February 6, 2004
| To: | SSAT Board of Trustees |
| From: | R.V. Stephens, MD, FACS SSAT Delegate to the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors |
| Subject: | Board of Governors Annual Meeting Sunday, October 19, 2004 Chicago, Illinois |
Andrew L. Warshaw, MD, FACS, Boston, Massachusetts, Has been named, First Vice President-Elect.
Edward M. Copeland, III, MD, FACS, Gainesville, Florida and Josef E. Fischer, MD, FACS, Boston, Massachusetts were re-elected to the Board of Regents for three-year terms.
The SSAT has six Regents and four Officers.
Courtney M. Townsend, MD, FACS, Galveston, Texas was named Chairman of the Board of Governors.
R. V. Stephens, MD, FACS, Phoenix, Arizona was named Chairman of the Socioeconomics Committee (the heart, soul, and the driving force of the Board of Governors).
Highlights of the meeting:
The Board of Regents has been reconfigured so that all ACS Advisory Councils will be represented. Also, new this year, all Regents must be ACTIVE in surgery as opposed to retired.
The College has 203 million in assets, 5% per year will be used to offset expenses; therefore the Dues will not be increased this year.
Electronic Survey of Governors
Professional Liability and Tort Reform: The number one issue! For the first time ranking higher than Physician reimbursement.
The ACS Political Action Committee under Andy Warshaw, MD, FACS has been very successful. The automatic 4.2% Medicare reduction for surgeons has been rescind for the second straight year, plus an additional 1.8% increase was granted. This represents a 12% increase in payments over the last two years. All SSAT Trustees and Members should happily contribute at least $500 to our PAC. Our PAC and other MedPACs are working together and for the first time speaking in a solitary and loud voice to Congress.
Liability Reform is very close, less than 8 Democratic Senatorial votes are need to be persuaded. We need to develop a plan to get their attention!
American physicians spend between 1.5 to 3.0 billion dollars per year obtaining Continuing Medical Education credits. CME has a huge economic impact. Chicago is frequented by many medical conventions, et Senators Richard Durbin and Peter G. Fitzgerald are the poster boys of the legal lobby. Sixteen thousand surgeons and their credit card carrying partners visited Chicago in October. The financial impact on the hotel, taxi, and restaurant industries was huge and significantly contributed to the Chicago economy. If Senators Durbin and Fitzgerald are going to ignore our fight for the Fair And Balanced Liability Initiative For Everyone (FAB-LIFE), let’s take our business elsewhere!
Action Items:
"SSAT recommended to the Digestive Disease Week Programs Committee that Chicago, Illinois no longer be considered to host the DDW Annual Meeting"
SSAT continue to support the ACS Fellows Leadership Society by contributing $1,000. This continues our original pledge made in 1990.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert V. Stephens, MD, FACS
To contact Dr. Stephens please click here.
