2018 Resolutions

DuPage County Medical Society Resolutions
2018 Illinois State Medical Society Annual Meeting



ADOPTED

Resolution C310 Funding Treatment for Victims of Domestic Violence
Directs ISMS to seek legislative solutions and other remedies to assure available and adequately funded treatment for victims of domestic violence.

Resolution C312 Elimination of Hepatitis C in Illinois
Establishes policy endorsing the elimination of HCV by 2030, supporting the Illinois HCV Elimination Project, and seeking gubernatorial resolution dedicating the state to the elimination of HCV.

ADOPTED AS AMENDED

Resolution C308 Blindness Prevention
Calls on ISMS to promote dissemination of blindness prevention information and advocate insurance coverage for routine exams by ophthalmologists.

Resolution C316 Product Label Dates
Seeks federal standardization of date labels on foods and products to ensure that they address safety concerns.


REAFFIRMS EXISTING POLICY

Resolution B211 Prescriptions Drug Costs
Advocates for changes to lower the cost of prescription medications, including Medicare price negotiations and FDA-monitored importations.

Resolution C311 AMA to Explore Privately Funded Residency Training Programs
Sought AMA policy supporting evaluation of the feasibility of developing privately funded graduate medical education programs.

Resolution C313 Medicine Cabinet Safety
Called for promotion of information on safely and securely storing medications.

REFERRED FOR BOARD STUDY

Resolution B209 Cloud-based Repository Advance Directives
Seeks creation of a national cloud-based database of advance directives that can be accessed by healthcare institutions on behalf of patients.


SUBSTITUTE ADOPTED

Resolution B210 Costs to Kidney Donors
Asks the AMA to promote legislation to ensure that living kidney donors are reimbursed for expenses associated with donation of their kidney.

Resolution C315 “Retired” Physicians as Community Assets
Directs ISMS to develop a program linking retired physicians with volunteer opportunities and explore ways to assist physicians forced to discontinue practice because of disability.


NOT ADOPTED

Resolution A101 Property Tax Exemptions for Non-Profits
Sought AMA policy for limiting the non-profit organization tax exemption and directing those tax dollars to care in underserved communities.

Resolution B212 Workplace Demeanor
Called for guidelines defining bullying, sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior for medical workplace employees.

Resolution B213 Ineffective NPDB
Sought IDFPR verification of National Practitioner Data Bank reports on physicians sanctioned in other states when they seek licensure in Illinois.

Resolution C307 Milk
Asked ISMS to adopt a definition of milk as being produced from live animals/humans..

Resolution C309 Carbon Dioxide Burial
Asked for AMA policy advocating rules around carbon dioxide sequestration through burial that would safeguard water and food.

Resolution C314 Quarry Water Contamination
Asked ISMS to support state monitoring of groundwater around quarries and regulation of materials dumped in quarries.

Resolution C317 Skin Compounds
Wanted support for reporting to the FDA of adverse reactions from skin cleansing and cosmetic compounds.


15-Month Prescriptions

15-Month Prescriptions Win Approval in Springfield

By unanimous votes in both houses, the Illinois General Assembly approved and forwarded to Gov. Rauner, legislation to extend the time a patient can refill a prescription for a non-controlled substance from 12 months to 15 months.

Originating with a proposal from our DuPage County Medical Society, the measure is intended to address the gap that can occur when patients who see their physician annually face the expiration of prescriptions for maintenance medications prior to their next yearly appointment. The change can assure availability of prescription drugs during the interval without extra calls to the office.

The DCMS resolution was adopted as ISMS policy in 2017 and led to the push for the bill in this Spring’s just-completed legislative session.

Expanded Use of Medical Marijuana

Illinois lawmakers sent the governor a proposal expanding the use of medical marijuana to fight the state's opioid crisis.

On May 31, 2018, The House voted 72-38. The Senate followed with a concurrence 44-3. The plan would allow individuals who qualify for opioid prescriptions to apply for the state's medical cannabis program.

Rep. Kelly Cassidy is the sponsor of the proposal in the House. The Chicago Democrat says it's a less-addictive alternative to treating pain and could be a remedy to the growing number of opioid overdoses across the state.

It will give patients short-term access to medical marijuana and allow them to bypass some bureaucracy including fingerprint scans and background checks.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has fought previous efforts to expand medical marijuana access.