Overview of the Year 2006-2007
Membership
SBCMS welcomed a total of 247 new members in 2006-2007, including 138 medical students.
In November 100 physicians, hospital administrators, and medical students attended the Annual High Desert General Membership meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Victorville. Dustin Corcoran, CMA vice president of government relations, covered the 2006 legislative session.
The SBCMS lost one of its finest members when on May 2, 2007, Dr. Ronald P. Bangasser, who served as SBCMS and CMA president, passed away after his struggle with cancer. SBCMS cherishes the memory of our distinguished leader, giving physician, friend, and advisor. His friendship, love of people, encouragement to colleagues, wisdom with challenging issues, and tireless dedication in service to others will be sorely missed.
Physician Advocacy
The Medical Review Advisory Committee met bi-monthly to review cases from the society's sponsored malpractice carrier, NORCAL Mutual Insurance Company.
SBCMS continued its series of Medical Staff Leadership Forums, developed to allow members of the Medical Executive Committees and Medical Staff Coordinators of Inland Empire hospitals to come together to learn and share concerns related to medical staff issues. Programs featured "Legal Update on Medical Staff Issues" by Gregory M. Abrams, Esq., CMA legal counsel (October 11); "Paradox of Peer Review: The Disruptive Physician" by Carlo Coppo, Esq., (January 24); and "Chart Documentation and Disclosure of Unanticipated Outcomes" by Campbell H. Finlay, Esq. (May 2).
The SBCMS, working with the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, brought an additional $1.5 Million to the EMS (Maddy) Fund. Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law SB 1773, which permits county boards of supervisors throughout California to apply an additional levy on fines, penalties, and bail forfeitures. SBCMS fought hard to ensure this was on our Board of Supervisor's radar screen, and, once there, fought even harder to get it approved! These extra funds will be used to support critical emergency and trauma services for our county.
More than 60 physicians and medical students attended the all-day CMA Foundation Physicians for Healthy Communities Obesity Prevention Physician Champion training hosted by SBCMS on August 19. This new project is aimed at turning practicing physicians and medical students into community educators and advocates for healthy eating, physical activity and policy change in the battle against obesity. They learned how to carry out community and school-based educational programs that emphasize nutrition and physical activity as healthy behaviors to prevent obesity.
Nearly 130 physicians and attorneys attended the medial legal educational program, "The Last Choice, Is it Yours? Ethically & Legally Navigating End of Life Issues". The meeting, coordinated by the Medical Society's Medical Legal Committee, was held September 12th at the San Bernardino Hilton. The program served as a forum for the health care and legal communities to dialogue and share insights on the diverse perspectives of end of life issues including pain management, palliative care, hospice care, and the controversy surrounding the issue of physician assisted suicide.
Twice in April, the CMA Foundation in partnership with the SBCMS hosted "Advancing Practice Excellence in Diabetes". Physicians were offered an opportunity to become part of the CMA Foundation's diabetes quality improvement leadership team, enabling them, over a one year period, to build a new model of care specific to solo and small group practices' management of diabetes. The leadership team will receive implementation and support, training on critical elements of diabetes care, assistance with development of an individualized Practice Action Plan for Diabetes quality improvement, training for office staff, and culturally and linguistically appropriate patient education materials and access to an online community resource directory.
Fourteen members and spouses attended the CMA's annual California Health Care Leadership Academy in Monterey in April. The conference presented practical information on the current and future practice of medicine through practice management workshops aimed at improving the efficiency and bottom line of the practice.
"A Case-Based Approach to Addressing Language Access" on May 10 (Language Access Workshop) emphasized physician-patient communication, raising physician awareness about the complexity and importance of language access, with practical and affordable tools to ease the barriers language access may cause for physicians and their patients. Sponsored by the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) and the CAFP Foundation, with an educational grant from The California Endowment, this was another free member benefit for SBCMS members and their office staff.
The 19th Annual Western States Regional Conference on Physicians' Well-Being was hosted by the RCMA and SBCMS Joint Physicians' Well-Being Committee. Course objectives for the May 23 event included recognition and identification of the impaired physician and the disruptive physician; the role and functions of the Physicians' Well-Being Committee; methods of investigations, interventions, recovery and monitoring; plus an update on legal issues.
SBCMS presented to members and their staff a variety of practice management workshops. The EHR Best Practice SeriesTM program in November and again in June provided best practice guidelines for identifying, evaluating and negotiating the purchase of an electronic health record (EHR). The "Taking Charge" Workshop in February offered important information on how to prepare for contracting, and gave the 50 attendees useful tools to improve results and identify common pitfalls.
Over 70 physicians and their staff attended the May 3rd SBCMS Medicare Workshop for West End physicians at San Antonio Community Hospital.
Additional programs in May included the Back to Basics Workshop, which presented an overview of the billing and collections process in a medical office by identifying common pitfalls of the billing and collection process. Athenahealth, an affinity partner with SBCMS, presented details about its product that can help physicians improve reimbursement rates and increase practice efficiency.
SBCMS Alliance Activities
Of course, doctors want to have fun. Saturday, January 20th was our annual SBCMS Alliance "Day at the Races" at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. A fun time was had by all who attended.
"Great Apes and Other Animals of Africa" was hosted by SBCMS and our Alliance at St. Bernardine Medical Center on April 18. The guest speaker was Richard Moersch, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon and SBCMS member for over 45 years. He brought his unique perspective to the program. Pictured with Dr. Moersch are, left to right, Jean Crittenden; I. Hunter Crittenden, MD; Lorene Sponsler, Adele Harmeling; Jeannine Lutz, and Mary Lou Moersch.
Legislative Advocacy
The California Medical Association held its Annual House of Delegates (HOD) meeting at the Hyatt Regency and Sheraton Grand Hotels in Sacramento, October 28-30. CMA celebrated its 150th Anniversary and dealt with 145 resolutions and 46 reports. The delegates and alternates to the CMA and AMA Houses of Delegates establish the policies and set the agendas and future directions of their respective organizations. Legislative, regulatory and legal positions and strategies are developed to address the concerns brought forward by individual physicians, medical groups, public health departments, medical students, residents and medical societies.
The District II Delegation (San Bernardino/Riverside) announced the candidacy of Dev GnanaDev, MD for 2007 CMA President-Elect. The CMA HOD gave Dr. GnanaDev a standing ovation. Thelma Korpman, MD was elected Treasurer of CALPAC and will serve on their Executive Committee. Rodney Borger, MD was elected to the CALPAC board, as was SBCMS Executive Director Linda Stratton.
Ron Bangasser, MD (center) received CMA's prestigious 2006 MacLaggan Political Action Award. He is shown with Thelma Korpman, MD, newly elected CALPAC treasurer; and Dev GnanaDev, MD, CMA Trustee.
62 SBCMS/RCMA members including 22 medical students and one resident attended the CMA Legislative Leadership Conference in Sacramento on April 24. Our group met one-on-one with our legislators to discuss important health policy issues that affect the practice of medicine in California. Governor Schwartzenegger delivered the keynote address. His participation in the conference gave physicians an opportunity to hear about his health care reform proposal. A revamped schedule allowed the group more time to meet with our elected officials in the State Assembly and Senate. Attendees also received a CMA health policy briefing and a short course on "Lobbying 101", training them to become strong physician advocates and prepare them for the legislative meetings later in the day.
Our group of medical students learned how to become physician advocates at CMA's Legislative Leadership Conference.
Community Advocacy
In 2006 the San Bernardino County Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) developed an affiliation with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. On December 12, Sheriff Gary Penrod conducted a "swearing-in" ceremony for medical volunteers of the MRC, validating the merger of our existing 160 member San Bernardino MRC with the Sheriff's Volunteer Services Division. Our MRC was renamed to the San Bernardino County Sheriff Medical Reserve Corps. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department donated a 16 seat van to haul the MRC trailer; we are now beginning to train volunteers to use this equipment in a deployment.
Advantages of this merger for our volunteers include injury and medical liability coverage in disaster and non-disaster activities (trainings, practice deployments), an identification badge recognized by disaster personnel, organized equipment storage, maintenance, and licensure, assistance in deployment, and an active ongoing liaison with the key public agency involved in local disaster operations.
Training Officer Jonathan Zygowiec, EMT; Volunteer Heather Shover, MD, and Unit Commander Rodney Borger MD show their vests at the MRC unit meeting in October. The MRC cargo trailer is in the background.
The MRC conducted Regular unit meetings and training sessions throughout the year including introduction to SEMS and ICS; General Disaster Preparedness for Primary Healthcare Providers; Bioterrorism Preparedness; Sheriff's Department NIMS Compliance Training; and Radio Communications.
IWIN/SBCMS were among the 31 vendors at the 2nd Annual Healthy Heritage Wellness Conference held on July 15, 2006 at California Baptist University in Riverside. The SBCMS/IWIN booth, staffed by Executive Director Linda Stratton and Executive Assistant Jenise Solorio, included information on our Medical Reserve Corps and our Live & Then Give (Donate Life California) efforts, as well as general information on controlling diet and exercising to prevent high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease.
Activities of Live & Then Give include promoting National Minority Donor Awareness Day (August 1, 2006) and National Donate Life Month (April), collaborating with the Blood Bank of San Bernardino & Riverside Counties to advertise Donate Life at the Healthy Heritage Wellness Conference, providing Donate Life brochures that were placed in physicians' offices throughout the year, and the Donate Life Rose Parade Float. LTG provided VA Healthcare Systems with promotional items for their annual health fair display booth, donated a basket to United Organ Transplant Association's silent auction, and collaborated with them for their annual event at the Rancho Cucamonga Epicenter Quakes game.
The Healthy Lifestyles Award program is a community partnership initiative of the San Bernardino County Medical Society and its Alliance, and Inland Wellness Information Network (IWIN). The purpose of this program is to encourage school children in grades K-6, to learn about and develop healthy lifestyles, involving good nutrition, regular exercise, proper hygiene and awareness of the dangers of smoking, alcohol and drugs. Elementary teachers are invited to submit a contest entry that captures their efforts to integrate health instruction in their classrooms. The focus of the contest is the active involvement of students in a wholesome activity that would impact their lives for years to come. Cash prizes of $300 are given to winning classes along with certificates of recognition. This year we had nine winning classes each receiving $300.
On April 29th Southern California Medical Museum celebrated its 25th Anniversary and 10th Annual Open House with "Scorpions, Spiders & Snakes, Oh My! Treatment of Venomous Bites & Stings" presented by Jennifer C. Smith, M.D. Nearly 120 attended. We were honored to receive 16 resolutions from legislators and government representatives recognizing our 25th anniversary. The museum received a large donation of medical artifacts and books from the Orange County Medical Association. The SBCMS Historical Committee continues to set up displays of medical artifacts and equipment in area hospitals and the Museum is frequently toured by classes from local allied health schools.
Medical Student Activities
On August 3rd, SBCMS medical student leaders and staff attended Loma Linda University School of Medicine's Freshman Orientation and Registration. They encouraged the freshman class to join with their LLUSM colleagues and become members of the SBCMS, CMA and AMA. Explaining member benefits and opprtunities, the student leaders assisted staff in successfully recruiting 102 new student members!
Dev GnanaDev, MD, CMA Trustee, ARMC Medical Director, and SBCMS Past President addressed over 100 medical students in the Loma Linda University Alumni Hall Amphitheater on October 11, 2006. His presentation, "Medicare Matters....To You!" focused on the history and structure of Medicare. Dr. GnanaDev discussed how Medicare reimbursement would affect their future practice. On November 11, SBCMS and CMA Past President Ronald Bangasser, MD presented the topic, "MICRA... Everyone Benefits". The program centered on our nation's medical liability crisis and the history and creation of MICRA.
Our Medical Student Section hosted their first annual fundraising dinner and silent auction at the Sayaka Japanese Restaurant in Colton on March 4. The proceeds benefited the medical student community service projects including a medical student-run clinic. With over 50 in attendance and the support of our membership and numerous businesses, the students raised over $5,500.
Communications
A complimentary SBCMS 2006/2007 Physician Directory was mailed to members in September.
In September, KCSB TV 3, Inland Empire Alive! interviewed two physicians. Former San Bernardino County Public Health Officer Eric Frykman, MD, discussed the public's need to get flu and other types of vaccines. He also talked about preparing for pandemic influenza. Shown here with Dr. Frykman are Dennis Baxter, San Bernardino councilman; and Peggi Hazlett, assistant to San Bernardino Mayor Patrick Morris, who conducted the interview.
Tom Gibson, MD was interviewed about the Southern California Medical Museum. He shared insights about some of the historic treasures on display in the museum. A third interview was conducted on April 13. MRC Commander, Dr. Rodney Borger, discussed the MRC's merger with the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.
The Electronic Communications Committee reviewed and made recommendations for the SBCMS, IWIN, MRC, and Southern California Medical Museum websites. Future plans are to expand the museum website. The MRC site will be updated because of the merger with the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department. The SBCMS website has created a page specifically for the School Nurse-Physician Collaborative where we have posted standardized forms used by school nurses and physicians.
Members continue to receive our bi-monthly FaxFacts newsletter containing up-to-the-minute legislative and organizational events and issues and the monthly Southern California Physician magazine.
The SBCMS developed a 23-page Practice Resource Guide to assist physicians in their efforts to open a medical practice in San Bernardino County. It replaces the former "New Office Checklist". The resource guide is posted on the SBCMS website and is available for members to download.
