Message from the CMS President

Be it Resolved

As we head into 2018, the Chicago Medical Society wishes you a Happy New Year.

This is a time when some of us resolve to adopt a healthier lifestyle. I ask you to consider a different kind of resolve, one that shapes our legislative agenda.

Here’s what you can do: draft a resolution for our Feb. 27, 2018 Council meeting. These are simple statements of need that outline a problem and desired solution; they may request action of lawmakers or direct your medical societies to advocate on specific issues, or to create new policy. There’s no shortage of professional, regulatory and patient care issues on which we physicians have opinions. So please send us your burning issues and recommendations.

Your Chicago Medical Society functions as a grassroots launch pad for legislative proposals in Illinois; measures that pass through our Council go on to the House of Delegates of the Illinois State Medical Society. Ultimately, the process allows rank and file members to shape the agenda of ISMS and the American Medical Association.

The ISMS House of Delegates meets on April 20-22.

As the leading source of resolutions to ISMS, we rely on members like you to supply the substance.

I believe every member has this responsibility.

When the Chicago Medical Society represents your interests before local government bodies as well as members of the Illinois General Assembly and U.S. House and Senate, your ideas, as set forth in a resolution, are what guide us.

For 2018, physicians can also resolve to serve on a committee, or serve as a delegate to the House of Delegates or cultivate a working relationship with their local elected representative. Please check the back section of our January magazine issue for opportunities to make your voice count. You can even nominate a colleague for an award.

The Chicago Delegation to the House of Delegates carries with it the responsibility of representing the physicians of Cook County and provides an opportunity to influence the policies of organized medicine. As a delegate, you’ll testify on behalf of Chicago resolutions and weigh in on resolutions from other Illinois counties.

All this leads us back to the CMS resolutions process. Many public health laws and physician protections in Illinois are the direct result of resolutions from grassroots members. Every year, these initiatives originating at CMS inform new policies and advocacy efforts by ISMS and AMA. In fact, Illinois’ new Network Adequacy and Transparency Act had its start at CMS. It was signed into law in 2017.

If you are new to the resolution-writing process, CMS leadership would be happy to guide you on using this powerful advocacy tool effectively. And now is the time to get started. Please submit your resolution by Feb. 1, 2018, for consideration.

Vemuri S. Murthy, MD
President, Chicago Medical Society