President's Message
Reorganizing PCMS to Strengthen Our Identity
For years, I have received both the Polk County Medical Society, The Bulletin and the Iowa Medical Society, Iowa Medicine, and have leafed through both publications with interest, read various articles, kept updated with what my peers are doing in the community, and looked at the pictures. I have always been impressed by the quality of work being done by both organizations on behalf of all physicians in Iowa. Our professional organizations have done an excellent job of keeping each doctor informed of changes affecting our profession and organized medicine.
Until becoming President of the Polk County Medical Society, however, I was not aware that both the PCMS and the IMS lobbied. As I became involved, I realized the importance of the PCMS advocacy work on behalf of doctors and their patients with the Iowa Legislature and at the national level. I did know however, about the social component of the PCMS, the many tangible benefits, the referrals made, and the membership directory. As just one doctor, I didn’t realize that the Polk County Medical Society representing the largest constituency of doctors in Central Iowa, has always believed that advocacy is most important, since the interests of our doctors, in many respects, differ from rural physicians. On a national level the PCMS has built relationships with our Iowa Congressional Delegation and their staff and have represented our doctors’ interest in Medicare reform, medical liability and reimbursement.
The PCMS Executive Council recently held a strategic planning meeting and an issue that came to the forefront was the fact that since the state medical society de-unified from the counties, the dues structure has changed. In the past, my annual organizational dues were paid by my clinic and covered the AMA, IMS, and PCMS dues. This has probably been true of most of the doctors in Iowa. After de-unification however, dues for each organization had to be paid separately. Doctors and clinics that use to write one check did not have to keep track of multiple dues statements, due dates and checks. Since 1851 PCMS has been responsible for collecting dues for PCMS, IMS and AMA. With IMS de-unification from counties, PCMS was responsible for collecting its own monies and diverted a great deal of energy on dues collection that could be spent more productively on other projects. This process has obviously affected the income of PCMS, allowing us to do less in the way of programs for our members and for the community. All doctors benefited when the dues statement were on one bill, and our members would like to again receive one bill even though they may choose to join all or any one of the organizations.
Dr. Tom Evans, President of the IMS, who was present, committed to the PCMS Executive Council to reinvestigate the dues collection process with the IMS board in order to strengthen the budget of the individual county medical societies and to work more closely with them.
The Polk County Medical Society through the strategic plan (see revised mission in this issue of The Bulletin) process is reorganizing ourselves to ensure our organization is a more viable entity as well as to strengthen our distinct identity as the state’s largest county medical society. Our goal is to become more “user friendly” to our members, creating programs and having events that appeal to a wider range of members and to increase interest and attendance at PCMS meetings. As a new benefit of membership, August 17th the PCMS and the Des Moines Register will publish 50,000 free alphabetical PCMS members’ only directories for consumers in Central Iowa.
As we go forward the PCMS has vowed to continue to advocate for the members of our county and to represent our members at both the state and national levels. We will work closely with IMS lobbyist on important issues affecting each doctor and their patients. At no time in the history of medicine, is it more important for us to represent ourselves and our patients as a unified body. We will remain a strong voice in medicine and welcome our members input.
