Today, I’m supposed to see one of my congressmen at MYA. While I appreciate the attempt to make it easier for a non-political person such as myself to see our representatives I think it’s less likely to see dramatic changes when I’m going with the idea of three bullet points. Not one has specific actions. Not one has to do with the key function that opens the door to the full practice and autonomy that full billing rights does.
I say this quite possibly out of naivety. My idea is that if we can bill independently at 100% for all of our services then the right to work autonomously would be a natural progression.
I see the ASA involved in so many layers of government and see our CRNAs in so few places. Honestly, the MYA was much more expensive than I expected and less well attended than I expected.
I went to the Region 2 update and was impressed to hear about our reactivity to each of the bills in each state. I heard of 1-5 bills presenting legislation in each state that would better AA, ASA or decrease CRNA practice. IN EACH STATE!!! I didn’t hear that we presented bills, we sat on these committees and task force set-up by. I heard the AANA did a first ever state leadership retreat to Vegas though. Several were happy about this.
I see that the Cultural Assessment is in full swing and I know people cried for this but the membership slid down a few more points this year. I guess I don’t understand the cultural piece as this is a business and professional organization that should be fighting for CRNAs based not on culture, ideals, or in an unbiased opinion. I think the political piece is a large part of what should be our organization but we don’t even raise 3 providers income among 50,000 CRNAs in any given year to work with.
I offered to put a link on the locumCRNA.com page that would say to support the PAC and was told that it was illegal to do so. I learned something new.
I don’t know what is in our future but am quite aware that we need to do better as a professional organization and we all need to be more involved than we are. Billing rights and autonomy of practice will be paramount principles for independent practice and advancing our profession. As a locum that enjoys nearly all practice environments I think that this focus and becoming more involved in each states organization can only help us. But, involvement means action, knowledge, and fricking membership for those that aren’t even a member of our professional organization.
You have seen my financial information and I’m still a member of our AANA, donate to the PAC monthly, and despite my poor political affiliations I am here trying to learn and grow just to maintain or improve our profession in the future. I am starting to get some of the knowledge beyond just being a provider, or clinical educator in the OR.
Please take some time to go to the state meetings or national meetings and start getting involved in what we need to do for ourselves. Consider a contribution to either the AANA which is tax deductible or to the PAC which is not. Both advance us as a professional organization just in different ways.
Just my 2 cents.
