A Message From Your 2022 CMS President

A MESSAGE FROM YOUR 2022 CAPITAL MEDICAL SOCIETY PRESIDENT

By Paresh Patel, M.D., CMS President

Happy New Year! As we step into 2022, I am honored to serve as the President of the Capital Medical Society (CMS). As many of you know, I moved to Tallahassee in July 2011, which is the same year I joined the Capital Medical Society. I have served as a board member for CMS over the past five years and have held leadership positions for the past two years, just before the COVID-19 pandemic started.

The Capital Medical Society has been around since 1946, and for the past 75 years, we have been able to directly change healthcare. By being in the capital of Florida, we have been able to significantly influence the Florida Medical Association and legislative laws. The CMS mission is “to promote the

practice of medicine for the ultimate benefit of the patient.”

For the past two years, we, as physicians have had our lives turned upside down. We first handedly experienced COVID-19 and had to deal with shortage of medical supplies. Our practices and lives were impacted severely. Yet, we had been proven to be a very strong and resilient medical community in this long fight against the pandemic. We have had a total of 76 past presidents serve the Capital Medical Society who were all a very diverse group of physician leaders, and I am so excited to lead the Capital Medical Society this year.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical communities throughout the nation struggled to identify how to control the pandemic, avoid transmission, isolation, testing, management of infected patients, anticoagulation, yes or no to steroid, invasive/non-invasive ventilation, etc. The Capital Medical Society membership was worth every penny to guide large and small practices during those difficult times with help and guidance via e-mails, meetings, distribution of facemasks, isolation supplies, etc. Thanks to our excellent CMS staff, as well as the leadership of Dr. Whithaus and Dr. Joseph over past two years.

CMS provided weekly updates on COVID meetings, State of Florida’s COVID situation reports, as well as available testing sites and treatment centers in nearby counties. CMS also appraised situations from both regional hospitals on their current status with COVID infection rates. When the vaccine became available, CMS provided updates on the status of the vaccine to providers and their patients. When COVID monoclonal antibody became available, CMS again took matters in their hands and provided information on available places where these can be infused and how to contact infusion centers. As of the past week, we continue to provide live testing and outpatient treatment center contact information via emails. During the 18+ months of the COVID pandemic, CMS continued to avoid live meetings. However, we finally held our first post-pandemic meeting with the Celebration Awards Dinner honoring two of our esteemed physicians in September 2021. It provided a comfortable environment to physicians and their families with vaccine and mask mandates during live events. In addition, the CMS and CMSF were able to host another live event last year, the CMSF Holiday Auction fundraiser. It was a great success and we were able to raise money for our We Care Network and our Scholarship Fund.

As we step into the new year, let us hopefully put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and move forward. As president, I am planning to serve to our members of the Capital Medical Society in the best way possible, not only for our patients, but also for our mission. I hope to expand our membership and seek the support of our members and their practices. I would also like to be accommodative to both of our hospitals, in hopes of enhancing education and bringing more live and virtual CME programs. I am grateful to continue to provide several other member benefits including DocbookMD, CE Broker, and the CMSF Physician Wellness Program.

In addition to my current position as the President of CMS, I serve as an active board member for the Florida Medical Association Political Action Committee (FMA PAC) and as the legislative committee chair for Florida Society of Clinical Oncology (FLASCO). I am very enthusiastic to work with our state legislators to provide an effective communication channel. I aim to help curtail the profits of the middleman in the pharmaceutical industry to help lower health care costs. If we don’t have open communication, we may get further decline in our reimbursements. As of the 2012 report, physician compensation accounts for 8.6% of total health care expense. We recently averted 6% Medicare cuts in radiation oncology model on December 7, 2021, and barely avoided 4% Medicare cuts on December 8, 2021 that would have been implemented in January 2022. These were defeated by just 10 votes in the U.S. House of Representatives. This shows how vulnerable medical communities are.

But we can’t achieve these goals without the help and support of our wonderful staff at the Capital Medical Society: Pam Irwin, Shannon Boyle, and Rosalie Carlin. I am also thankful for our wonderful President-Elect, Dr. Sarah Ko and Secretary/Treasurer, Dr. Helen Paulson, as well as the other board members’ cooperation and hard work in the coming year.

And finally, to all CMS members, thank you for your membership and trust in the Capital Medical Society. If you or your practice has any suggestions, please reach out to me directly or via the Capital Medical Society staff.