2022 FMA Annual Meeting

YOUR PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE ON THE 2022 FLORIDA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING

By Paresh Patel, M.D., CMS President Dear Colleagues,

The 2022 Florida Medical Association (FMA) Annual Meeting was held at the Hyatt Grand Cypress in Orlando, Florida, from August 5 to August 7, 2022. It was a well-attended event with excellent representation from the Capital Medical Society (CMS). The CMS was entitled to eleven delegates based on the number of CMS members who are also FMA members. The CMS delegates included Dr. John Bailey, Dr. Andrew Borom, Dr. David Dixon, Dr. Michael Forsthoefel, Dr. Rohan Joseph, Dr. Sarah Ko, Dr. Amulya Konda, Dr. Alma Littles, Dr. Maribel Lockwood, Dr. Seymour Rosen, and Dr. Hugh VanLandingham. They were joined by Dr. Brence Sell, President of the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists, and Dr. Andrea Friall at the NWFL Caucus meetings. I attended representing the FMA Board of Governors, as well as, the FMA Political Action Committee (FMA-PAC). Other CMS members in attendance at the 2022 Annual Meeting included Dr. Suzanne Harrison, Dr. Howard Kessler, Dr. Hector Mejia, and Dr. Timothy Sweeney.

The CMS delegates join the Emerald Coast Medical Association and the Escambia County Medical Society to form the Northwest Florida (NWFL) Caucus. The NWFL Caucus is a passionate group of physicians that spend time away from their family and hometown to deliberate on important issues that would affect the practice of medicine. This year, the Escambia County Medical Society led the caucus meetings and had the daunting task of moderating the discussion on all of the important resolutions that were brought to the different Reference Committees. The NWFL Caucus met on August 6th and August 7th from 6:00 am to 8:00 am, debating all the resolutions

CMS Delegates and CMS Guests of the NWFL Caucus meeting from the Capital Medical Society: (back row, l-r) Dr. Seymour Rosen, Dr. Brence Sell, Dr. Andrew Borom, Dr. Hugh VanLandingham, Dr. David Dixon, Dr. Rohan Joseph, and Dr. Michael Forsthoefel, (front row, l-r) Dr. Amulya Konda, Dr. Sarah Ko, Dr. Maribel Lockwood, Dr. Alma Littles, and CMS Executive Director Pam Irwin. (Not pictured: Dr. John Bailey, Dr. Andrea Friall, and Dr. Paresh Patel)

in detail and also later offered testimony to the Reference Committees and the FMA House of Delegates.

The Reference Committees are divided into four Sections: Reference Committee I: Public Health and Medical Education, Chaired by Dr. Christina Adams and CMS representation by Dr. Rohan Joseph Reference Committee II: Medical Economics, Chaired by our own CMS physician Dr. Michael Forsthoefel and CMS representation by Dr. Brence Sell, President of the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists Reference Committee III: Legislation, Chaired by Dr. Jason Wilson Reference Committee IV: Medical Economics, Chaired by Dr. Aaron Sudbury and our representation by Dr. Maribel Lockwood and Dr. David Dixon

Members of the Reference Committees worked diligently to review all of the resolutions and testimony before and during the 2022 FMA Annual Meeting. Finally, the resolutions came to the floor of the House of Delegates on August 7th. Some resolutions were accepted by the FMA House of Delegates as recommended by the Reference Committees after weighing testimony, and others were extracted for further discussion. Those resolutions were debated on the floor and voted on in a democratic process, using verbal voting on some occasions and “clickers” on others. There were several resolutions extracted for legal, financial, or economic reason.

On Saturday, August 6th, during the FMA House of Delegates meeting, there was an introduction of the new CEO of the FMA, Mr. Chris Clark. During that meeting, the election of the FMA Executive Committee also occurred. The FMA President, Dr. Joshua Lenchus; FMA Secretary, Dr. Alma Littles; FMA-PAC President, Dr. Jason Goldman; and FMA-PAC Vice President, Dr. Andrew Borom were confirmed. I was elected to the FMA Board of Governors to represent District A. There were several other exciting activities occurring simultaneously that are important to mention. The Specialty Society meeting was held on August 6th and 7th in the early morning. Also, on August 5th and 6th, the FMA offered 12 hours of CME credit. The Good Government Luncheon meeting was held on August 6th. Despite being a ticketed event, this was a wellattended lunch meeting. This year’s Keynote Speaker was David Wasserman, Senior Editor, U.S. House of Representative for the Cook Political Report. He has served as an analyst for the NBC News Election Night Decision Desk since 2008. David gave a wonderful past perspective and a future political election view. The FMA David Paulus, M.D. Poster Symposium offered poster presentations and competition for medical students from various Florida medical schools. Physicians volunteered to judge the competition on August 6th. There were many medical students from Florida State University College of Medicine in attendance. There was an awards ceremony later that day to congratulate the students with the best presentations and posters and to recognize the hard work done by the students and their respected faculty. During the meeting on August 5th, there was a FMA Welcome Reception and FMA Dessert Reception. In addition, on August 6th, there was the first-

(L-r) Dr. Paresh Patel, 2022 Capital Medical Society President and newly elected District A Representative to the Florida Medical Association, and Dr. Joshua Lenchus, newly installed Florida Medical Association President.

(L-r) Dr. Joshua Lenchus, newly installed Florida Medical Association President, and Dr. Alma Littles, newly elected Florida Medical Association Secretary.

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ever FMA-PAC Bourbon and Bubbles fundraising event hosted in the FMA President’s Suite by the FMA-PAC. Later that evening, there was the FMA President’s Celebration, which was a ticketed event to raise funds for the FMA-PAC.

During this FMA Annual Meeting and prior meetings, I have learned over and again about the importance of advocacy. Advocacy is needed to maintain our profession and to keep our patients safe. Scope of practice, failed first therapy, and the criminalizing of physicians for performing abortions were a few of the healthcare issues that were important to discuss. Successful advocacy requires relationship-building with local legislators, fundraising for legislators, mobilization of grassroots advocates, as well as, participating in the election process as volunteers. The FMA-PAC has been our biggest advocate for our political action. We need to support their advocacy through FMA membership and contributing to the FMA-PAC. I would encourage Capital Medical Society members to get involved in advocacy at the local level and through the FMA and FMA-PAC.

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