CCMS President's Message

Millenium Outlook

Mark A. Zapp, M.D., President, Clay County Medical Society

This is the first of what will hopefully be many messages written by the president of Clay County Medical Society in Jacksonville Medicine. I would like to thank all of those involved that helped make this happen and encourage the vision for this to continue with other county medical societies. As this is the first message, part of the agenda for this year will be outlined.

I would like to officially welcome all new and returning members to what will be an exciting year. Some new physicians to the area have asked what benefit it would be to join our society, and it is an interesting question. This question has to do with a belief that organized medicine is not doing enough to benefit their personal lives, and they are wondering what value they are going to get for their time and money. Perhaps defining and expanding on that definition will be helpful. Webster's Dictionary defines society as a partnership, participation, and connection along with other descriptions. It also defines it as any organized group of people joined together because of some interest in common, as, a medical society. The common theme is interest and participation. A medical society is only as good as its participation. I am willing to work very hard for you as your president to bring to you important issues in the local, regional, state, and national political environment. What I want in return is the interest and participation required for this society to grow, be effective politically, and be respected in our community. We should all be very proud to be a part of this organization. We are very fortunate to have two state legislators residing in Clay County. We hope to provide contact opportunities with these individuals locally and, if you are willing to join me for a trip to Tallahassee, with many others. We will try to keep you informed about community events as they relate to medicine and may impact your practice.

We have planned numerous educational events, many with social activities for colleagues and families at no additional cost to our members. Our educational activities will culminate in our annual retreat. This year it will be held at Amelia Island Plantation on June 2-4. This event will provide accredited continuing medical education, family outing opportunities, golf, and tennis at a four diamond resort right on the beach. Celebrity sports encounters with some of the Jacksonville Jaguars are also planned. We will supply more information on this soon, but it will be available to Duval County Medical Society members in addition to Clay County members.

As many of you know, I have recently finished the position as chief of staff at Orange Park Medical Center. This was a valuable experience allowing me to more closely understand the relationships between individual physicians, nurses, departments, administration, and third party payers. All of these groups felt social and economic pressures during the year. Dealing with these sometimes distracted from their relationships with the other groups. It is apparent to me (as it must be to all of you) that more cutbacks are planned in the future. Are any of you experiencing pressure from decreased time for family and fun, decreased reimbursement, increased assumption of risk, increased practice costs, competition from others trying to expand their scope of practice? The time is now to work towards solving these common goals, improve quality care, and build a strong platform. I hope you will join me in this cause.

Our goals for this year are to increase our membership to include all active physicians in Clay County, stimulate interest in our members, provide information, contacts, and a great program for our members, as well as ease the relationship stresses as best we can. With your help and participation, we can further develop this program to its highest level to date.

February, 2000/ Jacksonville Medicine