Membership in many physician associations had been flat or declining in recent years, but now appears to be on the upswing. This could be the result of better times, better marketing or the fear generated by the regularly repeated threats of precipitous Medicare pay cuts.
Membership dues are often the first things to be sacrificed when the economy stalls. Docs rejoining groups like the American Medical Association or state medical societies could be a sign that better financial times lie ahead. It could also be a sign of a growing interest among physicians to advocate for their profession. Or, according to a theory put forth by Princeton University economist Uwe Reinhardt, it may not be a positive development at all.
According to a California Medical Association news release, there are between 60,000 and 70,000 physicians in the state of California, and 37,222 are CMA members—which represents a more than 4% increase from the year before. The growth is significant, according to the release, because membership had been “relatively flat” for nine years.
“The increase in membership is due to outreach to medical groups and more targeted recruitment and retention activities,” the release said. (The release didn’t mention that CMA dues for medical student, resident and fellow members were eliminated last year and that the CMA asked county medical societies to do the same.)
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It's not uncommon these days for newly elected physician association leaders to hop on the social-media bandwagon, but the American Academy of Family Physicians' new president-elect, Dr. Reid Blackwelder—a.k.a. @blackweldermd—is an old pro.
Blackwelder has sent 3,429 tweets to 690 followers since joining Twitter in May 2011, but he has been on Facebook a lot longer. First elected to the AAFP board in 2009, Blackwelder is the director of the medical student educational division within the James H. Quillen College of Medicine's family medicine department at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn. He first joined Facebook as a way of connecting with his students.
The 2004-2005 president of the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians, Blackwelder said he stepped up his Facebook activity as he became more involved with the state and national academy chapters. Now he cross-posts everything on both Facebook and Twitter.
Blackwelder said he discovered live-tweeting while attending a meeting and seeing the AAFP's medical resident representative, Dr. Kevin Bernstein (@BernieMD31), pecking away at a keyboard. He learned that Bernstein was "taking notes in Tweet form" for the benefit of a colleague who couldn't attend that session and wanted to find out what happened.
Except for live-tweeting from an event, Blackwelder said he usually keeps to three to five tweets a day: an opening inspirational tweet, around three educational or informational tweets with links to source material, and an evening "thought for the day to allow people to wind down." The tweets are buffered so they're sent out several hours apart, which allows him to "maintain a presence" even while he's seeing patients, teaching or tending to AAFP matters.
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Even with a presidential election coming up and healthcare budgets being threatened by the sequestration-driven cuts mandated by one law and the sustainable growth-rate formula cuts mandated by another, the big question on everyone's mind at the four healthcare conferences filling the convention halls of Chicago just might be, "Who's having the most fun?"
The American Health Information Management Association and the American College of Surgeons have taken over separate halves of the McCormick Place Convention Center; folks at the Healthcare Facilities Symposium and Expo are taking in Lake Michigan breezes at Navy Pier; and the American Urogynecologic Society is meeting in between at the Hilton Chicago on Michigan Avenue.
Along with exhibit-hall receptions, the facilities symposium is hosting a mixer at the Merchandise Mart and offering a riverboat architecture tour as well as field trips to the North Park University School of Nursing simulation center and Chicago's newest healthcare facilities: the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital and Rush University Medical Center's new 14-story tower.
The AUGS will host exhibit-hall receptions as well as an "AUGSome" Friday night party and foundation fundraiser at the Art Institute of Chicago. The event will be capped by the AUGS Karaoke Challenge, an event I'm sure you won't want to miss.
Only AHIMA could feature an ICD-10 Refreshment Bar in its exhibit hall. But the fun doesn't stop there. Five universities are holding alumni events, and a "1920s speakeasy" party was set for the Excalibur nightclub (for you old-timers, that's the former Limelight).
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Physician Hospitals of America says that by supporting the Republican opponent of the junior senator from Montana, it's hoping to send a message to the state's senior senator, Democrat Max Baucus, that "anti-competitive healthcare" will no longer be tolerated.
The PHA, an association for physician-owned hospitals, is backing GOP Congressman Denny Rehberg over Democratic incumbent John Tester in the Senate race and is planning to host a breakfast fundraiser for him in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 22—the morning after it concludes its annual conference. The PHA also hopes to slice away at the Democrats' Senate majority helping to keep Baucus in the Senate Finance Committee chairman's seat.
In an e-mailed news release promoting the Rehberg fundraiser, the PHA says Baucus "has time and time again blocked the necessary reform needed to provide relief for physician-owned hospitals." The group has been at odds with Baucus for several years over the senator's opposition to physician-owned hospitals.
Since the PHA was unable to get rid of Section 6001 through litigation, the strategy makes sense—but doctors don't always get what they want from politicians they support.
Case in point: Jim Bunning, the Hall of Fame baseball pitcher and former GOP senator from Kentucky who was re-elected 51-49 in 2004 thanks in part to the financial support he received from physicians to defeat another physician, surgeon Daniel Mongiardo. Six years later, Bunning was filibustering to allow a 21.2% Medicare physician payment cut called for by the sustainable growth-rate reimbursement formula.
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Stating that "Ohio is a battleground state and healthcare is a battleground issue" in the upcoming presidential election, the president of the Ohio State Medical Association said his organization is pushing to have President Barack Obama and his presumptive Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, hold a debate on healthcare issues in Ohio.
"We challenge them to have a debate just on healthcare, and we'd be happy to help organize it in the state of Ohio," said Dr. Deepak Kumar, president of the OSMA.
For Kumar, a Dayton-based colon and rectal surgeon, the healthcare reform fight is not over despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
"The president had a great opportunity to make a real great change in healthcare, but he fumbled it," Kumar said. "Now we are going to have to spend time and resources to fix it."
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Debates featuring continued backlash from American Medical Association members over the AMA leadership's support of the healthcare reform law seem to be becoming an annual ritual at the AMA House of Delegates meetings, and the ritual is one that might be repeated at the American Academy of Family Physicians' meetings.
Dr. Glen Stream, the AAFP's president, said he expects discussion of the issue to continue at his organization's Congress of Delegates, scheduled to take place Oct. 15-17 in Philadelphia.
"The political part is still playing out," said Stream, who practices in Spokane, Wash. "Repeal will be a big issue in the election."
He said any large organization contains a spectrum of political views, and the recent Supreme Court ruling "reawakened some controversy" within the academy.
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The two largest primary-care physician organizations support the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but I know better than to make a blanket statement such as "primary-care doctors cheer decision" even though many apparently do.
The American College of Physicians, with 132,000 internal-medicine physician and student members, is the second-largest physician association and the largest medical specialty society. It doesn't hold back on its assessment of Chief Justice John Roberts' handiwork.
"Every American will benefit from Supreme Court's decision to uphold the health reform law," reads the headline over its news release.
"While the individual mandate and its impact on access to care were the main focus of this court case, the ACA is about so much more than the mandate," said Dr. David Bronson, the ACP's president, in the release.
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Among my random observations from the recently concluded annual meeting of the American Medical Association House of Delegates was that there was at least one fewer mustache and one fewer bowtie this year.
Dr. Richard Frankenstein, former California Medical Association president, was sporting a new clean-shaven look. But when I noticed this one of us was on an escalator and the other on the stairs, so there wasn't an opportunity to inquire about the fashion statement.
Frankenstein was an unsuccessful 2010 AMA Board of Trustees candidate, and 2010 was the last year the AMA had a contested election for the office of president-elect. It should be different in 2013, as trustees Dr. Joseph Annis, an anesthesiologist from Austin, Texas and Dr. Robert Wah, chief medical officer with Computer Sciences Corp, Falls Church, Va., have already announced their candidacies for the post. Wah finished 10th on this year's Modern Physician/Modern Healthcare 50 Most Influential Physician Executives list.
One thing that happens during every annual meeting is that downtown Chicago's population of bow-tie wearers spikes noticeably. This year, however, the group by was down by at least one, as Dr. Joseph Bailey Jr., perhaps the House of Delegates' dean of Southern gentlemen, did not attend.
In an e-mail, Medical Association of Georgia spokesman Tom Kornegay said Bailey had to attend to a personal matter. Kornegay added that no one in the MAG office could determine the last time Bailey didn't attend the annual meeting.
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How would you spend a beautiful sunny Sunday in Chicago?
Except for a 90-minute lunch break, physicians with the American Medical Association House of Delegates kept themselves inside windowless hotel meeting rooms from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and some of them appeared to be enjoying it. That's even if the Beers Criteria they discussed were related to punitive insurance policies and had nothing at all to do with cold beverages served in frosty mugs.
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