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Commitments For 1998 And BeyondMike Mass, M.D., President |
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Commitments For 1998 And BeyondMike Mass, M.D., President |
Our previous presidents, boards, and executive vice-president have done an outstanding job of restoring our fiscal integrity. As a participant in these activities, I can tell you that this was not an easy job. It is critical that we retain the need for careful management of our funds in our collective long-term memory. As president, I will do all that I can to be sure that we use our resources wisely.
Changing conditions, however, do not leave a lot of time to be comfortable with the mere fact that we are out of debt. We must move decisively to increase our membership. Our membership committee will remind physicians in our community of the important tasks of our Society and specific benefits membership will bring. I would like to say that in a time of rapid evolution of professional relationships, membership in our medical society is more critical than ever. It is ironic that the more outside forces (governmental or economic) work to split us apart, the more vital it is that we reaffirm who we are by coming together in a professional society.
If we fail to do this, I'm afraid that we will be reduced to competing economic groups of wage earners or contract employees. In time, neither we nor the patients we serve will remember the rich traditions and values that have been passed along to us by our mentors. This may seem a bit drastic, but I feel it could happen if our membership is reduced simply to a series of purely economic relationships. We must then recognize that it is in the best interest of all of us to maintain an organization that fosters our values and activities as physicians.
We will need this entity whether we exist in small groups or large multspecialty clinics or HMOs. The economic tensions that exist between physicians and third party payors need not interfere with the activities of our Society nor divide our physician members in spite of their particular employment arrangements. I am hopeful that our managed care committee will find ways to translate these ideals into recommendations for specific actions by our board.
Our ongoing challenge will be to maintain relevance to our members while working in a more efficient manner. It should be our goal to begin to decrease our membership dues for everyone as we accomplish these tasks. I hope that all segments of our physician community will work with the Society in order to safeguard our continuing influence in our community.
February, 1998/ Jacksonville Medicine
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