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This week, ASA President James D. Grant was a featured participant in a panel discussion about healthcare initiatives at the Republican Governors Association (RGA) Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. Participants on the panel included Governor Pete Ricketts of Nebraska; Governor Paul LePage of Maine; and representatives of other health stakeholders.
The panel discussed meaningful healthcare initiatives and reforms that could result in stable programs to help millions of Americans. Dr. Grant’s remarks focused on physician anesthesiologists’ response to the opioid abuse epidemic. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is a leading voice in working to address the opioid abuse crisis through its involvement in a number of initiatives. Of particular note, ASA is working in collaboration with the hospitals of Premier, Inc., to launch a national opioid safety pilot. The pilot seeks to decrease opioid use during and after surgery as well as at discharge, by employing multimodal therapy, through evidence-based medical practices and patient education. This is one way to reduce the number of medications in America’s households and prevent those medications from getting into the wrong hands, a large contributing factor to this epidemic.
Through ASAPAC, ASA belongs to many different state political organizations: RGA, the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), and the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (RLCC). Membership with these organizations gives ASA the opportunity to advocate on behalf of physician anesthesiologists to a wide variety of state elected officials.
Physician anesthesiologists can serve as an important resource to elected officials. For more information on how to get involved in your state, contact Erin Philp at [email protected].
 ASA President James Grant, M.D., FASA with Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts. |
 ASA President James Grant M.D., FASA discusses the opioid crisis with Governors and health stakeholders at the RGA meeting. |
