POLICY & ADVOCACY
FIGHT THE POWER, Responsibly
Rishi Kumar, MD
L
ike many physicians that I know, I
have not historically been keen to
spend my little free time on “poli-
tics.” And every time I tell myself,
“Okay, this is the last time I’m go-
ing to say ‘yes’ to participating in a day of
advocacy or being part of a GLMS commit-
tee or helping to sponsor a campaign,” I get
sucked right back in.
reward. Further, we continue to see the fruits of this labor (see
below), and truly it is labor and sacrifice. So, let us not place this
burden upon the few, but rather let us come together as a formida-
ble force. Please, against your natural tendency, come participate
in a meeting, write the check, make the phone call, write the email,
talk to your representative, visit glms.org, contact the Kentucky
Medical Association, reach out on social media, and in the words
of the great Chuck D, “Fight the [corrosive] power that be.”
WINS:
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Cue The
Godfather music. Senate Bill 54 – Ensures greater transparency and access to prior
authorization
Now, as the initially-reluctant chair of the GLMS Policy and
Advocacy (P&A) Committee, I realize that we have no alternative
but to participate. As a colleague of mine recently wrote in bit-
terness, “So often, it is hard to not feel as if we have plighted our
troth to a profession, which has dashed the cup of life’s joy from
our lips. Reimbursement, EMR’s, plaintiffs, and on and on.” Senate Bill 30 – Requires insurers to cover genetic tests for cancer
risks
As physicians we are, in my strongly biased opinion, to be most
like Plato’s virtuous philosophical ruler and therefore must head
up the charge against what Cicero termed “the corroding tenden-
cies of power,” requiring “true philosophic greatness of spirit [and]
the moral goodness to which Nature most aspires. (1)” Who else
but your local GLMS physician? Dr. Kumar practices ophthalmology at the Kumar Eye Institute.
As P&A Chair, meeting and becoming friendly with many
fine examples of this type of virtuous character has been a great
House Bill 11 – Smoke Free Schools
Defeated Senate Bill 132 – Expansion of APRN scope of practice.
1. Cicero, De Officiis, trans. Walter Miller (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1913). IX.65
To join the Policy and Advocacy Team, email
[email protected].
MAY 2019
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