 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Thomas G. Steward, MD
The 75th ACR meeting held in Washington D.C. in September featured a dinner dance, nationally recognized speakers, political satirists Mark Shields and Mark Russell and a Marine brass band! The contentious issues were few, the mood festive and I was worried. Worried because radiologists around my state are facing uphill battles in turf wars, restrictive contracting and oppressive bureaucratic HMO's that take the enjoyment out of the practice of medicine, making it harder every day to do the best job for our bosses....our patients. Worried because apathy is increasing as the system grinds us down. Worried because the younger physicians in the state have not responded to the need to get involved.
I was also impressed. The ACR has produced a ten-minute video of the history of the ACR and its accomplishments. Impressed at the new radiology exhibit at Epcot in Orlando, Florida. Impressed at the outgoing ACR president's vision of unifying the voice of radiology in the next millenium. Impressed with Bruce Hillman's continued commitment to quality care for patients. Impressed with Bill Thornwarth's intellect and hundreds of hours of volunteerism to preserve the quality of radiology and its strong future. Impressed at the responses being crafted to legislative and insurance issues around the U.S. Impressed with the democratic method of creating policy in the council meeting. Impressed with the fellows and Gold medal recipients at the Fellows ceremony. Impressed that Terry Frey from Cincinnati will be vice speaker, and likely speaker of the ACR the next four years.
I was also treated to a presentation by Michael Dunn who has convinced many by his wit and wisdom of the value of a Radiologist's participation in the political system. Join the RAA and RADPAC, please!
Finally I had the honor of hosting a dinner honoring the new Fellows of the ACR from Ohio including Charles Church, Charles Lanzieri, Choggi Mah, Drake Richey, and Dan Singer.
The radiologists at our last executive council meeting were concerned about two issues. The first is the never-ending requests for money from multiple professional organizations, and second, the continuation of a relevant state society meeting every year. At first these issues might seem unrelated however they are actually intimately intertwined. Consider the fact that the OSRS provides a yearly "meeting" usually in May with a social schedule as well as a CME agenda. This meeting was fabulously successful last May due to many factors. However we traditionally subsidize the cost of the meeting with funds from the OSRS. This is in addition to the registration charge we use. This subsidy has varied from $10,000 to $20,000 over the past few years. The question is, do we decrease dues for the OSRS and raise the registration charges for the state meeting, or get out of the CME business altogether? This becomes an issue because we would like everyone in the OSRS to begin donating to the state PAC (ORSPAC) in a financially significant way.
Do you have any feelings on the subject? If so, please e-mail me at Dad43Rad@aol.com or contact Anitra Metheny at the OSRS office. Don't forget, e-mail for OSRS is osrs@osma.org.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR! |
