Our Top 10 list has become an annual tradition. After reviewing last year’s list, partnerships was the predominant theme from 2021 that continued through 2022. Partnerships will certainly continue into this year, community building will be the prevailing theme. The Medical Society is excited to lead the reformation of the House of Medicine in Memphis. We will continue to grow our work with Bluff City Medical Society (BCMS), Mid-South Medical Group Management Association (MS-MGMA), and MidSouth Health Care Executives (MHCE). The list will not stop there, as we have already begun engaging new sponsors and partners in our mission for 2023. 

In case you have not heard it lately, thank you for your membership, and thank you for what you do to improve the health of this community! I invite you to join us or engage with us even more in this new year 

 

Our 2022 Top 10  

2022 President’s Gala. We gathered to honor the year of board presidency for Dr. Andrew Watson, while laying the groundwork for Dr. Christopher Pokabla to step into the Presidency. Thankfully, Dr. Watson has more service to give, and in April of 2023, he will become the President of Tennessee Medical Association. Congrats once again, Andrew. Our entire state will greatly benefit from your leadership. 

What’s next? 

After a successful year under the eye of Board President Dr. Christopher Pokabla, Dr. Lisa Usdan is our incoming President. Look for an email and please save the date for President’s Gala – Saturday, April 22nd, 2023. We will be back at FedEx Event Center at Shelby Farms Park. I am so excited for Lisa. She has been a great leader for us already, and I cannot wait to see what she accomplishes as President.  

 

Project Access. Thanks to support from the Society‘s charitable arm, Memphis Medical Foundation, Project Access West Tennessee has begun coordinating care for its first patients. The goal of this program is to expand access to specialty care for those who are uninsured in our city. 

What’s next? 

We need more partners for this effort. If you or your clinic is interested in providing care to those without insurance, please contact Nicole Scroggins at nscroggins@mdmemphis.org. Seeing one patient a month makes a huge difference in the need. Thank you to those physicians and community partners who agreed to serve on the Board of Directors for the Foundation to further support this mission 

 

Our Strategic Plan. We continue to aspire to achieve the goals the board set forth two years ago through our strategic plan. Here is where we are. 

Increase membership to 1,100 dues-paying members. 

While we have not achieved the 1,100 members benchmark YET, we have grown in numbers (981), and we continue to add events and offerings to our list of member benefits. We still boast more than 2,400 members total when considering our student and resident members! 

 

Create an inclusive medical community that supports and advocates for physicians, their practices, and their patients.  

We will continue our efforts to host more events inclusive of the entire House of Medicine.  

 

Utilize the talents of our members to improve the health of our communities. 

Project Access has had an excellent start, and we plan to grow it substantially in 2023 by increasing our number of volunteer providers. We are also engaged in other health-focused organizations such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s HPV Prevention Task Force and Vitalant Blood Centers. 

 

MedTemps. Our staffing agency continues to demonstrate its value to the medical community. While many practices and hospitals were reeling from increased costs from the travel nursing industry and other inflationary impacts, MedTemps was keeping its costs down and never raised the price of its services to our medical community. They enjoyed another banner year! 

What’s next?  MedTemps will be working to grow its recruitment and staffing services in 2023 by adding more positions and by creating a jobs board newsletter that will be distributed to the medical community.  

 

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. I am proud to report that our Nominating Committee has continued to grow now more than ever. 

What’s New in 2023. As I mentioned in the opening, community building will be the prevailing theme for 2023. Our golf event and MedTemps jobs newsletter will be two major efforts toward that goal. One final new program I am excited about is our Mentorship initiative. You have received an email from Dr. Catherine Womack about how to become a mentor or how to request one. Finally, all of this information, along with all top medical society happenings will be housed on a newly-designed website for 2023. 

 

TMA’s Legislative Impact. We continued our relationship with the Tennessee Medical Association and closed one of our most successful legislative sessions ever—influencing issues like scope of practice, telehealth, professional privilege tax (no longer paid!) and balance billing. Read more here. 

What’s next? Ride the bus! We will be participating in TMA’s Day on the Hill on Tuesday, March 7th. I invite each of you to join us for a great day of meetings with legislators and unique fellowship with your colleagues. We are also taking a bus to TMA’s House of Delegates and Annual Meeting. We need more delegates from Memphis to represent us at House of Delegates so please reach out if you are interested. Each of these trips is only a day long 

 

Events. We got back in our saddles this year with several of our events. I am pleased to share that our annual Legislative Dinner, Resident Welcome, and M1 Welcome each saw reinvigorated attendances. We are thankful to our partners in the legislature and UTHSC for their help in executing those events.  

What’s next? We are seeking to add a golf event to benefit Memphis Medical Foundation, and we can do even more based on your feedback. Send an email to Allison at acook@mdmemphis.org any time you have an event suggestion.  

 

MMS staff. Speaking of our staff, I want to thank my MMS staff for another amazing year. They are small, but mighty, and work extremely hard for the benefit of Memphis physicians and the entire healthcare community.  

 

Here’s to making 2023 our best year yet! 

 

Best to all, 

Clint Cummins, MHA

CEO