FROM TTHHEE DDEESSKK OOF BRYAN BOEHRINGER Bryan Boehringer Interim CEO Oregon Medical Association bryan@theOMA.org Togetthheerr,, wwee can do moorree ttoo make tthhee pprraaccttiiccee of excceelllleenntt medicine possible in this time of seemingly endless change. Protecting the Delivery of Quality Health Care is on All of Us A STRONG PRESENCE IN the Oregon Legislature is crucial to the effective practice of medicine during the turbulent times of health care reform. Public policy decisions affecting health care in some manner are made every day the legislature is in session. Fortunately, OMA members have a dedicated Government Relations team working for them. That is, OMA has your back in Salem. Our team writes and presents testimony and materials for members, educates legislators about issues that affect providers and their patients, and tracks the progress of hundreds of bills. After session, they read mountains of regulations and develop toolkits for members explaining the most complex issues. OMA’s legislative agenda had some notable wins. I want to call out one very important success for 2015. The climate for medical malpractice reform in Oregon is not physician friendly. This session a bill was introduced to repeal and eliminate the reasonable and constitutionally upheld limit on non-economic damages recoverable in wrongful death lawsuits. This change would likely increase costs to our health care system, and could limit access to care in rural areas. This cap exists to bring stability to our liability system ensuring that the cost of liability insurance doesn’t skyrocket. The OMA team assembled a coalition to oppose this change and orchestrated a grassroots campaign with OMA members to educate legislators. In July, the proposal died with the session, never making it out of committee. This kind of victory doesn’t happen without a strong OMA membership and their willingness to weigh in with their legislators. We have been conducting focus group research to better understand our members and what they are looking for in their OMA membership. One of the interesting things we learned is that advocacy is largely seen as necessary and relevant to problems in Oregon, but seen as someone else’s duty. Our facilitator concluded that the membership is more accepting of “passive attitudes and minimal activity” when it comes to participating in advocacy and other efforts put forth by the association. Fortunately, for the battles waged in Salem, enough members believed it was their duty to get involved and act. It’s true that a win in Salem for the OMA is usually a win for all of Oregon’s physicians and physician assistants, but it is crucial for our continued work around complex issues that all practitioners we represent join and actively participate in the fight. While the OMA is viewed as one of the leading advocacy groups for organized medicine, we need all of Oregon’s physicians and physician assistants actively participating to increase our reach. The greater the membership base, the more relevant the organization becomes. Together, our voice is heard louder and clearer to lawmakers in Salem. If you are an OMA member, thank you. We need you on our committees, attending our events, donating to the OMPAC and OMEF Foundation and recruiting additional members. If you aren’t a member, take the time to thank an OMA member for underwriting advocacy efforts that directly benefit you. Then consider joining or letting us know what we need to do to motivate you to join. Together, we can do more to make the practice of excellent medicine possible in this time of seemingly endless change. Join us to make a difference for medicine in Oregon. 6 Medicine in Oregon www.TheOMA.org
OMA Medicine in Oregon Fall 2015
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