HJAR May/Jun 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAY / JUN 2021 9 to our citizens to stay home. Telemedicine played a significant role in helping physi- cians continue to provide care for their patients, primarily using the telephone. AMS worked with several of our insurance car- riers who adopted emergency provisions in their health plans to allow for reimburse- ment for services provided over the phone. That continues today, and legislation is in progress that would make that a permanent part of health insurance. One of the hidden or less often dis- cussed problems has been burnout. This has impacted not only physicians on the front lines but all the medical personnel who were, on a day-to-day basis, dealing with the pandemic up close and personal: those in the emergency departments, ICUs, infectious disease physicians, etc. We do not yet know the full toll that has had on our healthcare professionals. Editor As we speak, the 2021 General Assembly of the Arkansas Legislature is Dianne Hartley, Editor It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many unexpected changes and challenges to humanity. What are the biggest challenges Arkansas Medical Society members have faced during this time and will face moving forward? David Wroten The challenges have been numerous. For most physicians, lack of available PPE has been one of the biggest problems, particularly during the first nine months of the pandemic. This is one area where AMS, with a lot of help and sup- port from Governor Hutchinson, was able to step in and make a real difference. Over the course of several months, theAMS sup- plied over 3 million pieces of PPE to over 500 medical practices across the state. In the early stages of the pandemic, many clinics were forced to limit access to their practices due to the lack of PPE, the ADH directive prohibiting most elective surger- ies and procedures and the encouragement in session, and because of the pandemic, healthcare is on many more dockets than normal. You shared with your group that “this is going to be the most challenging legislative session most of us have ever been through.” What stance is AMS taking on these proposed issues, and why? Wroten AMS monitors such a large volume of healthcare legislation that it would be impossible to cover in an article. Let me tell you about the major areas where we took an active position. Two of the biggest issues of the session are the reauthorization of the Medicaid expansion program and another effort to repeal the “soda pop” tax. Reauthorization of the Medicaid expan- sion program is always a challenge due to the necessity of obtaining a 75% majority vote on both ends of the Capitol. The pro- gram itself only needs a majority vote, but the appropriationmust have a three-fourths vote. AMS has been a strong supporter of Medicaid expansion, and there can be no The COVID-19 pandemic has been a surprise to many of how powerful the government’s role is in healthcare, especially on the state level. For nearly 150 years, the Arkansas Medical Society has been an advocate for Arkansas’ physicians and a collective voice to politicians across the state. We sat down with David Wroten, AMS executive vice president, in the midst of the busy legislative session to discuss this influential group’s vision.