Page 9 - Delaware Medical Journal - February 2016

PRESIDENT’S PAGE
DOROTHY M. MOORE, MD
MSD President Dorothy M. Moore, MD is an Ophthalmologist who practices at Delaware Eye MD Associates in Wilmington.
Advocacy
Did You Know...?
Over the course of my tenure as President of the Medical Society, I want to give you a sense of what the Medical Society can do for you, our members. At the October planning retreat, we heard it succinctly stated that many of our members want MSD to be able to make our day-to-day lives easier. So, over
the next several months, my goal is to show MSD efforts to make the practice of medicine easier for you. We want to make MSD more relevant to you in your daily practice, but to also let you know what happens on your behalf that is not always obvious. This month I want to start with advocacy.
There has been a metamorphosis in
the last few decades in the relationship that the Medical Society of Delaware has with our Government – both State and Federal Government. I remember coming to Delaware as a newly minted Ophthalmologist and being asked to join the Public Laws Committee in the late 1980s. Back then we primarily reviewed any legislation that had any health implications for the Delaware House
of Representatives or the State Senate.
I remember reviewing all sorts of bills
– water quality legislation and blood alcohol levels for driving intoxication, among others. We gave our opinion and whenever possible. Our opinion was always valued by the legislators and we had a good working relationship with our Senators and Representatives. Many of you will also remember our Doctor of the Day program. We were welcomed cordially by the House and Senate and, not too infrequently, were asked to medically aid an ailing individual in the General Assembly. When we were there speaking about an issue, the legislators listened. Fast forward a few years. We have been adaptive in our approach and have nimbly changed with the times. We have morphed from an advisory
role to an active advocacy role. The Public Laws Committee was assimilated into the committee we now know as
the Government Affairs Committee. While this committee still reviews any legislation that has implications for health care in Delaware, it also serves
as an incubator for legislation that we feel will be important to physicians and our patients. Many of you bring issues to this committee directly resulting
in a bill being formulated. MSD was
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