Bulletin
Editors: Brett Parra, M.D. | Erica Huffman, Executive Director
www.escambiacms.org
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 VOLUME 47, NO. 1
CONTENTS Happy New Year It was a good start to the New Year with the Inaugural Ball on Saturday, February 4, 2017. First, we had Dr. Wayne Bradley, a retired dentist and close friend of my family give the Invocation. Dr. Krueger had a chance to speak about the ECMS Foundation, its ongoing service to our community, and the upcoming Wine Gala event on March 4 that will benefit the Pensacola Campus of the FSU College of Medicine. While enjoying a lovely meal, Dr. Katapodis, President-Elect of the Florida Medical Association, spoke about the new direction of the FMA and how the FMA works for us. Dr. Lanza was proud to present 4 We Care Awards this year, which was increased from the prior years. The awards were in recognition of both the number of services as well as donated dollars to the program. The recipients included: Pensacola Pathologists, Cordova Ambulatory Surgery Center, Gastroenterology Associates, and Dr. Don Dewey. Dr. Dewey (a local orthopedist) gave a great endorsement to the program and reminded us all about the need for more volunteers to the program. Anyone that is interested in signing up for We Care can reach Erica Huffman or Dr. John Lanza for more information. I am very thankful for the work done by the leadership of the Escambia County Medical Society (ECMS) in 2016. I especially want to Founded in 1873
thank our immediate past President, Dr. Brian Kirby. We are well positioned to address the changes and opportunities that our evolving health care system is presenting. I am both honored and humbled to be the 2017 President, and I look forward to supporting your practices, patients and our patient/physician relationships. The profession of medicine is at a major turning point and the work of the ECMS and organized medicine has never been so critical. We as physicians are faced with confusing and annoying acronyms trying to change the practice of medicine from MACRA, MIPS, and ACOs, to name a few. Because of these acronyms, we have had to hire new help, spend inordinate extra time documenting, or invest in scribes to be able to manage the additional data collection burdens. And there is still no proof that all these changes are improving the quality of patient care. Some physicians have had to sell their practices, or worse close their practices, or opt to retire early. Most physicians have continued to care for their patients, remaining committed to the reason why we practice medicine (to strive to be the physician we wrote about in our personal statements upon entrance to medical school). Despite all of this behind the scenes chaos, Medicine remains the most respected of all professions.
ESCAMBIA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY IN CONJUNCTION WITH SANTA ROSA COUNTY
Page 3 - New Members Page 5 - Announcements Page 6 - Inaugural Ball Page 9 - Medical/Legal Page 10 - Practice Management Page 14 - Community Page 15 - Foundation
SAVE THE DATE
March 31, 2017 Doctors Day at Ice Flyers Civic Center
May 13, 2017 Casino Trip, Biloxi, MS
July 11, 2017 Young Physicians Section Meeting “Physician Wellness� Speaker: Dr. Rebekah Bernard V. Pauls Founded in 1873
1 | ECMS