1. ASA Legislative Conference. Drs. Brian Grose, Robert Johnstone, Christina Julian, Michael Panger and Eric Persily will represent West Virginia at the annual ASA Legislative Conference in Washington DC on April 30-May 2. Dr. Panger, the WVSSA President-elect, will also attend the ASA Leadership spokesperson Conference held in conjunction with the conference.
2. Primary election day is Tuesday, May 8, and early voting starts today. The WVSSA has endorsed Amanda Pasdon and Dan Sizemore for the WV House of Delegates. Find the endorsements on the WVSSA website at, http://www.wvssahq.org/2012/04/wvssa-endorses-two-candidates-for-the-house-of-delegates/. Both Pasdon and Sizemore are closely connected to WVSSA members. The WV State Medical Association has also endorsed both candidates. The WVSMA has endorsed Reps David McKinley and Shelley Moore Capito for re-election to the US House of Representatives, as well as numerous candidates for the WV Supreme Court and other races. Find them at, http://www.wvsma.com/Portals/0/2012%20Primary%20Endorsements%20CORRECT.pdf. The WVSSA supports WVSMA endorsements. Remember to vote.
3. ASAPAC. Congratulations to the WVU resident anesthesiologists. They have again hit a 100 percent contribution rate to the ASA PAC. Seth Crislip, MD, chief resident, calls a PAC contribution “an investment in the future of the specialty”. Crislip will join General Anesthesia Services at Charleston Area Medical Center after finishing his training in June. Below is a list of WVSSA members who have already made 2012 contributions. Contribute online at, http://www.asahq.org/ASAPAC. Or send a check made out to ASA PAC to Dr. Johnstone, and he will submit the check along with the appropriate paperwork and request a PAC pin for the member. Dr. Grose, WVSSA President, notes that more than 50 percent of WVSSA members contributed to the ASA Political Action Committee during 2011, and our advocacy needs are even greater this election year when so much of the future of healthcare will be decided. Dr. Johnstone comments that a well-dressed member is wearing a PAC pin.

   Bryan Apple Mark Bennett Robin Bush Seth Crislip Matthew Ellison David Graf Jeremy Hensley Robert Johnstone Jim Kelly Carl Lo Eric Massey John Onglatco Daniel Sizemore Vince Stonebraker

   Monica Ata Michael Bowling Kevin Costello Susan Dickerson Ju Gao Adam Green Stephen Howell Christina Julian Arpan Kohli Scott Marshall Ken McNeil Jim Phillips Alex Skaff Jeremie Walker

   Steve Bader Kyle Boyce Andrew Criser Thomas Douglass Derek Golna Anne Hackett Jeremiah Jeffers Sarah Kadhim Phillip Legg Michael Mascia Allison Moriarty Drew Rodgers Russ Stewart Colin Wilson

4. Blue Cross. Dr. Johnstone met with Highmark Blue Cross officials this week to review their payment policies and communicate the difficulties for West Virginia anesthesiologists of any adoption of Medicare methodology. Attending from Blue Cross were Mark Piaisio, MD (Med Dir, Quality and Medical Performance), Carey Vinson, MD (VP Quality and Medical Performance) and Joyce Landers (Dir Provider Relations). The Blue Cross officials promised to work with anesthesiologists on future developments. Blue Cross is particularly interested in rewarding anesthesiology practices that coordinate surgical care to improve efficiency and eliminate waste. Blue Cross would like to identify anesthesia groups that produce savings and to share the savings with the anesthesiologists. Examples of savings might be reduced lab tests, elimination of unnecessary surgeries, and reduced blood transfusions. They recognized that anesthesiologists work across all surgical specialties and care for patients from preoperative to postoperative stages.
5. The Virginia Society of Anesthesiologists will hold an educational meeting on Saturday, May 5 in Roanoke, near the WV border. The theme of the meeting is “High Risk Patients for Non-cardiac Surgery”. Find more information on the VSA website at, http://www.vsahq.org/upcomingmtg.iphtml.
6. Congratulations to the WVU Anesthesiology Residency. The training program recently received notice of renewed accreditation. The majority of the finishing anesthesiologists each year end up practicing in West Virginia.
7. WVSSA Annual Meeting. The WVSSA will again hold its annual educational and business meeting in conjunction with the WVSMA meeting at the Greenbrier on the weekend of  August 25-26. The preliminary WVSSA educational program is shown below. The meeting is free for all WVSSA members. Members are encouraged to attend the WVSMA meeting too, which starts on Friday morning.

The Greenbrier –Chesapeake Bay Room
August 25, 2012

Arthur Boudreaux, MD
Clinical Professor and Vice Chair for Quality and Patient Safety,
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Secretary, American Society of Anesthesiologists

Tony Passannante, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
Vice Chair, Clinical Operations
University of North Carolina

Robert E. Johnstone, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
West Virginia University

8. Newsletters. Find past issues of the WVSSA Newsletter at, www.wvssahq.org.

2012 WVSSA officers and their e-address:

Robert Johnstone
Newsletter Editor