Many records were broken during LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE 2019 in May this year. More ASA members than ever before – nearly 650 – traveled to Washington, D.C. to hear about the top issues impacting the specialty. There were also a record number of residents and medical students in attendance. Overall, I was inspired by the physician anesthesiologists and anesthesiologist assistants who took the time to attend the conference and learn more about the top policy issues – and then who took action to inform their lawmakers.
The development and maintenance of strong relationships with elected officials on Capitol Hill continue to help advance our advocacy initiatives. As of the end of May, there have been more than 200 Congressional visits reported, including 21 with newly elected officials who may be unfamiliar with the specialty of anesthesiology. Feedback from these offices has been extremely positive. There were five main topics we advocated...
