MSA News

 

 


 

ruben_azocar

President's End of Year Letter

 


 

December 2011

 

Dear MSA Member,

 

Greetings!

 

I would like to update you on the past six months of activity at the MSA.  Your society has been busy and working on issues of advocacy and scope of practice, membership services and participation, and educational activities.

 

Starting with advocacy and scope of practice, the following points highlight our involvement in this area:

  • Participation in the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Medicine (BORIM) workgroup on CRNA supervision in the office based setting.

 

  • According to state regulations, if no anesthesiologist is supervising a CRNA, a qualified physician (surgeon) may medically direct and supervise a CRNA.  The BORIM has convened a working group to help it develop guidelines that would set forth qualifications for physician supervision of anesthesia services in the office-based setting.

 

  • Acupuncture injections

 

  • A bill to allow acupuncture practitioners to inject therapeutic agents was proposed at the state level.  The MSA opposes the bill with great concern for patient safety and lack of evidence-based data on the efficacy of such treatments.  We will continue to monitor this proposal.

 

  • The Division of Industrial Accident guidelines for chronic pain management

 

  • After consulting with anesthesiologist pain specialists, in both academic and private practice, the MSA submitted comments to the Division of Industrial Accidents.  I would like to recognize Dr. Cristin McMurray for coordinating this effort.

 

  • Visit Representative Steven Walsh at the State House

 

  • A group from the MSA visited Representative Steven Walsh, who is the House Chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Health Care Financing.  We brought to him our views on the role and value of anesthesiologists in patient care and safety, payment reform as it pertains to anesthesiologists and other hospital based physicians, and general issues relating to scope of practice.

 

In terms of member services, we have worked on improving the services provided to our members, and increased efforts to address areas in need of improvement.  We moved our offices to Waltham this summer.  This central location is minutes away from the Massachusetts Medical Society and allows easier access to our headquarters for members.  This move would not have been possible without the work of our executive secretary, Ms. Beth Arnold.  We continue to improve our website, and will soon be able to provide course registration and membership dues payments.  Dr. Spiro Spanakis and Dr. Daniel O’Brien have spearheaded this effort.

 

Additionally, an Ad hoc committee on leadership was created to clarify the roles of the MSA committees and the executive committee members.  For members who want to actively participate in the society, we also created a transparent and merit based system mentorship process, to facilitate their growth into leadership roles.  Along this same train of thought, this January all vacant positions up for election will be posted on the MSA website.  Instructions on how to nominate yourself or a colleague will also be posted on the website.  It is our goal to make the MSA open to participation by all members.

 

Last but not least, the MSA continues to organize educational venues based on perceived gaps and requests from members.  This fall we had our Regional Anesthesia Course that continues to be an excellent and well-attended venue.  This year we named this course after Dr. Abdel Mehio for his extraordinary contributions to the Society, and in particular to this course.  I extend kudos to Dr. Arnel Almeda who flawlessly directed the course.

 

In January, we will gather for the second consecutive year in Puerto Rico for the MSA winter meeting.  The program is comprehensive and three great speakers make this educational opportunity very attractive.  The venue is paradisiacal.  Visit our website for details; there is still time to register.

 

Finally, two subcommittees were created to support important activities of the Programs Committee.  One is The New England Anesthesia Resident Conference subcommittee.  It was created with the goal to assure continuity, and maintain the quality of this annual conference.  The second is the Subcommittee on Industry Relationships to help us obtain support from sponsors and exhibitors for our conferences, while maintaining the standards established by the ACCME.  I would like to thank Dr. Roman Schumann and Dr. Mark Hershey for assuming the leadership role in these subcommittees respectively.

 

We have been busy, but many challenges remain ahead of us.  Scope of practice, health care access and payment, and medication shortages are some of the areas that remain active and require our involvement.  We need your participation in any form, by renewing membership, sending your comments and opinions, or actively participating.  Please feel free to contact me at any time at ruben.azocar@bmc.org.

 

I want to close wishing all our members a successful, safe and healthy 2012.

 

Sincerely,

Ruben J.  Azocar, MD
President, Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists