“There are people who think this is happening. I know because I have talked to them while traveling around the country” as SHM president, he said. “I am not among that group. I think the best is yet to come … that we will become more integrated and have ever more impact and influence in the redesign of the U.S. health care system.”
More than anything, Dr. Greeno’s faith in the profession’s future is grounded in its human capital. Addressing the plenary attendees, he said, “You come here just to become better, to try to make things better. I see all of you who refuse to let the urgent get in the way of the important.”
In her first address as the new SHM president, Nasim Afsar, MD, SFHM, agreed that the people really do make the profession. “We will prevail because of our perseverance and our passion to be part of the solution for challenges in health care,” she said.
Dr. Afsar is chief ambulatory officer and chief medical officer for ACOs at UC Irvine Health. She said that earlier this year, she’d never felt more sure of her job security. Serving on the inpatient hospitalist service during the height of this year’s surging influenza season, Dr. Afsar saw a packed emergency department and a completely full house for her hospital. “We had to create a new hospitalist service” just to handle the volume, she said.
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