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Round TwoMichael J. Bernhardt, M.D., Editor |
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Round TwoMichael J. Bernhardt, M.D., Editor |
Last month, my good friend and our DCMS Executive Vice President fired a shot heard 'round the state. It is time for the FMA to acknowledge that financial times are changing, and not for the better. This is as true in organized (or disorganized) medicine as it is for those of us in practice. Phil is absolutely right. The FMA needs to evaluate just what is their role in the future (or is there to be a future for the FMA?). Certainly the FMA budget is under critical review, and of course an unfortunate first step was the suspension of the FMA Journal. It's a nonessential. Or is it? Certainly in the early years of the Clinton regime, when the pharmaceutical industry was under assault, many companies cut back on their sales force. Those companies that significantly cut back on sales forces usually lost market share. Why? Because someone needs to communicate with their target audience. Cutting out the journal for the FMA will, in the long run, disenfranchise those in the state who are not part of the political hierarchy of the FMA. Secondly, the FMA needs to let those of us footing the bill (i.e. paying dues) know just what the FMA is all about. What is its purpose? This is just the opinion of one doctor, but in no equivocating terms the FMA needs to let the physicians of Florida know that its reason for being is to promote a stable legislative and business climate for the practicing physicians in this state. Pure and simple. This involves fighting legislative onslaughts that make practice untenable, and keeping ridiculous and intrusive laws off the back of the practicing physician AND MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT! The public relations' fiascoes of the last ten years also need to be countered. It should be the job of the FMA to promulgate statewide programs that enhance the image of the practicing physician in this state to the population at large.
How necessary are the expensive twice per year meetings, complete with multiple workshops and CME? If good quality literature is being produced, the CMEs can be done through the journal. Meetings can be cut to once per year. It should be evaluated to see if smaller meetings can be accomplished through teleconferencing or video conferencing.
Another area Mr. Gilbert touched on is the regionalization of medical societies. While this may be possible at the publication level, I don't think this will be beneficial to physicians at the county level. No one cares about local issues like local people! This is a basic fact of life, hence the two houses of the U.S. Congress. The job of the county medical society will always be to localize the big picture. This is true in the legislative arena, with grass roots action, and with consensus building.
What does the future hold for those of us in practice and the organizations that are working to represent them? Who knows. Certainly the current political climate grows more, not less adverserial. It is genuinely sad that the elected political leaders — whose salaries are paid with our tax dollars — still look upon physicians as guilty until proven innocent, and as a big cause of the problem rather than a potential partner in the cure. Ayn Rand, one of the greatest literary minds of the twentieth century, once said that the people will get the government that they deserve. Unfortunately, I think she is right. As long as we are in this adverserial position — vis a vis big government and big business — it is essential that our state organization is there to help Florida physicians.
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