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| VSO Day at The Capitol
February 9,
2010
The Virginia General Assembly
will convene its 2010 Session on Wednesday,
January 13. A number of important and
controversial matters affecting the delivery of
health care in the Commonwealth are expected to be
considered by legislators.
Please
join the VSO in addressing these and other
important issues affecting our
specialty:
- Protecting physician Medicaid
payments from cuts to balance the state budget
shortfall;
- Protecting services under
Medicaid and FAMIS;
- Opposing the Virginia Trial
Lawyer's attempts to challenge and take down the
physician malpractice cap on damages;
- Aggressive attempts by
non-physicians to practice medicine;
- Physician workforce shortages
and specialty shortages;
- Regulation of new health
professions;
- And many, many
others.
The leadership of the Society
believes that it is essential for the Society to
participate in legislative discussions involving
health care delivery in Virginia. VSO
members are invited to gather in Richmond on
Tuesday, February 9, 2010, for a "Day at the
Capitol." Please make plans to attend so
that you may visit with your Delegate and Senator
and with other members of the General Assembly
committees that will consider critical health care
legislation. (Click here to
find out who is your legislative
representative.)
This year is an especially
important year for advocacy; with a new Governor
and 20 new members of the House of Delegates VSO
members are needed to educate these new
legislators. Many of these new members - and
the veteran legislators - do not understand our
specialty and why access is critical.
A high turnout will help legislators "put a
face" with the VSO and impress them with our
commitment to providing responsible health care
delivery.
Our preliminary plan is to meet in
Richmond at 7:30 a.m. on February 9th at the
Commonwealth Park Suites Hotel, 901 Bank Street
(Corner of Bank & Ninth Streets), for a brief
organizational session by our lobbyist Karin
Addison and the Medical Society of Virginia's
staff (Click here to
view MSV's 2010 Legislative Agenda) before going
over to the General Assembly Building. Jane
Davis, Society Manager will try, to the greatest
extent possible, to set up appointments with your
legislators, although that might not be possible
in every case. Even without appointments, it is
usually possible for constituents to meet with
legislators in their offices when they are not in
committee meetings or at floor sessions.
Please try to make some time to join
us at the "VSO Day at the Capitol" - Tuesday,
February 9, 2010. Let me know of your
availability by filling out the response
form (Click here to
download reponse form) and we'll do our best to
make the most productive use of your time that
day. If you cannot attend in person, we
encourage all VSO members to have a vocal presence
during the 2010 Session and contact your
legislator. Please look for legislative
updates in your Member Alerts and for updated
information from AAO go to http://www.entnet.org/Practice/members/stateAdvocacy.cfm
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2010 Combined VSO/UVA Fitz-Hugh
Symposium
The 2010 combined
Virginia Society of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck
Surgery Annual Meeting and University of Virginia
Fitz-Hugh Symposium is to be held April 22 - 24,
2010 at the Charlottesville Omni, Charlottesville,
Virginia. Please join us for an outstanding
educational program. This year's
theme, "Office-based Otolaryngology: What
You Need to Know," will highlight office-based
laryngology with Dr. Peak Woo of New York,
allegery and rhinology with Dr. Bradley Marple of
Texas, and office-based facial plastic surgery
with Dr. Tom Wang of Oregon. If
you have ever thought of starting an
allergy practice in your Otolaryngology
office, or tried basic facial plastic surgical
procedures, now is the time to come and learn from
the experts. This CME approved event
will also serve as an opportunity to meet
with other Otolaryngologists from around the
state, and provide an update on legislative and
practice issues that affect all of us.
We invite all members to submit
abstracts to be considered for inclusion in the
scientific program. Abstracts for papers for
the 2010 program must be submitted January
18, 2010. Please include the
following information: Title, Author(s),
name of Presenter, Presentation Format, and
contact information of the person submitting the
abstract and of the presenter. Abstracts
should be no longer than 250 words and should
include the following sections: Objectives,
Materials and Methods, Results, and
Conclusions.
All abstracts must be submitted
electronically to Jane Davis, Society Manager
at jdavis@ramdocs.org. You will
receive confirmation of receipt of your abstract
after it is submitted. If you do not receive
a confirmation within 24 hours, please contact Ms.
Davis via email or by phone at 804/622-8135.
We ask the academic Department Chairs to
encourage their residents to participate in the
meeting and to submit abstracts by the
January 18 deadline. An abstract may be
accepted for inclusion in the scientific program
as either an oral or poster presentation.
Two resident awards will be given out based on
oral presentations and one award will be given out
based on the poster presentation.
We have reserve a block of rooms for meeting
attendees, which will expire on April 8,
2010. To ensure that you get the room that
best accommodates your needs, please call the Omni
at 434/971-5500. Be sure to ask for the
VSO/Fitz-Hugh discounted room rate!
Mark your calendars for April 22- 24, 2010 to
join fellow otolaryngologists for a superb
educational program. Please visit our
website www.vso-hns.org to register and
get updates on the combined
conference! | |
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Virginia Society of Otolaryngology -
Head & Neck Surgery
Jane B. Davis
Society Manager
2201 West Broad Street, Suite
205 Richmond, Virginia 23220
804/622-8135 direct line
804/788-9987 fax
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