Parliamentary Pearls

Richard T. Scholz, M.D.

President

When I first became active on the BCMA board and joined several committees for MedChi, I found the structure and procedures of the BCMA and MedChi to be seemingly complicated and confusing. 

MedChi is a “unified” medical society meaning that if you join your component society (generally your county or Baltimore City) you are automatically a member of MedChi, the state medical society. This is not the case in all states. In some, the county societies stand alone and membership in the state society is separate. All the dues are collected by MedChi and then the component dues are sent back to the local society.  The portion sent back to the component or local society is different depending on the size of the component and the services that the component society provides its members and MedChi.   

The largest components are Montgomery County (1,369 Members) and Baltimore County (1,059Members).  Both of these components provide membership services for MedChi, such as membership recruitment, staffing committee and other components, and  producing publications such as Maryland Medicine.  When MedChi and all of the component societies decided to become a unified organization in 2000, the Baltimore City Medical Society and the Baltimore County Medical Association moved their offices to MedChi’s main office on Cathedral Street.  The BCMA maintains ownership of its Towson Condominium office which provides a source of income to us. 

The BCMA board is comprised of 23 members, many of whom serve on various committees for both the BCMA and MedChi.  The board members and the officers are also delegates and alternates to the MedChi House of Delegates and are nominated by the Nominating Committee and elected by the membership at the February General Membership meeting at GBMC.  The officers are treasurer, secretary, vice president, president-elect and president.   

In the absence of competition for a seat, the nominating committee generally moves officers up one notch each year (treasurer becomes secretary, secretary becomes vice president, and so on).  The immediate past-president serves as chairman of the board and conducts the board meetings the year following his presidency.  This system allows one to learn the protocols and procedures of the board and meetings. 

The MedChi Agency is often a source of confusion.  The trial bar has exploited this in malpractice discussions in the press confusing the agency with MedMutual, the state chartered physician owned malpractice insurer.  The MedChi Agency is a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary of MedChi that is a stand alone full service insurance broker.  Profits from the Agency are given to MedChi and have been an important source of operating revenue for MedChi helping to keep membership costs low – MedChi’s dues are among the lowest in the nation for unified medical societies. 

The component societies are represented at MedChi by delegates whose numbers are determined in a proportional representation manner, one delegate per 50 component members.  The MedChi House of Delegates meets semiannually and the delegates vote on matters before the House, many of which are routine and non-controversial, some of which are contentious and heavily debated. 

One of the most salient functions of MedChi is the representation of physicians and patients in Annapolis.  MedChi maintains an office in Annapolis and employs a firm of lobbyists as advocates in Annapolis.  There are three attorneys in the firm that currently represents MedChi and they meet and report to MedChi on a regular and ongoing basis throughout the year.  During the Maryland legislative session, the Legislative Council of MedChi, comprised of representatives from virtually all the component societies and specialties, meets every Monday night to adopt MedChi’s official stance on all proposed legislation that impacts or may impact patients, physicians, public health or any aspect of medical practice or public health in the state.  Some of these issues are major such as malpractice legislation or scope of practice issues while others are minor.  The number of bills considered can be staggering.  MedChi takes one of three positions – support, oppose, or no position.  From there, our lobbyists and individual physicians involved in the legislative process pursue our goals in Annapolis. 

One outstanding part of MedChi is the nonprofit organization the Center for a Healthy Maryland which serves many functions including promoting the health and well being of the citizens of Maryland through grant funded public health programs in maternal and child health, documenting and presenting the rich and interesting history of medicine in Maryland and importantly, running a confidential physician rehabilitation program for physicians threatened  by  addiction, psychiatric or other disabilities.  The Center also runs a number of grant funded public health programs which involve training physicians to better serve their patients. Current programs include; improving skin cancer diagnosis, breast cancer screening guidelines and survivorship care, and prenatal care for women who are substance abusers. 

So there exists a well functioning system at the local component and state levels that promotes the practice of medicine and the health of the public in a state with a long and proud history of medical training, practice, research, and innovation and hopefully an equally proud and productive future.