| PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE |
Making Policy Means Hearing All Voices
How the Process Works and How You Can Participate
W
e sometimes have members reach out to us about why CMA has taken a particular position for or against a bill in the Legislature. They also ask why SSVMS is deferring to the CMA, especially if they disagree with the position CMA takes, and question if our members were polled on the subject. They’re good questions, and both answers involve the process that is used to build a unified stance on sometimes contentious issues before the Legislature. It’s true that we don’t poll members on individual bills. Instead, CMA develops policy through a robust statewide process that allows everyone, including SSVMS members, the opportunity to express their opinions to help shape cohesive political, legislative, regulatory, legal and economic policies reflective of views held by physicians across the state. Each policy is crafted and reviewed by physician members, then voted on by elected physician representatives and adopted by the House of Delegates and Board of Trustees. Our primary goal as a local medical society is to serve you, the physicians in our area, by offering support for your practices and helping you face the daunting challenges in medicine today. But SSVMS is allocated 38 delegates and 38 alternates to the CMA who can convey our views and ask it to address policy issues specific to our region. Those delegates debate and communicate positions that have been vetted through the work of SSVMS committees that address subjects including public health, emergency care and health equity. SSVMS also sends trustees to the CMA House of Delegates as a member of District XI, which encompasses eight Northern California medical societies and is the largest delegation in the CMA. The House of Delegates is where physicians from across the state meet to discuss positions on key issues, offer amendments to policy proposals, elect CMA officers, and — hopefully — reach a consensus that allows the medical community in California to speak with a united voice. At its House of Delegates, much of the discussion 4
Sierra Sacramento Valley Medicine
By Paul Reynolds, MD paul.d.reynolds@kp.org
among delegates is on what CMA calls “Major Issues.” Last year, the topics were the corporatization of health care and on how racism and other factors affect health equity. CMA says its policy is most effective when it is specific enough to stand alone and be understood and it is written in a way that enables the orgainization to use the values and intent for a wide range of advocacy purposes. There is also another avenue you can take to help make policy. Any CMA member in good standing can author a resolution for consideration. For example, you could introduce a resolution in support of additional measures for patient safety. Last year, our delegates offered a resolution to support a change in California’s pharmacy laws to permit hospitals to supply medications to patients when they are discharged.
SSVMS is allocated 38 delegates and 38 alternates to the CMA who can convey our views and ask it to address policy issues specific to our region. Once the resolution is written and in the proper format, you’ll need someone to introduce it. That person can be a delegate or alternate to the House of Delegates, a component medical society/delegation (such as SSVMS), a CMA section or mode of practice forum, the CMA Board of Trustees, or a CMA-recognized specialty society. Don’t know who to ask? Contact us at SSVMS and we’ll help you identify the most appropriate channel to get your resolution heard. There are three submission deadlines throughout the year. The next deadline is April 20, 2022. Approximately one month following the submission deadline, the resolution will be opened for thirty days to the House of Delegates and alternates to collect testimony and analyze it from as many angles as possible. From there, the resolution is referred to the appropriate body — such as the CMA Council on Science and Public Health — for review and a recommendation