The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society Med Journal Feb 2019 Final 2

WHAT HAVE WE DONE FOR YOU LATELY? The 92 nd General Assembly Begins DAVID WROTEN EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT T he Arkansas General As- sembly is just beginning, and your profession is already being attacked from all sides. What you do over the next 60 days can and will determine the outcome on several impor- tant issues. First and foremost, it seems like everyone wants to be a physician without having to go to medical school. Each session has its share of “scope-of-practice” bills, but this is certainly one for the books. Here is a quick look at what is on deck. There will likely be others as well, but these are the ones we already know about. » » Optometrists want the Legislature to give them the right to perform surgery on your eyes. Yes, that’s right. Scalpels, lasers, nee- dles, you name it. They have hired multiple contract lobbyists and PR firms to help them in their efforts. » » APRNs will be back for the umpteenth time with multiple bills to try to circumvent medi- cal school. They want to remove the collab- orative practice requirement, write Schedule II prescriptions, mandate that Medicaid treat them as PCPs, and get paid on an equal ba- sis as physicians. Also included in their is- sues are the CRNAs who want to repeal the physician supervision requirement. » » Pharmacists are in the game as well. They want to dispense oral contraceptives and smoking cessation drugs and give im- munizations to our children through what they’re calling a “statewide protocol.” That’s basically an open-ended prescription with a single physician at the health department, allowing pharmacists to dispense without a doctor’s prescription for a specific patient. I hope you can appreciate the challenge these scope bills present for the AMS. Most legislators understand the education and training differences between physicians and these other groups, but remember: this is a political issue and legislators respond to constituents. Each of these provider groups are organized, and they rally their mem- bers to send emails, make phone calls, show up for committee hearings, and talk to their legislators while home in the district. They are important con- stituents to legislators and each have their role in providing health care to patients. Optometrists are good at what they do, but they are not trained to be eye surgeons. APRNs are important and do good work, but their training cannot compare to a three- year family practice residency. Don’t think for a minute that legislators won’t support legislation that you think is obviously flawed for lack of training and education. That’s a quick way to lose. THEY NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU. It’s better if when you call, they know you. As the session progresses, you’ll receive alerts and “calls to action” from your AMS legislative staff. What you do with those alerts will most definitely determine what happens to these scope-of-prac- tice bills. Some represent a direct attack on your profession and an afront to the years of education and training you’ve gone through to become a phy- sician. You are all in this together. Not just ophthal- mologists; not just family practice, not just ob/gyns. All of medicine must come together when we send a call to action. What makes these scope fights even more dif- ficult is that they limit our resources to pass our own legislative initiatives. You’ll be hearing about those as well…stay tuned! What you do with those alerts will most definitely determine what happens to these scope-of- practice bills. 172 • THE JOURNAL OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAL SOCIETY David Wroten Executive Vice President Penny Henderson Executive Assistant Journal Advertising Nicole Richards Managing Editor Jeremy Henderson Art Director EDITORIAL BOARD Appathurai Balamurugan, MD, DrPH, MPH Family Medicine/Public Health Tim Paden, MD Family Medicine Sandra Johnson, MD Dermatology Issam Makhoul, MD Oncology Naveen Patil, MD, MHSA, MA, FIDSA Internal Medicine/Infectious Disease Benjamin Tharian, MD, MRCP, FACP, FRACP Gastroenterologist/Hepatologist Robert Zimmerman, MD Urology Tobias Vancil, MD Internal Medicine Darrell Over, MD Family Medicine EDITOR EMERITUS Alfred Kahn Jr., MD (1916-2013) ARKANSAS MEDICAL SOCIETY 2018-2019 OFFICERS Lee Archer, MD, Little Rock President Amy Cahill, MD, Pine Bluff Immediate Past President Dennis Yelvington, MD, Stuttgart President Elect Chad Rodgers, MD, Little Rock Vice President George Conner, MD, Forrest City Secretary Bradley Bibb, MD, Jonesboro Treasurer Danny Wilkerson, MD, Little Rock Chairman of the Board of Trustees VOLUME 115

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