PCMS President Addresses Changes and Future of the Society

With most of 2018 behind us I’m taking time to reflect and share with you changes that have occurred at PCMS and proposed plans to improve your Society.

After several years of trimming expenses, I am happy to report we anticipate the medical society will be in the black, financially, next year.  Having more financial flexibility in the future will allow us to better use our resources to promote the goals of PCMS.

Bill Fearneyhough, a long-time employee and our Executive Director for the past five years has retired.  Dennis Carey, who has been the associate director for several years, has been named our new Executive Director.  In addition to his many administrative duties, Dennis has been the coordinator for the popular “Walk with a Doc” program and has created and maintained our presence on Facebook and Twitter.  As Executive Director, Dennis is excited for further opportunities to help the physician community make a difference in Pima County.

This summer the Board of Directors held a retreat focusing on making the Society more effective. During the half-day meeting we formed four new committees: Elections/Membership; Education/CME; Legislative; and Advocacy (physician/patient).  These new committees offer membership a great opportunity to get involved so please let us know if you have interest in serving on one or more committee.

We welcome Dr. Gino Bottino as the new chair of our Ethics Committee; he replaces long-time chair Dr. David Jaskar, who unfortunately passed away earlier this year.  Dr. Bottino recently moved here from New York and has considerable experience in ethics.

Not everything has worked out as expected.  Arizona Physician, was intended to be a joint publication of PCMS and the Maricopa County Medical Society to be distributed to every licensed physician in Arizona. Unfortunately it never launched as planned. As a result, we have pulled our support for the magazine.  Starting in 2019 we expect to publish a monthly electronic newsletter and will welcome appropriate content from our members.

We also are putting together a new program called the “Friends of PCMS” where companies who share the vision of PCMS can help financially support the Society.  There will be three levels of support: Gold, Silver and Bronze.  Many medical societies around the country have similar, successful programs.  The additional revenue generated by this program will allow PCMS to expand its outreach.   If you know of a company that would potentially have an interest in supporting PCMS please have them contact Executive Director, Dennis Carey – dcarey5199@gmail.com.

Elections are fast approaching, and an obscene amount of money will be spent trying to persuade voters to support this candidate or that candidate.  Instead of financially supporting individual candidates, consider supporting Arizona Medical Association’s Medical Political Action Committee (ArMPAC), chaired by PCMS member Gary Figge MD.  You can find out more about their activities and how to donate at https://www.azmed.org/donations.

2019 will be a busy year for medicine in Pima County with the University of Arizona Medical School moving from a two-year pre-clerkship curriculum to a condensed 18-month program.  This allows students to gain more clinical experience prior to residency, but it also means that there will be twice as many students during the transition needing preceptors for their third-year rotations.   If you are not a medical student preceptor, become one. If you already are, please seriously consider taking on a few more students just as I plan to do.  Your valuable time and experience will help the next generation of physicians.  For more information, please contact Dr. Sean Elliott at selliott@peds.arizona.edu.

Remember to like PCMS on Facebook and to follow us on Twitter to receive the most up to date information useful to physicians in Pima County.   Thank you for supporting your medical society.

Roy Loewenstein

PCMS President 2018