w w Editors: Kacey Montgomery, M.D. | Erica Huffman, Executive Director
www.escambiacms.org
Bulletin JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 VOLUME 49, NO. 1
CONTENTS
I am honored to have been elected to serve as president of our Escambia and Santa Rosa County Medical Society. Given our rich 145-year heritage it is very humbling to follow those who preceded me. At our inaugural ball I asked … why medicine? And why the ECMS? I believe we all have an altruistic desire to help others—we practice medicine with a desire to make a difference as healers. Dr. Ellen McKnight spoke last year of adverse changes within our beloved profession. She explained that only through engagement and becoming activated physicians can we affect change. She certainly set the example as an activated physician and I hope to follow. Currently we cannot view medical social media without seeing references to physician burnout, depression and dissatisfaction—this is reflected by all time high rates of physician suicide and early retirement. Burnout is real. I have seen it in my colleagues and have a few times experienced it myself. I must confess, I didn’t join the ECMS to only help my fellow physicians and further the efforts of organized medicine, but I also joined for me. I need you, my physician colleagues, to share my journey in medicine. So many forces separate us as physicians and break us down: payor contracts, billing and coding, the quest for the “all mighty RVU”, malpractice and liability risk. Patient demands are unrealistic, and we strive for satisfaction scores that do not measure quality while also worrying about online physician ratings that are meaningless. Yet the greatest assault on our solidarity has been the EHR. We as physicians don’t even speak the same language. Our EHRs do not talk to each other. Disney using Magic Bands knows where their customers are, where they have been, and where they are going- all linked to their smartphone devices. They do this efficiently and at a fraction of the cost of our EHRs.
Page 3 - President’s Letter Ctd. Page 4 - Events Page 6 - Medical/Legal Page 11 - Foundation Page 15 - Community
Save the Date March 26th “Health of Your Wealth” April 25th TBA May Social Networking June 6th Physician Wellness
I still, however, believe we are incredibly fortunate to love what we do, just not how we have to do it. These challenges to our beloved profession may represent opportunities for us to band together and lean on each other. We did this as students and residents surviving rites of passage of malignant surgery rotations and grueling nights on call- we can do this now as well.
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Founded in 1873
ESCAMBIA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY IN CONJUNCTION WITH SANTA ROSA COUNTY
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