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Opinion
When Medicine and Politics Do Mix
By H. Dunbar Hoskins, Jr., MD
Looking back on the past year, ophthalmologists have seen a number of successes on the state and federal political fronts thanks to two very important areas within the Academy. These are the Surgical Scope Fund and OphthPAC. With the help of the Surgical Scope Fund, this year alone the Academy has successfully battled optometric surgical initiatives in eight states. And OphthPAC has played key roles in the hottest legislative battles for physicians.
While it is important to reflect on the successes of this year, it also is wise to keep in mind the need to join with the rest of medicine in the coming year to send a unified message to Washington.
Surgical Scope Fund
Via the Surgical Scope Fund, the Academy is aggressively opposing optometric surgical proposals that threaten patient care in states across the country. Since launching the Surgical Scope Fund four years ago (then known as the State Legislative Fund), the Academy has built a strong partnership with state and subspecialty societies to block optometric surgical bills. To date, the Academy has used disbursements from the fund in 17 states. While we are succeeding in presenting our patient concerns in the states, there is no doubt that optometry’s top priority remains surgical privileges and that the optometric lobby will continue to push for laser and injection privileges in state capitols across the country. The Surgical Scope Fund is our best strategy to ensure that quality surgical care is the public policy standard throughout the United States.
The optometric push for surgical privileges is real and does not impact just one or two states, but represents a threat to patient care everywhere. The Surgical Scope Fund is your voice, and it’s heard loud and clear in state capitols across our great nation.
OphthPAC
On the federal level, the Academy depends on OphthPAC to support ophthalmology’s friends in Washington. OphthPAC was founded in 1986 with the goal of identifying and supporting candidates who fight on behalf of ophthalmology.
During the 2002 election cycle, OphthPAC raised $1.2 million in contributions, which allowed us to help members of Congress and candidates who 1) supported replacing the scheduled 2003 Medicare physician fee cut of 4.4 percent with a 1.6 percent increase and support a push for a positive physician fee-schedule update for 2004 and 2005, 2) passed a comprehensive medical liability reform bill in the House, 3) passed a patient protection bill that contained the Academy’s points of concern and 4) pressed for coverage of glaucoma screenings and low vision therapy in Medicare.
But the fight continues. As you know, we are facing another 4.2 percent reduction in the physician fee schedule for 2004, and OphthPAC is again on the forefront, fighting to ensure fair physician reimbursement. Winning this battle will take commitment from all of us.
Working Together
As the new year approaches, medicine needs to get its house unified. Historically, multiple voices have spoken for medicine in Washington. This simply dilutes our impact and actually can work against our ultimate success. The phrase “divide and conquer” is well recognized by politicians—and a divided house of medicine is weaker than we deserve. While there may be physician winners and losers in individual battles, when the house of medicine is divided all physicians will lose the campaign.
The AMA has been and continues to be the most effective medical group lobbying in Washington by all measures. Recently it has worked hard to bring all the groups together to participate in policy decision-making. For our own good, we need to give the AMA the chance to succeed.
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For more information about the Surgical Scope Fund or OphthPAC, please visit the advocacy desks at the Academy’s Resource Center (Booth #1438), go online at www.aao.org/advocacy or call the Washington office at 202-737-6662.
