March 2013 Council of Chapter Representatives Meeting and “Hill Day” Notes

Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 11:11AM
Rick Robbins, M.D. in American Thoracic Society, Council of Chapter Representatives, SGR, US Congress, advocacy, cigar bill, research funding, sustainable growth rate

March 18, 2013

As part of “Hill Day” the Council of Chapter Representatives meant on March 18, 2012 in Washington, D.C. beginning at 2:00 PM.

1. Welcome/Open meeting: Dona Upson 2:00 PM

Roll call determined there were representatives present from Arizona, Colorado, DC-Metro, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, and Washington. Linda Nicci, CCR Chair from Rhode Island, was delayed by weather and attended by conference call.

2. ATS Leadership Update 2:15pm

Presentations were given by Monica Kraft, ATS president, and Steven Crane, ATS executive director. Highlights of their presentations included –

• A discussion of hospitalists eligibility for critical care boards
• The ATS bottom line 
  • Bottom line was positive beginning in 2010 and growing in 2011 and 2012
  • Reserves have also increased (about 2/3 of a year)
• Ken Adler will serve 3 more years as editor of the “Red Journal”
• Annals of the ATS will be published shortly. It is hoped to be clinician friendly.
• A 3 year core curriculum aligned to ABIM’s exam has been posted on the ATS website.
• 2013 International Meeting
  • Over 5000 abstracts (1500 more than ERS and 3-4000 more than ACCP
  • 40% of revenue comes from ATS meeting
  • Registration down about 12% compared to San Francisco
• Some drop in membership in 2013 attributed to the meeting not in San Francisco and Hurricane Sandy delayed processing applications-expect numbers to rise
• ATS webinars have had over 1200 participants
• 8000 are following ATS on Facebook and Twitter
• ATS developing bridge funding for NIH grantees because of sequestration
• ALL money given to the ATS Foundation goes for research-no administrative costs

 3. Chapter Activity Update 2:40pm

• A handout was distributed with the 2012-13 Chapter Educational Meetings
• A brief discussion was held of the Chapter publications from Arizona and California
• Some inactive chapters showing renewed interest
• A brief discussion of ALA relationship and administration

4. Outstanding Clinician Award (OCA) 3:00pm

• The 2013 OCA finalists were from AZ, NM, WA
• The ATS OCA for 2013 is Allen Thomas, MD, Arizona

5. Committee Updates by CCR reps 3:15pm

• Verbal/written updates from CCR reps on committees they cover
  • Clinicians Advisory-Chris Fukui
  • Education-Linda Nici
  • Ethics and Conflict of Interest-Anthony Scardella
  • Health Policy-Dona Upson
  • Planning and Evaluation-Carol Welsh
  • Quality Improvement-Chris Fukui Wilhelm
  • Research Advocacy-Rajesh Bhagat
  • Training-Rajesh Bhagat

6. Advocacy Update - 3:45pm

Gary Ewart, ATS lobbyists, presented an advocacy update. Highlights included:

• Advocacy by CCR
• A review of the list of chapter ‘advocacy’ champions (CCR)
• An open discussion other (potential) advocacy initiatives

7. Future Activity/Additional Role of CCR 4:25pm

• Linda Nicci made a presentation.
• Highlights of the discussion included
  • Increased CCR presence at International Conference
  • Officers to commit to times in Clinicians Center and Fellows Center.
  • Review of CCR brochure
  • CCR/ATS Foundation Partnership
  • Report on CCR involvement with Better Breathing Alliance

8. Great Cases Symposium at International Conference – organized by CCR 4:50pm

A reminder and a brief discussion was held of the Great Cases Symposium Organized by CCR: Session A83: Great Cases: Clinical, Radiologic and Pathologic Correlations by Master Clinicians

9. CCR Meeting date in Philadelphia 4:55pm

A CCR meeting will be held in Philadelphia on Saturday, May 18 from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM.

10. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned 5:00pm

March 19, 2013

1. Presentations were made by James Kiley, Director of the Division of Lung Diseases, and several staff from Congressional including the Veterans Affairs and research related committees from 8 AM-10 AM.

2. Meetings with Congressional representatives were held throughout the day. The offices were presented with handouts advocating (Click on title to be directed to the handouts)

• Opposition to the “Cigar Bill” (H.R. 792)
• Repeal and replacement of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate Factor (SGR)
• Urging Congress to provide $32 billion for the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2014

Meetings with Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado representatives included:

 Arizona

• Michael Nelson from the Office of Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
• Christopher Bowlin from the Office of Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
• Lliam Morrison from the Office of Representative Matt Salmon (R-AZ)
• Laurie Ellington from the Office of Representative Ed Pastor (D-AZ)

New Mexico 

• Sandra Wilkniss from the Office of Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
• Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) and Kristin Palmer from her office
• Lauren Arias from the Office of Tom Udall (R-NM)

Colorado

• Representative Michael Coffman (R-CO and sponsor of the HR 792 tobacco bill) and legislative assistant Stephen Beck
• Jacquelyn White, health policy fellow from the office of representative Dianna DeGette (D-CO)
• Kristen Joyce legislative correspondent from the office of senator Mark Udall (D-CO)
• Rina Shah, legislative fellow from the office of senator Michael Bennet (D-CO)
• Morning coffee with Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO)

3. A dinner debriefing was held later that evening to discuss the advocacy efforts.

Richard A. Robbins, MD

Arizona CCR Representative

Reference as: Robbins RA. March 2013 council of chapter representatives meeting and "hill day" notes. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2013;6(3):145-7. PDF

Article originally appeared on Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep (https://www.swjpcc.com/).