Dear fellow physicians & colleagues,
Greetings and Happy New Year! As the incoming president of SCMS for 2011, I would like to express my gratitude to all of the members for your support over the past year. I am honored to serve in this capacity, and I am excited about the activities we have planned in the near future. I would also like to thank Dr. Tanya Agard for the excellent leadership she provided to the society in 2010.
As we move forward, it is clear that the strength of our society lies in its membership. The more physicians that we can engage in an active dialogue about the issues facing our profession, the greater impact we can have as a unified organization. In essence, we are all aware that healthcare as we know it in this country is in the process of undergoing unheralded changes. We can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines and have important policies regarding the way we practice medicine decided without our input. If we choose not to "have a seat at the table" for these discussions, there is a greater chance we will not be pleased with the outcome.
For this reason, one of my goals for the coming year is to significantly increase the membership and level of participation in the SCMS. Our meeting on February 15th at Heathrow Country Club will be a perfect opportunity to invite a colleague who has never attended one of our meetings to the program. The keynote speaker will be Ms. Kim Streit, Vice President of Health Care Research and Information Services at the Florida Hospital Association. Ms. Streit will be discussing factors that are currently influencing the shortage of physicians in our state as well as important issues that will affect future relationships between hospitals and physicians. The distribution of proposed bundled payments to doctors and hospitals will certainly be of interest to all us as well as the growing trend of hospital-employed physician models and affiliation agreements.
In conclusion, I hope that each of you will continue to appreciate the benefits of membership in the SCMS. Please give strong consideration to inviting a colleague to an upcoming meeting or event or feel free to contact me so that I might invite them personally. I look forward to seeing you in February!
Sincerely,
Thomas Kelley, MD
SCMS President
