VOS Proposes Legislative 
Items at MSV Summit
VOS presented three concepts for consideration at the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) Legislative Summit on May 14. Each year, this is the forum for initial development of MSV’s legislative agenda. In 2008-09, maintenance of Virginia’s medical malpractice cap is organized medicine’s top priority. For “Protect the Cap” information, visit CLICK HERE
or contact VOS lobbyist Cal Whitehead.
Other issues presented by VOS were:
- Expanding malpractice reporting requirements to all health professionals. Current law only requires reporting for Board of Medicine licensees.
- Exploring definitions of surgery and “practice of medicine” in order to better define the boundaries for allied health professions and the use of new technologies like lasers.
- Creating an exemption from Certificate of Public Need (COPN) requirements for equipment under the $1.5 million threshold. This would allow physician practices to offer more services to patients in the office setting.
The MSV Legislative Committee will consider all input from the Legislative Summit at its June 26 meeting and determine which issues to advance.
Julious P. Smith III, MD
West End Orthopaedic Clinic
VOS Names Delegate Bob Purkey
2008 Legislator of the Year
At the VOS Annual Meeting, held May 2-4, 2008 in Wintergreen,Immediate-Past President Wilford Gibson, MD presented Delegate Bob Purkey (R-Virginia Beach) with the Society’s Legislator of the Year award. Delegate Purkey, who has served in the General Assembly for 22 years, was recognized for his support of physicians and patients by promoting high standards of professionalism in healthcare policy. As the long-time Chairman of the House Health Professions subcommittee, Delegate Purkey helped defeat numerous measures that would have inappropriately expanded scopes of practice for non-physicians. In addition, he has been a staunch advocate for deregulating COPN requirements to promote competition and expanded access in medical care.
Cal Whitehead
cwhitehead@whiteheadconsulting.net
Board of Councilor's Report
National Orthopaedic
Leadership Conference
On April 30-May 2, the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons National Orthopaedic Leadership Conference was held In Washington, DC. More than 200 Orthopaedic surgeons from around the country participated and visited Capitol Hill to meet with numerous congressional representatives.
The AAOS Advocacy Research Committee, chaired by David Teuscher, MD, spent time educating our orthopedic surgery representatives on two critical messages that were delivered to congress. The first was a request that Congress find a permanent fix for the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) physician payment formula. The second was to increase support for the “Access to America’s Orthopaedic Services Act of 2008,” which is being sponsored by Representatives Hilda Solis, D-Calif., and Mike Burgess, R-Texas.
The NOLC Conference included a lecture from Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who spoke on the importance of advocacy and the changing health care environment. A town hall meeting, focusing on the future of health care in America, was led by George Allen, the former Governor of Virginia. The NOLC general session provided information on the future of healthcare reform, medical liability reform, and the Canadian healthcare system.
The day of the NOLC Hill visits proved to very successful. More than a 100 offices were visited on Capital Hill. Eric Guidi, MD (BOC Representative) and Bobby Chhabra were the Virginia state representatives who met with health care legislative aides for Senators Warner and Webb.
The Virginia Orthopaedic Society hopes to send more representatives to next year's NOLC meeting, which will be held on April 29 - May 2, 2009. Please contact our VOS Headquarters if you wish to be involved with next year's visits. Further information on the AAOS Advocacy Committee and the NOLC can be obtained at the following web site: www.aaos.org/Govern/Govern.asp.
A. Bobby Chhabra, MD
Vice-Chair and Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
University of Virginia Health System
ORTHO-PAC solicits contributions from Virginia orthopaedists to fund General Assembly and statewide office candidates who share our goal to foster a better environment for orthopaedic medical care delivery. Political contributions help offset the expenses of campaigns and allow orthopaedists to target our message to important decision-makers. With your support of ORTHO-PAC, we can achieve our mission of educating policymakers about our professional concerns.
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Virginia Orthopaedic Society
2209 Dickens Road
Richmond, VA 23230-2005
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