Welcome to the third and final day of HM17!
Although it is the shortest day of the conference, day 3 is full of quality content, starting at 7:40 a.m. with a mini-track.
If you are interested in hearing about the impact of November’s election on health care reform, join me at the Health Policy Mini-Track starting first thing in the morning. The mini-track will begin with a session called “Hot Topics in Health Policy for Hospitalists” and will be followed by a panel of visitors from our nation’s capital who will weigh in on events in D.C. that will have an impact on our careers.
Dr. Ron Greeno
Shortly after the mini-track, consider joining a related session entitled “Healthcare Payment Reform for Hospitalists: Tips for MIPS and Beyond” with Greg Seymann, MD, SFHM, veteran chair of the Performance Measurement Review Committee. If you choose to attend this set of presentations, you will return to your programs way ahead of the curve in understanding where our health care system is going!
There are also three workshops in the morning including one on negotiation that I hope to attend. The second set of workshops includes one with the provocative title of “Cutting Out Things We Do for No Reason.”
And while there are too many great sessions to be able to call out each one, the prize for most creative title clearly goes to “Take Your PICC: Choosing the Right Vascular Access.”
The day, and the meeting, ends as it traditionally does with a talk by the venerable Bob Wachter, MD, MHM, who will treat us to a discussion on “Planning for the Future in a World of Constant Change: What Should Hospitalists Do?” We may even see some of his famed humor and wit as we have in past years. Everyone who has ever heard Bob speak knows that this is a session that should not be missed!
Your afternoon is free to travel home or to hit the casinos one last time.
As I begin my year as SHM President, I continue to be energized by the opportunity to meet so many of you at our Annual Meeting and to be part of an organization that continues to have such a positive impact on our nation’s health care system.
The coming year will see a continued reshaping of our delivery system, driven by emerging federal policy including the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and anticipated changes in the Affordable Care Act. It will continue to be a priority for SHM to make sure that the voice of Hospital Medicine is heard loud and clear as decisions are made that will affect our patients and our careers. I will be asking our members to help ensure that we have a prominent place in these decision making processes. We will continue to strive to make sure that our patients get the care they deserve and that we continue to help build and maintain a sustainable health care delivery system.
This year, you will also see a focused effort to strengthen our system of state and local chapters. The vitality of these local organizations is important to our efforts to effectively serve our members by engaging them along with their colleagues.
And, of course, SHM will continue to be the only organization created to represent our nation’s hospitalists and to be totally committed to providing our members with clinical and administrative education, dedicated publications, leadership training, research opportunities, and advocacy.
I hope you enjoyed what turned out to be the largest and best Annual Meeting in our history. And I hope to see you at Hospital Medicine 2018 in Orlando.