Presidential Message – Fall 2009
By Jim McColly
If you’re not at the table, you may find yourself on the menu.
I’m not sure who said this first, but I heard it most recently from an attorney who works for the American Academy of Physician Assistants. She was talking about the importance of having relationships with those who regulate and license what we do as PAs. On that front, IAPA has been busy.
Work continues on the issue of PA ownership of clinics. Through the hard work of several of your peers, the AAPA, and the Idaho Board of Medicine, a language clarification has been agreed upon which is poised to go through the Idaho legislature this year. That language will once and for all settle the question of whether or not PAs can own a medical clinic and potentially hire their supervising physician as an employee (yes they can). This is most critical in Idaho’s under-served rural communities. In many of these communities, doctors cannot afford to run a practice, so the people living there go without care. To fill the gap, PAs around Idaho have stepped up, taken on the risks, challenges and rewards of clinic ownership. Thanks to the efforts of IAPA they will continue to do so.
We are also in talks with the Board of Medicine regarding the recent changes to Rules for the Licensure for PAs. These new rules took effect in July, and there were some good changes and some others that were more questionable. The Board has so far been receptive to our concerns, and we look forward to continued constructive conversations.
Speaking of being at the table, it is also important to increase the number of tables at which we can sit. To that end we are working hard this year to increase IAPA membership. There are over 650 PAs licensed in Idaho and only 143 of you are members of IAPA. We will be contacting every licensed PA in the state in the coming months, asking what we can do to better serve them and asking them to join IAPA. If you know a PA who is not a member, please encourage him or her to help us make sure healthcare reform includes PAs in the equation.
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Presidential Message - Spring 2009
by Dan Buchin
I think it is officially Spring now although snow is in the forecast today so I am not sure. I do know that our annual conference is taking place next week, in Sun Valley, from April 2nd through the 4th. I look forward to seeing many of you there.
A lot has happened this past year. I realize that it is very easy to go to work each day and feel that all is well with the world and the only thing you have to worry about is taking care of your patients just as you do every day. Most of the time it is true.
In many cases, going to work, taking care of your patients and watching over family responsibilities is all you have time to do. I can relate to that.
But for those PAs in the State that either owned their practices or a significant share of the practice, found out very quickly this past year, that their livelihoods were in danger of going away rather quickly. There was a very imminent risk that they were going to have to sell their practices in a short period of time or have no where to work. In some cases, the communities they worked in were going to have to find a new place to go for their health care. Those owners came to IAPA for help. AAPA also came to help out quickly. This issue is not over yet, but the imminent danger was averted and those clinics continue to function.
Now the issue has to go before the Idaho legislature and this means our practice act will need to be opened up for public review. When this happens, we need to be ready for other proposed changes that may come up that could affect what we presently are able to do. My point is that what you are currently able to do at work every day is never a given.
You need to stay informed as to what is happening in the State.
I would love to say that every practicing PA in Idaho is a member of IAPA but that is not the case. Unfortunately, not even every PA affected by the ownership issue is a member of IAPA, even though IAPA and AAPA spent thousands of dollars fighting this issue.
I am asking each of you to consider joining this year and supporting what we do.
I am also asking that you consider helping out and volunteering even an hour a week to serve fellow PAs in the State. There are a lot of jobs that need to be done and we can use the help.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be your President this past year.
Sincerely
Dan Buchin
President’s Message:
By Dan Buchin, PA-C
10/28/08
Hello everyone;
If you are able to help out with Special Olympics in your area, please consider doing so.
I have done this on several occasions as both a medical volunteer and as a "wahtever you need" volunteer. I can tell you how rewarding it is. I will pass on news from the Regional Directors for Special Olympics as I receive them and of course they are always willing to speak with you directly.
Also on a sad note, I don't know how many of you know John Trimbath PA-C who practices in the Cleveland, OH area and is on the Board of Directors for AAPA.
John was in an accident last Thursday and broke his neck. I have little information right now except surgery was pending and he only had feeling above the mid-chest.
Hopefully will hear more this week. Please keep John and his family in your prayers. Feel free to contact me at:
Hello Dan:
We would love your help with events in Idaho. I am not sure if you have chapters all over the state, but we are always looking for volunteers. In fact, we have an event on November 15th. It is our Area Bowling Competition. The athletes will be from Boise, Caldwell, Nampa and surrounding area. Do you have any physician assistants in this area to help us out that day? The event will be held at Westy's Lanes in Garden City. Competition begins at 12:30pm and we ask volunteers to show up about 11:45am to register and help set up.
We also have our own Area Winter sports competition in February at Bogus Basin. We will need volunteers for those events as well. The exact date is to be announced at a later date. All events for the entire state of Idaho, is located on our website at: www.idso.org. The volunteers may also register online at the website.
Thank you for contacting us. We look forward to working with you!
Thanks for all you do!
Jennifer Gardner
Southwest Idaho Area Director
Special Olympics Idaho
(208) 724-1740
(208) 859-8198
President's Report
IAPA BOD Meeting 8/23/08
In my initial letter for the website, I addressed my reasons for belonging to IAPA. It may or may not entice anyone else to join, but my feelings remain unchanged. I still believe that EVERY PA in this State should be a member and as many as possible to be active with the Academy.
We have had major issues, this year, involving Idaho PAs, that have been dealt with, are continuing to be dealt with, and will need to be dealt with over this next year. Not staying current with what is happening in the State and on a National level CAN hurt you. It can affect your job and has affected jobs of PAs throughout the State. WE need your support. At the very least, check idahopa.org to see what we are doing.
As Chair of the AAPA Elections Committee, I also want to encourage voter participation in Elections both at the National and State level.
AAPA will be going to an all electronic voting process in 2009. It is time for this but I am not sure every one agrees. The numbers for this last election are as follows:
Eligible Voters 30,123
Paper Ballots 2,758
Web ballots 1,723
Percent returned 14.8%
Unfortunately, the 14.8% is about average for AAPA elections over the past several years. There are a lot of reasons for this.
What concerns me as President of IAPA, is that the voter turnout for Idaho was dismal. Out of a possible 218 eligible voters, 27 actually took the time to vote. Electronic voting took all of 5 minutes out of my busy schedule.
Because of the consistently low voter turn out, and because of the cost of mailing out thousand of ballots that are never returned, electronic voting becomes much more cost-effective and is easy to do. Almost everyone can have computer access somewhere, even at a public library.
I tell you this because there are a whole group of members who would like to see the voting moved to the House of Delegates and although we would all like to think that our delegates have the ear of their constituents and know how and for whom they should vote, we all know that this is not likely to happen. So essentially, the right to vote would be removed from the general membership and I hate to see this happen.
On a more positive note, the voting numbers for our own IAPA elections were a little better this year. Out of 208 ballots mailed out to eligible voters, we received 52 back or 25%.
My message: VOTE. Don't lose this right. Be informed. Be Active.
I hope to meet with Idaho Legislatures in the next Session to again push for legislation to allow us to write Home Health orders and Hospice orders for our Medicare patients. AAPA is also working with the 110th Congress to amend the Medicaid statute to designate PAs as federally-mandated Medicaid covered providers under fee-for-service plans and to require Medicaid managed care plans to recognize PAs as primary care case managers. All of us can write and/or call our legislators to discuss these important issues that again affect many of us on a daily basis. More information on these issues can be found on the AAPA website
We will work hard at keeping the website current. Check it often.
Thank you for your support.
Dan Buchin
President
Presidential Report - Summer 2008
My first 12 years as a PA were spent in the US Navy so I never joined a state Academy and in fact was never even asked to join by any state academy.
When I moved to Idaho in 1992, I finally decided to join. In 1993 I became a member of IAPA. In 1994 Trish Berglund asked me to go to the Western Region Meeting. Since then I have been involved with IAPA in a variety of areas.
I tell you this because it is very easy to find reasons not to join the Idaho Academy working for the VA. I am not even requires I have a state license if I choose not to.
Living and working in Idaho is important to me. I pay all of my own dues and licensing fees, for me joining IAPA and AAPA is not an option and part of being a PA.
Being a professional means belonging to a professional association, in my opinion.
Less than ½ of the active PA’s in the state belong to IAPA and yet IAPA is dealing with issues that can potentially affect the rules and regulation of every PA working in the state.
We need your support especially when we work with the Board of Medicine and the Legislators. So please consider joining IAPA. For those who are members, please consider running for a position on the board or help with a committee.
If you have a question for any board member join the new list serve for members of IAPA by using iapa@discussthis.com. You can ask questions, share your opinion or just announce what is happening in your area through this list serve.
You can also email me at danbuchin@yahoo.com
Thank you,
Dan Buchin, PA-C
President Elect
Idaho Academy of Physicians