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I am much honored to begin my year as president of the
Medical Society. I follow in the footsteps of a very
professional group of physicians. These are very challenging
times for both patients and physicians. Health care costs
continue to escalate while services for patients continue to
be denied. Never before have physicians been under such
scrutiny of their treatment decisions and recommendations
and “quality of care” at the same time as reimbursement
rates remain stable or increase minimally. Uninsured rates
also continue to increase as now 46 million US citizens are
without healthcare coverage of some sort. And while a number
of these are young people who don’t feel the need to have
health insurance, many more are adults who either cannot
afford health insurance or have been “downsized” and are now
in positions that do not offer health benefits. All of these
factors, primarily the cost and limited access to
healthcare, have contributed to the urgency for health care
reform. Several groups, even in
Indiana, are looking at this issue,
trying to find a way to provide “universal” healthcare.
Unfortunately, most of the meetings I have been to have
speakers that represent insurance companies, some hospitals,
and patients that have had bad experiences with the
healthcare system. Very few physicians, practicing clinical
medicine, have been involved – and it shows in the comments
and recommendations that are being made. We need to have a
voice in this critical discussion, but we also need to be
informed to make recommendations that are thoughtful,
reflect the best interests of the patients, and also reflect
an understanding of the associated costs. My goal this year
is to provide physicians and other providers opportunities
to understand the issues associated with healthcare reform.
I would like to provide
three or four seminars, hopefully with CMEs, that address
the most critical aspects of this issue. I understand how
busy we all are and the number of family commitments we all
have, but I sincerely hope that you will make a commitment
to attend at least one or two of these seminars. We need to
play a significant role in what the future of healthcare
looks like. Remember, the first thing that most people,
including public officials, believe can be adjusted to lower
costs is reimbursement. And you and I cannot see any more
patients per day nor have less staff than we already have to
adjust for lower reimbursement. We need to present a
consistent and informed perspective to these discussions.
Please feel free to email me any ideas for these seminars
you might have at
ddebmcmahan@aol.com.
I look forward to serving you over the coming year.
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