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 The ushering in of 2009 brings the orthopaedic community in South Carolina opportunities to play a leadership role in numerous debates that will shape the practice of medicine for decades to come.
Our nation and communities face uncertain times as we cope with a faltering economy and the impact on personal, corporate, and government budgets. At the same time, a transition in administration on a federal level introduces new leadership and ideas for health care reform. It is in these times that we must rely on our unity as colleagues to provide leadership as our patients, families, practices, and public officials consider measured responses to the challenges we face. We must draw upon our collective knowledge and experience to provide much needed leadership.
The coming year will provide opportunities to confront some historical issues facing our profession and some new challenges. Considering the significant budget concerns in the state, we will remain vigilant on any proposed decreases in reimbursement or services that will impact our members and their patients. We will continue to fight for meaningful incentives and protections for specialists providing emergency room call coverage. Finally, we will remain resolute in our opposition to other professionals expanding their scope of practice or practicing outside of their training and competency.
Your SCOA is continuing to lay the foundation for a legislative initiative to ensure physicians can once again employ physical therapists. We have kept you apprised of our progress over the past few months. At this time we greatly need your counsel and support. Once launched, this effort will require a significant amount of financial resources and local communications with legislators if we are to be successful. We must not be outworked by our adversaries. Our pledge to the membership is to proceed deliberately and only wage this effort if we are relatively confident of success. We seek your input and activism as we move forward.
As you know too well, the SCOA greatly enhanced our political activism in the 2008 election cycle. At the close of the cycle we had contributed over $50K from the BONE PAC and individual members. Now we need to replenish our BONE PAC campaign account. Included in the 2009 membership dues renewal is a request for voluntary contributions to the PAC. We have also included a new sign up sheet for the Fortress 500 program for the 2009-2010 election cycle. The sign up form will explain the program in detail. Your membership will assist us in continuing to cultivate relationships with members of the Legislature. Please consider making a contribution to our Political Action Committee and signing up for the Fortress 500 program.
Finally, please join me in congratulating the South Carolina Association of Orthopaedic Executives on their official formation. This is truly historic for the profession in our state. A close-knit network of orthopaedic practice executives working together and sharing their talents and experience will be a great benefit as we address our challenges. You will notice a segment of this newsletter devoted to their new organization. We welcome them and hope your practice administrators and managers will consider joining their association.
I am extremely grateful for your continued participation in the organization and would challenge each of you to elevate your activism. Please let us know how we can better represent you and our profession.
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