COA Member Survey. We have had a good response to the COA Member Survey, which will remain available through 15 December. Please encourage your branch members to visit the website www.coausphs.org and click on one of the two links there to access the survey, if they have not already done so. The more respondents to the survey, the greater validity and more useful the results. The survey is a way to take some increased ownership of COA for our members.
Membership database. We are on track to make the COA membership database available online in mid-January. Members will be able to log in and update their personal information, pay dues, etc electronically. This is a significant step forward for COA and one we have been working on for many months. More information is available in the December issue of Frontline which should be in your mailbox soon and is available online now on the COA website.
Post 9/11 GI Bill transferability. This remains COA’s #1 legislative priority. We have managed to get a standalone bill introduced in the House that would fix this problem, and we are working to have a fix included in technical correction bills currently being drafted by both the Senate and House VA committees. We are also working to convince DHHS to support Post 9/11 GI Bill transferability for their Commissioned Corps officers – something the Department has thus far been unwilling to do. Without DHHS support, our chances of succeeding are significantly reduced. For more information and how you can help, visit the COA website.
PHS in health reform. Senator Reid’s (D-NV) version of a health reform bill preserves language from the Senate HELP Committee bill which speaks to certain provisions targeting the PHS Commissioned Corps. These include elimination of any numerical cap on the Regular Corps; creation of a Commissioned Corps Ready Reserve; and scholarship and loan repayment programs focused on Corps officers and funded and administered through the Office of the Surgeon General. At this point, Senator Reid’s bill has the best chance to succeed and if the language concerning the Corps survives and passes into law, it will mark a significant step forward for the Corps. The next step will be to ensure funding authorized in this bill is in fact appropriated.
Commissioned Corps Supreme Court Case. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on March 2, 2010 in a case to decide if Title 42 makes the Federal Tort Claims Act the exclusive remedy for claims arising from medical care and related functions provided by Public Health Service personnel, and thus precludes PHS officers from being sued for actions performed in their official capacities (which would in turn require officers to procure malpractice insurance). The outcome is hugely significant for our members and COA is filing an amicus -friend of the court – brief arguing for our members. COA’s brief has been joined by USAFP, AAFP, and the AMA. The case arises from claims put forward in Castaneda vs the United States, et. al. and is on the Supreme Court docket as No. 08-1529.