Membership Renewal Physician on the importance of Organized Medicine

by Randall L. Rosenblatt, MD Chief of Medicine, St. Paul University Hospital Program Director of Internal Medicine Training at UTSW

If you ever question the importance of belonging to organized medicine, and wonder if your annual investment is worthwhile, read on about my discovery of the role DCMS plays in Dallas medicine and to me, specifically.
Each year when I received the yearly membership reminder, I questioned the value of our local medical society. The price seemed high, and the direct rewards few. Being included in the DCMS Directory seemed to be the best reason to join.
Because of the geographic distribution and growth in the population, and the number of physicians, the hospitals have become an identifying factor in physician identities and allegiances. Hospitals have become healthcare delivery systems. The local medical society seemed to be an anachronistic concept.

However, after becoming involved in the Dallas County Medical Society, I realized how relevant and vital this organization is and has been to our community. DCMS is the only organization that represents our interests as physicians locally. The Society has been instrumental in helping us improve our practice environment, whether it be in presenting our views on healthcare legislation or supporting physician reimbursement issues.

Furthermore, DCMS has addressed the needs of our community. DCMS recognized early on the communitys need to respond to a public health crisis and created the Board of Health, long before its importance became so relevant in September 2001.

DCMS studied the proposed merger of the two major hospital systems in Dallas County and evaluated its impact on both physicians and patients. This example demonstrates the importance of having a mechanism to examine issues that affect the physicians and residents in Dallas County. The issue would not be of importance to a state or national organization.
Becoming cognizant of the increasing number of uninsured Dallas County residents, DCMS created Project Access Dallas as a physician-led community effort to provide healthcare services for individuals with insufficient income. Since its inception a few years ago, Project Access Dallas volunteer physicians have provided $1.2 million worth of services to more than 1000 unduplicated patients.

DCMS has recognized and valued the role of Parkland Health & Hospital System, a place where many of us trained. As a united group of physicians, we can have an impact in ensuring that the quality of care that has been developed for these patients continues. Your medical society is a tremendous resource for our community in promoting the need for this high standard of care. UT Southwestern has been a vital resource for all of us in directing the medical services of our hospital district. As a medical society, we can be supportive of the schools attempts to keep Parkland at the forefront of care. Furthermore, UT Southwestern physicians have been and continue to be actively involved in the leadership of our Dallas County Medical Society.

DCMS represents us. The committees include the Board of Censors, Board of Health, constitution & bylaws, editorial, investment review, legislative affairs, mediations, member services, nominating, physicians recovery, Project Access, and socioeconomics. These committees address the issues that are relevant to us, offer a forum for patients to complain, provide services for us, and are a resource and advocate for physicians who deal with personal alcohol or drug abuse.
More recently, the DCMS board of directors created HealthPAC, a political action committee that addresses issues on the city and county level that are relevant to us and our patients. In the past we had little impact or influence and minimal relationships with local officials. DCMS has earned the respect and trust of elected officials and appointed boards. HealthPAC enables us to be more influential and be viewed as a partner in these crucial issues. It gives us the mechanism, structure, and ability to be successful.

We as physicians must remain united if we are to address the local issues that are so relevant to us, whether they be financial, inter-hospital, public health measures, legal, or the uninsured. As we become more regionalized in our practice locations and more specialized in our practices, the Dallas County Medical Society is our only local resource that can unify us as physicians and can address the issues that impact us and our patients. DCMS is not an anachronism in 2005, but a vibrant, necessary important voice for all of us. We should not only renew our memberships, but become even more involved.