For those of you who do not know
me, my name is Maria Basile. I am a
colon and rectal surgeon with a private practice in Port Jefferson, and have
been a member of this medical staff since October of 2000. I am currently serving a year as Secretary of
the Suffolk County Medical Society. I
have been tasked by our leadership, Dr. Schrank and Dr. Kvilekval, to outline
the benefits of our Medical Staff’s Institutional Membership with the Medical
Society, to help you understand how our Institutional Membership has helped us
– individually, as a medical staff, and as a profession.
Individually, this membership has
saved me, and at least 500 of you, my colleagues, more than $850 in individual
dues to SCMS and MSSNY.
Because of our institutional
membership, 4 CME courses were brought to us and professionally taught on site on
timely topics of our own choosing, such as
1.
Preparing Your Practice for and Audit
2.
Accountable Care Organizations
3.
Electronic Health Records/ Meaningful Use
4.
Clinical Integration
Future offerings could include
·
ICD-10 Implementation
·
Employment Law
·
Captive PC’s and IPA’s
The MSSNY House of Delegates is my
favorite opportunity to see firsthand
how issues important to individual physicians can shape and even become Medical
Society Policy. At the Womens’
Caucus this spring I was exposed to the
different ways that female physicians from all over New York State and at
varying points in their career still navigate cloaked, hurtful, or thoughtless
comments about women in our profession – how they balance home, family, and
work-life demands, and explore new models of part time practice or manage
reentry into full time practice after maternity, family health, or academic
leave.
I witnessed how Dr. Schrank
followed issues that spoke to his interest in Sports Concussion through the
process of creating resolutions that protect and promote the issues important
to doctors and watch them be considered, debated, voted upon, and adopted, or
not adopted by the House.
I have sought individual legal
support from the medical society for answers about ethical and legal matters,
employment contracts, and their ombudsman services against managed care
companies’ administrative harassments.
This year our Medical Staff, its
leadership and committees, has also sought legal advice from MSSNY. Senior counsel, Donald Moy was able to attend
a meeting of our medical leadership and ad-hoc committee on Captive PC’s to
give an opinion on changes to our bylaws to accommodate changing practice
models and alignment strategies with our hospitals and what these changes mean
in terms of Medical Staff privileges. We
should continue to seek MSSNY’s guidance as we revise our Medical Staff Bylaws
to comply with MS 01.01.01 Joint Commission standards.
Because of our Medical Staff’s
Institutional membership, MSSNY Legislative Day was improved. Our Medical Staff and St. Charles Hospital
was chosen as one of 9 Remote “Satellite” nodes for live internet streaming of
the Physician Town Hall Meeting in Albany, an exciting new format designed to
bring Physician Lobby Day to the communities where MSSNY members are practicing.
Because of our pioneering efforts
as a Joint Medical Staff taking this leap to join MSSNY as an institution OTHER
HOSPITAL STAFFS HAVE FOLLOWED suit. The
entire Albany Medical College Faculty Practice, St. James Mercy Medical Center
in Steuben County have joined as Institutional Members, and MSSNY is currently
negotiating with 7 other institutions using our model for Institutional
membership.
We ARE becoming the change we want to see in this world.
This year Medical Liability Reform
has become part of budget discussion at the New York State level. At the national level, our New York
delegation was a vocal contingency to the AMA, pushing them to readopt a stance
to have Med Mal Reform as part of the National conversation. “Med Mal Reform IS Health Care Reform,” was the message from
NY to every other state delegation.
At a recent Legislative Breakfast
at Suffolk County Medical Society headquarters, I was so proud to watch our own
Dr. Paul Lograno, speaking as president on behalf of his local specialty
society,strategize and engage a room full of legislators emphasizing how
critical Physician Collective Negotiation would be to level the playing field
between physicians and managed care.
These past few weeks thousands of
people have been involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” protests in New York City
and other cities around the world.
Participants are being roundly portrayed and criticized for being
fractured, fringe actors, obstructionist, too individualized in motive, and
lacking in a unified message.
OUR MEDICAL STAFF IS DIFFERENT in
that we have found a way to use our numbers effectively to serve our
priorities. We HAVE brought a unified
voice to issues like Med Mal Reform and Physician Collective Negotiation to and
through the NYS Legislature, the Governor’s office and into the National
Conversation.
We HAVE found a way to harness all the trust,
compassion, stability, and hope that we use each day with our patients and each
other to OCCUPY MEDICINE even as we continue to practice medicine. This way has been with our institutional
membership with the Suffolk County Medical Society and the Medical Society of
the State of New York.
