You Dear Colleagues Rock!!

[Guest guest]

Hi doctors,

I continue to receive initiative sheets in the mail daily

and we are now over 1000

Signatures!

You colleagues are the best keep’em coming

Cool

News From the Capitol:

On Wed morning of this week I had to be present and the last

interim meeting of the House Business and

Labor Committee as our four Workers Comp Bills were on the

committee’s agenda. Here is the very cool part. Over the last

several months I had been traveling the state (Medford to Portland) meeting

with and lobbying the individual committee members and lastly the Chair of the

committee (Rep. Mike Schaufler) in hopes of gathering support for our four

bills. I also traveled the state meeting with each of the 10 members of

the Management-Labor Advisory Committee (a.k.a, MLAC 5-labor, 5-management)

equally in hopes of gaining their support. I can tell you dear colleagues

that we have the support of every one of the House Business and Labor Committee

members as well as all five of the Labor

members of MLAC even more substantial is that the Chairman of the Business and

Labor Committee Rep. Mike Schaufler offered to make our four bills his “Committee Bills” which is huge

for us and he guarantee us a hearing on them as well when the legislative

session starts. As per the Management-Labor Advisory Committee the

“hard sell” of course is the “management” side of MLAC

whose five members are beholding to the business lobby, insurance companies

(e.g. SAIF, Liberty)

the closed panel managed care organizations, self-insured companies, IME-Vendors

etc.

Ok so here was the cool thing..all of our proposed bills

were confidential at this point (known as LC-drafts) so our opposition our

enemies had not yet seen any of our proposals prior to this morning committee

meeting at which time they were to become public record once presented by the

committee. Our enemies filled the room behind me as I said in the front

row of the hearing room. The agenda for the committee meeting

specifically stated that the meeting was to introduce committee bills and though our bills were

being presented by the chair himself he needed the votes of his committee

members to in fact introduce them as the committee’s bills. There

were only five bills being presented copies of which were laid out on the table

by staff for interested parties to pick up and read for the first time, as the

lobbyists for the folks who usually oppose us started to read our bills you

could here them start to whisper among themselves behind me as I said. I

could hear them saying: “Look at

this! Look at this! This is all the stuff they lost etc.! Just

about this time Rep. Diane Rosenbaum walked over and sat down next to me in

full view of these folks and well within “ear shot” and said:

“Hi Vern looks like you’ve been

busy! Is it your intention to make these all House Bills?” I

said; “Well Chair Schaufler has

offered to make them his committee bills so yes” She

said; “That’s wonderful

you let me know how I can help on the Senate side, you know I’m in full

support of you guys and these proposals so let me know what I can do

ok?” I of course said THANK YOU! Rep. Rosenbaum

ran and won Senator Kate Brown’s Senate seat and will me moving to the

Senate come this 2009 legislative session. She is a huge friend and once

sat on the Labor side of MLAC as a labor member and fully understands the

problems with the MLAC process.

The point being colleagues is that our enemies are still

attempting to adjust to our new found pro-activity they simply are not use to

us going on the offensive…well they had better get use to it…..

Our Workers’ Comp Bills:

Expanding the ridiculously

closed W/C managed care provider panels. This BS has gone on to long

with CareMark Comp having a mere 55 or so DCs on panel and Providence MCO

approx 56 versus some 600-800 of our dear colleagues in the Portland Metro

area. I have over 70 colleagues in the Central Oregon area with I

believe a lousy 3 DCs on Oregon Health Systems panel there which is the

only MCO in the area. The same holds true for the Salem-Keizer,

Eugene-Springfield, Medford-Ashland etc., etc. areas.

Prohibiting the steering of

injured workers to particular Occupational Medical Clinics, particular

Urgent Care Clinics, or particular doctors/providers by employers or

insurance carriers with penalties. Current Oregon W/C law

doesn’t specifically “prohibit” directing or mandating

treatment but this is implied by current law language that states the

injured worker can treat with the provider of their choice. Our bill

adds language that specifically prohibits this activity. The

carriers, MCOs, employers all say this is not happening which is why I

need your letters..

A “Come-Along”

provision which simply states that if you have an existing doctor-patient

relationship with that injured worker for other unrelated health issues

you must be allowed on panel for that patient only provided you agree to

follow the MCO guidelines. This is our less than desirable fall back

bill.

Impairment Rating by

chiropractic physicians at time of claim closure. Currently only a

MD or DO can rate impairment which is nonsense and something our bill

changes.

We are going to gain these things for injured workers as it

is what is right and because our proposals make logical sense and I don’t

care how long it takes we are going to continue to push for what is right and

that which injured workers so rightly deserve. Though it is very likely

that the current “Management” side of MLAC will shoot our four

bills down because they know the current Governor has given them proxy veto

power we will stay the course, keep gaining the necessary documentation that

supports our proposals and the travesty of it all toward injured workers and

wait for the next Governor fully educating her or him as per the BS that is

MLAC, and the Governor after that, and the one after that, etc., etc. The

current Workers’ Comp System is such anti-worker BS that it must and will

be changed truth and that which is right and just will always prevail it just

takes time and diligence on our part we will “stay the course”…we

will be like “bulldogs with a pork chop” we will never ever let go!

To the continued good fight have a wonderful weekend and

keep them initiative signature sheets coming!!!

Vern Saboe

If you have any questions call me at 541-231-4528