January 15, 2008

Immediately after sending you our message about the new Aetna policy on anesthesia for endoscopy, we received a copy of a letter, also with Friday's date, from Jeffrey L. Apfelbaum, M.D., ASA President, to Aetna's Chief Medical Officer Troyen A. Brennan, M.D, M.P.H. . In that letter, Dr. Apfelbaum vigorously expressed ASA's concerns about the policy's interference with the physician-patient relationship and asked Aetna to reconsider implementation.

As our two organizations agree, ASA members including ABC's clients deserve the strongest possible response to Aetna's new policy, within the confines of existing antitrust, ERISA and other applicable laws. ABC encourages you to download a copy of Dr. Apfelbaum's letter. Once again, we commend ASA for its unwavering efforts on behalf of anesthesiologists and their patients.