House Health and Aging Committee Sponsor Testimony

House Bill 352

Terry A. Johnson, D.O.

State Representative, 90th District

14 October 2015

Chair Gonzales, Vice Chair Huffman, Ranking Member Antonio and Honorable Members of the House Health and Aging Committee, thank you for allowing me to provide sponsor testimony on House Bill 352, a bill that declares the month of April as Osteopathic Medicine Recognition Month for the great state of Ohio.

What is osteopathic medicine? It is the fully recognized and accepted approach to medicine that is concerned with the health of the “Whole Person”, recognizing the intimate and inextricable relationship of a person’s body, mind and spirit. Structure and function of the body are seen as complementary, and great attention is shown by osteopathic physicians to this interrelationship in the maintenance of health and in the healing of diseases. Osteopathic medicine is often called “holistic” medicine, as it views patients as more than the sum of their individual parts. Osteopathic medicine also boldly declares the primacy of the patient in all matters of health, and holds the patient/physician relationship in an almost sacred regard.

After obtaining a college or advanced degree, thousands of compassionate and highly driven people choose to apply to osteopathic medical school. Many apply, but the admission standards are rigorous and only a relatively limited number of applicants prevail. After four years of osteopathic medical school, students become full-fledged osteopathic physicians, but then must go on to pursue residency training in the specialty of their choice, from Family Medicine to Surgery, from Radiology to Internal Medicine, from Pediatrics to Orthopedics, from Psychiatry to Obstetrics and Gynecology. Osteopathic physicians are fully trained and licensed to practice medicine and to perform surgery. Indeed, osteopathic physicians, or DOs, can be found practicing in all of the varied medical specialties that exist throughout America.

There are presently some 4,605 licensed DOs in Ohio, and nationwide it is expected that the number of DOs will approachthe 100,000 mark in the year 2016. Nationally, DOs collectively treat more than 100 million patients every year. That’s a whole lot of healthcare! Of Ohio’s total physician population, about 12 percent are DOs, and some 26 percent of those are Family Physicians. And Family Medicine happens to be my own specialty…

Even though DOs can and do specialize in very specific and highly skilled medical specialties, the osteopathic profession has a disproportionately large representation in the primary care specialties, owing largely to osteopathy’s historical roots in the direct care of patients with a very “hands on” approach to diagnosis and treatment. It is proven andwidely known that osteopathic physicians are more likely to practice primary care, to provide direct patient care, and to practice in rural or other underserved areas.

The Ohio General Assembly can be especially proud of the fact that it established Ohio’s very own Osteopathic School in Athens, Ohio, in the year of 1975. That was done through Amended House Bill 229, under the hand of Governor James A. Rhodes. It was first known as the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, and now is named the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The legislature did at that time specifically task the new College of Osteopathy to train Family Physicians to serve in physician shortage areas. Today, more than half of the OUHCOM graduates practice in primary care specialties and 59 percent of the graduates who practice medicine do so in Ohio—the largest percentage of any Ohio medical school. In 2010, a study found that OUHCOM was ranked 11th among all medical schools in the country for producing graduates who practice in rural areas. Approximately 47 percent of OUHCOM’s grads serve in populations of 50,000 or less.

The training of osteopathic students and residents has had a huge economic impact on the state of Ohio, totaling some $5.9 billion. That number comes from a study done in 2007; the total has of course increased since then. The training process accounted for some 48,000 full-time equivalent positions and $196 million in total state tax revenue. More than 800 Ohio medical students and residents receive their training through some 27 affiliated hospitals. The first class of students back in 1976 totaled a modest 24 students.

The medical school is expanding by leaps and bounds, having opened last July in Dublin a Central Ohio Extension Office with fifty students, and more recently a Northeast Ohio Extension Office at Cleveland Clinic/South Point Hospital, where thirty-two students will train.

Osteopathic physicians also seem to have a high calling for service to our nation, and can be found practicing their medical skills to the benefit of our service members in every branch of uniformed service. Here in Ohio, when our Guard soldiers and airmen have been called forth to duty in defense of our nation, osteopathic physicians have played a great role in their deployment, their active duty, and their return to home and loved ones. Osteopathic physicians serve in our military all over the world, in hospitals, in aircrafts and aboard ships, and on the battlefield.

Ohio’s osteopathic school is now forty years old…and last year, I am proud to say, the Ohio Osteopathic Association celebrated its 115th Anniversary.

Proud as we are of our osteopathic profession and the great impact that we have had on the health and well being of not only Ohio’s citizens but the people of the entire nation, we are just as proud of our MD brothers and sisters and all the other members of America’s healthcare team. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, I go back to an axiom that was taught to me in my osteopathic medical training and repeated time after time until it was indelibly etched into the matrix of my mind: “IATP”, or, “It’s About The Patient.” That is something, I believe, that we can all rally around…

I certainly hope that this testimony will spark a desire in each member of the committee to learn more about osteopathy and the benefit that it has brought to your constituents. I hope that you will get to know some of the DOs in your district and that you will learn just how vital these men and women are to your home communities.

Thank you so much for hearing my testimony and for considering what I think is a fitting bill to help Ohioans appreciate and recognize the contribution of Osteopathic Medicine to the enrichment of their lives. I would be delighted to entertain any questions that you may have.