Goals of CVMS

We thought it might be helpful to our readers and prospective members to show a list of our current and future goals and aspirations for the Coastal Virginia Medical Society.

“A Quiet Revolution”

1.    Promote Physician Independence and Autonomy - promotion of greater independence and autonomy for physicians, including less reliance on insurance, less regulation by government. Letting physicians know that there are other ways of practicing medicine and the traditional fee for service and ownership by big corporations and private entities that many physicians feel trapped in.

2.    Improve Patient Access to Care - current access to care for patients is severely impaired due to overcrowded emergency rooms and urgent care centers, overcrowded hospitals due to lack of adequate numbers of beds and staffing issues, and the significant shortage of physicians and other healthcare professionals.

3.    Reduce Physician Workloads - based on current assessment of physician workloads, it would take 27 hours every day in order to complete the tasks required of the average primary care physician. This is untenable and unsustainable and leading to burn out. We must figure out ways to reduce this burden by promoting the use of artificial intelligence to help create progress notes, histories and physicals and other required documents. Computer entry by physicians must be minimized so there is more time to spend with patients. We need to automate the process of filling out forms and doing extraneous things that do not require the skills of a physician. We also need better ways of communicating with patients and with other physicians rather than spending time with "phone tag."

4.    Remove Prior Authorizations - this is a nationwide problem and just another time waster required by Insurance companies supposedly to save money for them, but requires extra work my physicians and their staffs which also costs money but not for the insurance companies. If they are not going to get rid of prior authorizations then we need to insist that medical offices charge a fee for completing this work.

5.    Promote Physician Leadership - our current status in the large scheme of the current healthcare system is that of "worker bees." We must change this concept in the minds of physicians and business managers. Physicians need to become leaders again in the healthcare system. There should be at least one primary care physician on every hospital board of directors. We need to have a voice at the management level to protect the interests of providers and patients. We intend to have physician leadership seminars for providers to have greater knowledge and expertise in becoming leaders and artfully negotiating with our business colleagues.

6.    Improve Shortages of Healthcare Professionals - with the current estimate of being short of 86,000 physicians across the country, we support the increase in residency programs, increase incentives for primary care, increase incentives for primary care physicians to remain in our local area, encouraging the best and brightest of high school students to look at medicine as a career,  obtain discounts from physician recruiting companies, hold more conferences in our area to invite physicians from other areas to consider coastal Virginia as a good place to set up practice. We should try to establish our area as a Mecca for healthcare excellence. We also need to provide better services for patients so that we gain a reputation for artful, compassionate patient care.

7.    Legislation: CVS has a very active advocacy program in order to communicate with legislators regarding the needs of our area locally and for Virginia as a whole. We work through the Medical Society of Virginia to bring proposals to the Virginia General assembly every year. We also contact our legislators directly and invite them to our group meetings quarterly to let them know what are concerns are relating to healthcare delivery in this area. The greater number of members that we have results in a greater number of delegates that we can send to advocacy meetings at the state level.

     a.    Repeal of COPN Laws - certificate of public need laws need to be repealed. They have been proven to increase healthcare costs and reduce the quality and the access of healthcare for patients. The large healthcare corporations wish to perpetuate the current laws because they prevent competition from other independent physicians and clinics. The Virginia Hospital Association also opposes the repeal of these laws for similar reasons. They tend to be good for business but bad for healthcare.

     b.    Improve psychiatric care - Patients have very poor access to psychiatric care in this area. There are very few psychiatrists that are available to see new patients. There are very few incentives for doctors to go into psychiatry as a career. Psychiatric hospital beds are willfully inadequate. State hospitals for long-term psychiatric care need to be reinstated and supported by the state to prevent severely mentally ill patients to get proper treatment. Psychiatrists need to be absolved of the malpractice liability of suicidal patients, since it is impossible for any physician including psychiatrists to determine the true suicidal intent of any patient at any given time. Criteria for admitting a psychiatric patient should not be related to them being a "Danger" to themselves or others, but rather should be determined by the severity of their mental illness. Pre-screeners to determine suicidal risk should be eliminated.

     c.    Support for IVF and reproductive rights - Since there has been legislation at the state level in Alabama to discontinue in vitro fertilization, CVMS is offering a proposal to protect IVF in our state. We also recommend and support proposals to protect women's reproductive rights. Physicians should not have to be concerned about possible criminal charges when providing proper care to women whose lives are being threatened by complicated pregnancies.

     d.   We also support other proposals from other societies:

     a. Ban non-compete clauses,

     b. Requesting “Stop the Bleed” education be added to all      medical schools and college curriculums,

     c. Maintaining of the current malpractice cap, etc.

8.    Support for our Members – Benefits, Discounts, Problem solving - we want our members to know that we will support them in anyway that we can. We have a lot of resources, benefits, and connections to help with problem-solving.

9.  Comaraderie and Friendship – Quarterly Social Events - during the pandemic, there was a certain degree of loneliness that occurred affecting the entire population brought on by the isolation required to prevent the spread of disease. In order to combat the situational mental "fog", and the potential for increasing burnout, we strongly support social gatherings. These outings are quite beneficial for a number of reasons. They provide us with a sense of purpose, unity, and social well-being, a feeling of belonging, a relaxing evening out with your significant other, and with friends, and there is usually an educational benefit as well. 

10. Future Goal - Local Community Charity Services – We have developed the basic structure for a medical foundation in which we can collect tax deductible donations and in turn provide these funds as benefits to disadvantaged patients in our community - those who cannot afford their medications, to get important medical procedures or dental procedures done because of their lack of funds. This foundation could also provide monetary support for the CVMS itself and help produce the dues requirements. We could provide scholarships for medical students or residents, help with patient education and health literacy, and help provide support for other local charities, like the Special Olympics, volunteer rescue squads, etc.

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Newsletter

Stay up to date on issues and news you need to know. The CVMS Bulletin is published monthly and will list concerns that local physicians have expressed about healthcare in Coastal Virginia and how we can make it better. We will provide potential solutions and let you know what is happening behind the scenes to help solve these problems. Membership is not currently required to receive the newsletter.