WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ADOPTED POLICY: The Vermont State Medical Society urges each VSMS member to inform their representatives in the Vermont General Assembly of the problem and express their opposition to the fee schedule directly to Governor Howard Dean, M.D. The VSMS directs its staff to work with representatives of the business and labor communities to develop an amended rule for consideration by Governor Howard Dean no later than November 1st, 1994. In the absence of a satisfactory rule filed by November 1st, 1994, the VSMS directs its staff to terminate all efforts to correct the problem administratively and begin to take any legal and legislative action necessary. (Annual Report 1995, Page 9)
IMPROVEMENT OF VERMONT’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM RESOLVED, that the Vermont Medical Society will actively work to improve Vermont’s health care system by: Promoting universal coverage, which ensures access; Eliminating the under-reimbursement of health care practitioners and health care facilities by the Medicaid and Medicare programs; Maximizing the percent health care dollars that support direct provision of patient care; Supporting evidence-based medicine; Aligning payment policies with quality improvement; Encouraging a collaborative, multidisciplinary process in the treatment of chronic conditions; Creating a legal environment that fosters high quality patient care and relieves financial strain and administrative burden for physicians; and Supporting healthier lifestyles, through incentives for identified health risk avoidance; The Vermont Medical Society will actively collaborate with other health care organizations, consumer groups, business groups, public and private purchasers, and state and federal agencies in order to reduce the burden of illness, injury and disability, and to improve the health and functioning of Vermonters; The Vermont Medical Society will assess its progress in achieving these goals by utilizing the Institute of Medicine’s six major aims for health care improvement. The IOM proposed the following six aims for healthcare improvement in their 2001 report “Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century.” Healthcare should be: Safe – avoiding injuries to patients from the care that is intended to help them. Effective – providing services on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and refraining from providing services not likely to benefit (avoiding underuse and overuse, respectively). Patient-Centered – providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, values, and ensuring that patients values guide all clinical decisions. Timely – reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for both those who receive and those who give care. Equitable – providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status. Efficient – avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy. (Adopted on October 18, 2003)
That the Vermont Medical Society will urge the Vermont Department of Health and Vermont Board of Medical Practice to pursue alternatives to disciplinary action, such as educational outreach, for any prescriber attempting in good faith to comply with the Rules; That the Vermont Medical Society will urge the Vermont Department of Health to continue to use Vermont Prescription Monitoring Program data as a clinical tool and resist attempts to use the data for law enforcement purposes aimed at prescribers. (As adopted at VMS Annual Meeting on November 4, 2017) PATIENT-PHYSICIAN RELATIONSHIP ADOPTED POLICY: The Vermont State Medical Society endorses the American Medical Association’s fundamental elements of the patient-physician relationship as adopted from the report of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs as follows: