron Szabat, Esq., gave his usual very informative and upbeat summary of the activities of this aspect of the ASA.

There is some good news but a lot of news to pay very close attention to in the future.

Health Care Reform is a priority of this administration in Washington and it is going to happen in some form.  The bad news is that the President’s picks for leading this reform may not be that friendly to physicians.

The good news is that with PAC monies and participation of many members over the years, the ASA Legislative team has built very good relationships with members of the House and Senate.

An SGR fix may be forthcoming but it may involve a tradeoff with other aspects of health care reform.

There are not a lot of details forthcoming yet but more are expected in April so stay tuned.

Ron did not specifically say so but this year, more than ever; PAC contributions are critical to facilitating ASA’s involvement in the reform process.  If you have not contributed, please do so and encourage your partners to do so as well.

I remain very impressed by Ron and his staff.  They work continuously at the process of building relationships with key legislative and regulatory contacts on both sides of the “aisle” to forward the priorities of the ASA.  We have reason to be proud and hopeful with them working for our society.

Evening

          Rob Morgan and I were fortunate to have dinner with Jeff Plagenhoeff and others from Alabama and Texas.  Our goal was to learn as much as we could as to how they were able to increase contributions to the state and the ASAPAC.  In addition they have not only significantly increased their annual contributions but they have managed to create a “culture of giving”.

Conclusion

It remains a privilege to serve as Director, representative to the Carrier Advisory Committee to the PGBA as well as representative to the SCMA Interspecialty Council for the SCSA.   This is a particularly busy legislative year and the value of involvement and participation of all of you as members is critical to our success in the future.

If you have any further questions or need clarification concerning any of this report do not hesitate to contact myself or Rob Morgan.

Many thanks to you all for your contributions and efforts.

Respectfully submitted,

Christopher A. Yeakel, MD, FAAP