It seems that it was just yesterday that I was preparing for my presidential speech and looking ahead to the coming year. The year has gone by like a blink of an eye. It was a good year for the most part, challenging at times, enjoyable at times, and frustrating and disappointing at times. I thought that possibly my speech for the opening of the 156th House of Delegates would be a good way to sum up the year and throw it all into the last stew. So here we go.
Greetings to all and a good morning to each of you.
It has been my pleasure and a distinct honor to serve as the 156th President of the Mississippi State Medical Association.
Out of curiosity, I was interested in knowing if there had ever been a physician from Pontotoc Mississippi to have served as the president of our state medical association. Thinking that I had that distinct honor, I did some research and to my surprise there had previously been a Pontotoc physician to serve as our president. Pontotoc has been home for several important individuals over the years. Senator Thad Cochran was born in Pontotoc, our current Senator, Roger Wicker grew up in Pontotoc and even one of our current MSMA leaders, Dr. Jim Rish once called Pontotoc home. There are others like Jimmy Weatherly who was once an Ole Miss quarterback but is best known as the author of “Midnight Train to Georgia”.
Finding out there was a previous physician from Pontotoc, who was an MSMA President, was not my last surprise. The physician’s name was Dr. C. D. Mitchell. He served a bit before my time, 1903-1904 and as best that I can determine, he and I are not related. I could find very little about him other than that he was a neurologist and later head of the state hospital at Whitfield. Which I thought was intriguing that both our careers eventually brought us to the Jackson Metro area.
Another finding during my research was the 1904 Mississippi State Medical Association Journal. It was 420 pages and had a lot of good medical articles of the time. I don’t claim to have read it all, but one thing I found was that it paralleled with one of my goals as president and that was to increase MSMA membership. We may not have been blood relatives but we both shared a passion for improving our association’s membership. As many of you will remember, I began my presidential year challenging each of us to be more active and engaged in our association. I also pledged that MSMA and I would be better listeners and communicators and work hard to increase membership and engagement. I pushed that message every chance that I got. I wanted to see our numbers grow with new members and to re-engage previous members. I am less than pleased with our results but hopefully that process will be ongoing, new strategies will be implemented, and the fruits of those efforts will lead to increased membership in the future.
I would like to read a couple of paragraphs from the 1904 MSMA journal in which Dr. C.D. Mitchell was president and he too focused on the importance of membership. The journal read: "To those of you who have cherished the interests and watched the growth of this Association for the past several years, it will be a source of gratification to know that in this first year of our experience under the new plan of organization we have through our councilors effected county organization in 46 counties, with a total membership of 520. Of these, 142 were already members, leaving a net gain since our last meeting of 378 members. The largest gain by far for any year in our history."
We see that it can be done and we, MSMA, needs a year like that. That percentage increase would be hard to attain in current times but an absolute increase of 378 would be a nice start.
The journal went on to say:
"From the reports of the secretaries of the County Societies, it is evident that many regular physicians are practicing in their several counties who are not members of any medical organization.
Whose fault is this? If they are reputable physicians, they ought to be invited to join the only recognized medical organization of this Association in their county. If the County Society does not offer inducements enough to stimulate every medical man therein to desire to become a member, then the County Society is not doing its duty."
We are now organized in component societies, but the principle remains true. Every male and female physician should possess a desire to become a member. We have significant work to do, as the writer states, and I might ask the question as the writer did, Whose fault is it and are we all doing our best job?
Along with attending component society meetings across the state to share and listen, I was also able to attend most of the “meet and greet” events organized by MSMA. Thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to meet with you at these events. It is always a special privilege being able to have these conversations and to listen to your concerns. In medical education we stress the importance of listening to our patients, but in life’s journey we practice too little of it. I assure you that these conversations did not fall on deaf ears. One of my sincere regrets is that I was not able to visit all the medical societies in the state.
There are many challenges facing the house of medicine in the coming days. We must continue to address administrative burdens for both patients and physicians, payment issues, healthcare access issues, vaccination rates, drug and healthcare costs, rural healthcare access, rural and urban hospital viability, push for improved public health funding and access, and stress education on all public health issues. Medical education has been a large part of my career, and it is changing rapidly like all medicine. We must stand ready to do our part in training the next generation of physicians, osteopathic and allopathic. We are hearing more and more about A.I. and how it will fit into the practice of medicine. To some that may stand for artificial intelligence, but it is my hope that in the end it becomes more appropriately known as augmented intelligence. Where and how it will fit will be an ongoing major question. There will be more and more discussions about it in the coming days for sure. No doubt it can be a valuable tool, but it will not be the answer to all things.
Like my predecessor, Dr. C. D. Mitchell, I firmly believe that increasing our association’s membership is critically important and one that is necessary if we are to have the numbers to battle medicine’s many challenges. There are many significant challenges ahead of us, many more than mentioned, and we need all of us to be active and engaged in the process. The fact is numbers do matter as they did in 1904 and do even more today. And it is not just so that we can market the numbers of the organization. The more members that are active and engaged with local, state and national leaders, the farther the reach and the more influential the association becomes. There will never be a substitute for personal contacts and the more the better.
Around this time last year, we were heading into the home stretch of some very important state elections and there was obviously a degree of uncertainty in not knowing what the outcomes might be. Sounds a little similar to our current summer. One major difference, last year the focus was on state elections, this summer it is all about the federal elections with a few strategic state judge elections thrown in the mix. We know that both state and national election outcomes can and do play a significant part in our profession and our patients’ healthcare journey. All we can do to that end is vote our conscious and prepare appropriately.
In my presidential journey, as summer turned to fall and the dust had settled from the state legislative elections, MSMA leaders geared up for a very intriguing 2024 legislative session. During those months I had one of my most enjoyable experiences. It related to one of the many great programs supported by MSMA, the Physician Leadership Academy. I had the privilege of facilitating the Legislative panel discussion for the Leadership Academy. Even though this panel discussion occurred after the election results were known, there were still plenty of unknowns on the table. The panel was made up of 3 senate leaders and 3 house leaders, of which there were two democratic leaders and four republican leaders. And it was general anticipation that one would eventually be elected as the new speaker of the house. It was a robust discussion among the participants, both legislators and leadership participants. The discussion was very enlightening, for all. Even to the point that some of the legislative leaders expressed that they had gained insight and expressed their appreciation for being included on the panel. A couple of significant general points that were made by the legislators were: 1- There are NO physicians in the legislature. There are nurses, APRNs, pharmacists, lawyers, insurance brokers, real estate brokers, and many other professionals, but NO physicians. I believe that this fact magnifies the need for the presence and the voice of MSMA at the capitol. The closest we can claim for a physician at the capitol is the “Doctor of the Day” which I cannot stress enough what an amazing opportunity the MSMA medical clinic and the Doctor of the Day affords physicians with one-on-one contact with multiple legislators. 2- They too acknowledged the importance of mass letters, emails and phone calls but stated there is nothing more important than a personal relationship and a personal conversation about an important topic. Remember what I said earlier, numbers matter but personal relations are the most impactful. The more the better. It goes without saying, it would be nice to have a physician legislator. Keep that in mind, someone out there could be that person.
We knew going into the session that there would be many new faces. The house had about 20% new members, a new speaker and several new committee chairs. There were some changes in the Senate, but far fewer. Over the years MSMA has built great relationships with many of the legislative leaders, but as you can see new relationships have to be forged all the time and old relationships must be re-enforced. That is where the Mississippi Medical Political Action Committee, MMPAC, is so critical. If you are not a member, join today.
We were faced with many challenges during the legislative session but all in all it was a good session. In comparison to last year’s session where there were 11 scope of practice bills, this session there were 17. They ranged from APRN independent practice bills to nurse midwifery bills, pharmacy, physical therapy, and podiatry bills. We were successful in defeating all but one physical therapy bill and to that end we felt good about the safeguards that were in place in that bill. Given statements that have been made, I look for the 2025 session to have even more scope challenges. Dr. Brunson and I had the privilege of addressing Scope issues and strategies at the AMA Scope Summit during the AMA Annual Session in June. Mississippi is not alone in these battles and AMA support and assistance is greatly appreciated. For instance, Texas faced approximately 140 scope of practice bills this legislative session.
We were successful in getting legislation passed for Medicaid presumptive eligibility for pregnant women and were able to get passed a modified prior authorization reform bill which the governor did not sign but allowed to become law. Other successes were related to insurance reimbursement, clean claims legislation, prohibition of step therapy for breast cancer patients, and ground laying efforts for others. Medicaid expansion required extensive time and effort, but was unsuccessful this year. Hopefully it is one where a great deal of groundwork was laid. At least there were earnest and sincere conversations about it this past session for a change. I do expect it to be on the table front and center early in the 2025 session.
The MSMA annual session lays the groundwork for our annual agenda and especially our legislative priorities. There will be items that pop up along the way, but the backbone of the agenda is formed through resolutions at the annual meeting. That is what makes this annual session and every annual session so important and so critical to attend and participate in. These two days are very important, no doubt, but it really requires year-round engagement to maximize these two days. It is increasingly important for every physician to be an advocate for our patients and our profession to the healthcare policymakers of our state and nation. Your voice matters, speak out about what is important to you and your patients. If you don’t, someone else may not. As we enter the session, but looking forward to next year, I challenge each of us to begin a log or journal of needed changes or important topics for you and your patient population. Too often we have a moment where something is a burning topic but 1 month, 6 months, or a year later, we have let it out of our sights, and it doesn’t get addressed. If you don’t feel comfortable writing resolutions, then MSMA can help. Just keep those ideas, concerns or challenges in your log or journal and when the call for resolutions goes out for the 157th Annual Session you will be ready.
So let me end by welcoming you to our 156th MSMA Annual Session. You have heard me talk about its importance and potential for impact. Everyone here has an opportunity and responsibility to be a part in effecting healthcare change in Mississippi. Every Annual Session is akin to a strategic planning session, and this is your opportunity to be a part of developing that strategy. I challenge you to make your mark on our future. Working together, we are stronger. Let us analyze and debate, but in the end, let us find common ground so that together we can solve problems and shape the future of healthcare in Mississippi.
May God bless this meeting, and may he bless us all as only he can. May our time together be enjoyable and productive and good for all.
Like the end of my speech, my term as your president has come to an end. I would like to express my appreciation to the staff and leaders at MSMA for supporting me and assisting me throughout the year. To everyone, I hope that the coming year will be an enjoyable and productive year for our Mississippi State Medical Association and if you are not a member, please give strong consideration to becoming one. We all need to be a part of the house of medicine’s future.