The meeting was called to order by Dr Jenny Powell, President of the Missouri chapter of AAPS at 12:33 p.m. at the Hereford House in Independence, Missouri. Dr. Powell presented a brief introduction of AAPS policies and member benefits. Dr Jenny Powell introduced us to a new class of physicians termed Assistant Physicians that include medical school graduates that have not been accepted into a residency program. Apparently there are many more graduates than residency slots available. Dr Powell also reported the recent AAPS meeting, Thrive, Not Just Survive is a workshop for cash based practices. Dr Powell was a speaker on the panel of cash-based practices, and AAPS attorney, Andrew Schafly presented an update on the legal front.
The last meeting minutes were read and approved. Motion to approve was by Dr Helen Gelhot and seconded by Dr Todd Rice.
Vice president Dr Phil Dean was not in attendance and no report was presented.
Treasurer’s report by Dr Todd Rice stated there are no dues for the state AAPS chapter and the meeting meals are provided by AAPS.
Secretary’s report by myself, Dr Nancy Russell requested a copy of attendees to add to the minutes and asked if anyone would not want their name to be in the minutes.
Wes Powell, Citizen representative for AAPS at the State level in Missouri reported that Dr John Lilly, who was present, is President of the Locke and Smith Foundation which reviews pre-bills at the state level to assess for constitutionality of each bill. Mr Powell noted that this was a slow year for bill in the state legislature with 99 bills presented by the House regarding health care out of the 1300 total bills. Mr Powell reported no active bills to act on at the present time. Mr Powell hosted a table for Physician’s day at the State Capitol in Jefferson City representing AAPS and found a few interested physicians in the organization.
Old Business
Dr Powell reminded us of the importance of reaching out to medical students and residents to make them aware of the AAPS and get literature to them. We were also reminded that we can gift any physician a one year free membership to AAPS.
Dr John Lilly reported that he had published his research on physician drug monitoring programs in a national publication recently and copies were available if we are interested in this analytical evaluation. He reported physician prescribed opioid deaths have leveled off. Illicit fentanyl from China and Mexico deaths have increased 635% from 2014 to 2016 causing many deaths. Regarding the bill to institute physician drug monitoring statewide is not under review at this time. Missouri is the last state that does not have a statewide physician drug monitoring program and he reiterated that this type of program does not reduce patient deaths. Dr Lilly reported we are close to having a national drug prescribing data base. Medicare recommendations for 2019 may become rules that could hurt a lot of chronic pain patients.
The anonymous complaint case that was presented to us has been closed without action. AAPS wants to go forward to present a bill to make it illegal to investigate anonymous complaints.
Election of Officers: We decided that our Missouri Chapter does not need a treasurer position. The floor was opened for nominations and the slate is as follows:
President- Dr Jenny Powell
Vice President- Dr Sam Gupta
Secretary-Dr Helen Gelhot
Motion to accept the slate of officers was offered by Dr Todd Rice and seconded by Dr Nancy Russell. Vote to accept the slate was unanimous and the slate passed.
New Business- none
CME presenters were 1. Andi Roths, PharmD from Custom Rx Pharmacy in Wichita, KS , “Clinical Applications of LDN.” and 2. Jane Orient, MD from the AAPS Headquarters, “Population Health versus Hippocrates Health”. All attendees received CME credit for these presentations.
Next Missouri Chapter AAPS meeting will be Saturday, July 21st at Lake of the Ozarks.
Next Annual National AAPS meeting will be October 3-6th in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The meeting adjourned at 2:45 P.M.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Dr Nancy Russell.