The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons - AAPS - is a non-partisan professional association of physicians in all types of practices and specialties across the country.
Since 1943, AAPS has been dedicated to the highest ethical standards of the Oath of Hippocrates and to preserving the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship and the practice of private medicine.
Our motto, "omnia pro aegroto" means "all for the patient."
To serve the state? Or to serve our patients? That is the question we will increasingly face as government forces its power into every nook and cranny of our professional lives. I once belonged to all the standard societies—my specialty society, my state and local medical society and—dare I admit this—even the AMA. But I discovered that none of these societies stood on the principles I hold dear—individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government, and the ability to freely practice medicine according to time honored Hippocratic principles.
AAPS Fights to Preserve Medical Freedom!
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, AAPS, has been fighting the good fight to preserve the practice of private medicine since 1943. When the Clinton health plan was proposed, we fought for open meetings. And when the details came to light, the plan was halted. In the current battle over health care “reform,” the AAPS helped organize numerous physician rallys and has a pending lawsuit suit in the DC Federal District Court challenging the constitutionality of the ObamaCare insurance mandate.
AAPS Stands up for Physicians!
The AAPS legal team defends doctors who have been mugged by Medicare, or railroaded by hospitals using sham peer review. We sued the Texas Medical Board in defense of physicians’ due process rights; this suit is now on appeal. We drafted legislation for reform of the Texas medical practice act and are fighting for its enactment.
AAPS Helps Physicians Reduce and Eliminate Third Party Interference!
The AAPS seminar, “Thrive Don’t Just Survive,” has reached doctors all over the country who wish to leave the hassles of Medicare and the interference of managed care and start a cash practice. We have helped hundreds of doctors opt out of Medicare through information on our website and our limited legal consultation service. We challenged the HIPAA “Privacy Rule,” and got the government to acknowledge the “country doctor exemption” for physicians who do not file claims electronically.
AAPS Keeps You Informed!
Our monthly newsletter, AAPS News is packed with political, legal, and practical information that physicians cannot afford to miss. Our Journal of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons publishes the controversial issues—often with both sides in a point counterpoint--that you won’t find in most mainstream medical publications. AAPS email alerts and our website (www.aapsonline.org) will get you the late breaking news as it happens and provide you with urgent political action items to help in the fight to restore medical freedom.
Individually, our members have appeared on Fox News, in the Wall Street Journal, in HumanEvents.com and other blog sites, contributing time, talent, and facts to counter the emotional arguments for socialized medicine.
AAPS speaks for Physicians NOT Corporate or Government Interests!
AAPS is completely funded by membership dues and contributions, so we answer to and advocate for our physician members and not big corporate donors or government funding sources. The AMA’s deal with HCFA gave it a monopoly on the CPT codes, from which it derives at least $70 million in revenue annually. AAPS was one of the first to expose this conflict of interest.
All elected AAPS Board members and officers serve on a volunteer basis and even pay their own way to board meetings. We do not have a big building, or a bloated staff. Every dime in dues goes directly to the fight for freedom in medicine.
AAPS offers its members discounts on disability and other essential insurance products that are as good or better than the discounts offered by other national medical societies.
Join Your Colleagues to Keep Patient-Centered Medicine Alive!
For almost 70 years, we have consistently stood for ethical patient-centered medicine—the kind only possible in a free market medical system.
So, if you are like me, and you are tired of contributing to organizations which claim to be your advocate, but do little more than lobby for short term payment increases, support politicians who cannot be trusted, and feed their own self preserving coffers by selling you CPT coding manuals, come join us at the AAPS.
Sincerely,
Lee D. Hieb, MD
Orthopaedics and Spinal Surgery, Logan, Iowa
Immediate Past President, Association of American Physician and Surgeons
