I have always sought opportunities to make an impact on our profession and make a difference in our community. The BCMA offers an amazing opportunity to do just that. A good example of what I am talking about is the issue of Medicaid Expansion. As you know, our legislature has refused to accept Federal funds to expand the Medicaid program. The consequence of this to Floridians is a loss of over 51 billion dollars in Federal money and leaving hundreds of thousands of our states most vulnerable citizens at risk. They face not only serious illness, but potential financial ruin if they are unlucky enough to require significant medical care.
I have to admit that I have been extremely perplexed by the irresponsibility of the Florida Legislature. On one hand, they tell us they want to cut taxes, but by refusing to expand Medicaid, they have done the exact opposite. I pay my taxes to the Federal Government who then sends my money to subsidize states that have expanded Medicaid. Since we have not done so, we do not have safety net healthcare and need to perpetuate a county hospital system where we are charged an Ad Valorem Tax on our property taxes to fund indigent healthcare. So essentially, we are forced to pay for healthcare twice, once for other states and once for ourselves. I simply cannot understand why every individual in the State of Florida, regardless of political ideology, is not incensed by this tragic and unnecessary waste of our taxpayer dollars.
For the last several years, we at the BCMA have sent a consistent message to the FMA. Finally, this last year our resolution to expand Medicaid was adopted by the leadership of the FMA.
It is accomplishments such as this that make me proud to be part of the BCMA. More times that I can count, we have taken “the road less traveled” and stood up for the needs of our physicians, our patients, and our community.
When I ask myself, “what do I want to accomplish this year?”, I keep coming back to one important legacy. I would like the physicians of Broward County to reconnect with the BCMA and see the value we offer as an organization. It is clear that Medicine is changing. Physicians are increasingly becoming employed. Nationwide, the percentage of physicians who are independent fell from 57% in 2000 to 36% in 2013. Employed physicians have some very different concerns and needs than private practice physicians.
We also have a change in the demographics of our physician workforce. Here in Florida, 30% of doctors are older than 60 years of age and less than 10% are younger than 35. So approximately, 5-6,000 will be retiring in the next five years. Couple this with the fact that we are the third most populous state and have the largest proportion of elderly individuals, we are projected to have a nearly 7,000 physician shortfall by 2025. To combat this, the Governor and legislators have appropriately begun to fund expansion of Graduate Medical Education (GME) across the state. All this leads to an influx of young doctors in our workforce. Traditionally, the BCMA has appealed to the older established private practitioner. I believe this is a reality we need to change. We must learn to be nimble and appeal to all demographics. The younger physicians are more likely to be seeking an employment model. They often value an attractive work-life balance, a more casual work environment, and personal fulfillment over financial reward. These are very different individuals than the baby boomer generation.
I have spent a large amount of time trying to think about how to appeal to this new generation of young/employed doctors. I wish I had some words of wisdom and an answer, but I don’t … yet. I would like to take a page from the playbook of one of our past presidents, Dr. Dana Wallace. She has been very successful in starting and running a Women Physicians’ Section. This has generated significant new membership interest into the BCMA. To this end, I plan to put together three focus groups to reinvigorate the BCMA. I will start with a young physicians group. Secondly, I want to target employed physicians. Lastly, I will work with residents to try to understand what their needs are and how the BCMA can help meet those needs. These doctors are really the generation of our future. Sometime quite soon, we will be passing the profession and our organization off to their capable hands. One thing I am completely sure of and that is that physicians of every generation are very idealistic at their core. We passionately believe in the honor of our profession, we care very deeply about our patients, and we hope to make a significant positive impact in the world. I firmly believe in the power of the BCMA to meet these needs for all the MDs of Broward County today and in the future. Furthermore, I will commit myself to delivering that message. The physicians of Broward County are fortunate to have an amazingly powerful organization represent them and I am honored to serve them.
