So what is the Broward County Medical Association? What do we do? Let’s start with a mission statement:To promote the integrity of patient care and public health and to enhance the professional interests of physicians in Broward County.
So that seems like a fairly generic mission statement. But what have we done. While in addition to the fight against prescription drug abuse and the ultimate passage of pain clinic law which helped to reel in this horrible epidemic, we have done several very interesting things.
1. Firstly, it was Broward County through the efforts of Dr. Aaron Elkin that really promoted and pushed the Florida Medical Association to accept Medicaid reform. In Broward County we’ve been on the cutting edge of this and the experimentation in which the state has invested in with managed care. Medicaid is a huge issue in Florida and although some of us don’t participate in it ultimately affects all of us one way or the other. I’m very proud to state that through our efforts as well as those from Dr. Elkin spearheading the issue, the Florida Medical Association has resolved to accept and ultimately support the implementation of Medicaid reform in the State of Florida.
2. What about enhancing and protecting the professional interests of physicians in Broward County? We have a history there too. On several occasions we were able to intercede on the behalf of physicians’ with respect to their medical staff rights at various hospitals in Broward County. Through the Medical Staff Bill of Rights we have acted on behalf of physicians throughout Broward County. This has become a paramount issue lately because many physicians are now employees of hospital systems. Physicians are an integral component of the health care delivery system. With loss of autonomy, there is increasing pressure on physicians to meet certain requirements of larger groups, such as hospital-based systems. What is alarming however is the fact that some physician’s medical staff privileges are being somehow ignored or marginalized by certain employers.
Make no mistake about it, the Broward County Medical Association will always stand for the rights of physicians to practice professionally, ethically, and without hindrance or coercion in any health care delivery system.
As we move along with the dismantling and rearrangement of the current healthcare system, we have to integrate new requirements, challenges, and often unfunded mandates as independent practitioners. Electronic medical records, HIPAA are just a few of the many burdens that physicians and hospitals face. I believe that my previous experience as president of the Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians which included my expeditions to Tallahassee, and working with the Florida Medical Association as well as others will allow me to focus on a local level. I can foresee new challenges for all of us: Ebola, prescription opioid overdoses, HIV, cancer, trauma; just to name a few. We can all be up to the challenge provided we work together and support each other, physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers.
