Page 9 - Delaware Medical Journal - November/December 2018

PRESIDENT’S PAGE
RICHARD W. HENDERSON, MD
MSD President Richard W. Henderson, MD is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist who practices at Saint Francis Healthcare.
Physician Political Advocacy — 2 B or Not 2 B?
My apologies to Shakespearean scholars and English majors, among others, for the literary
license I’ve taken with a classic question that opens Act 3, Scene 1 of Hamlet. My intent was to be creative and get your attention to begin the discussion about an important subject: political advocacy by physicians.
In my June/July President’s Page, I highlighted why advocacy matters. As an example of the results that can be obtained through advocacy, I highlighted the introduction of Senate Bill 199, the Medical Society of Delaware-driven legislation to improve access to primary care for patients by providing support
for maintaining a strong, robust, and independent primary care physician base in the state of Delaware.
After its successful introduction, SB 199

possible and was reintroduced as SB 227. SB 227 requires three things:
1) Medicare becomes the baseline for reimbursement for primary care services,
2) A Primary Care Coalition will be established to review the current state of primary care practices in Delaware and come forward within a brief period of time with concrete recommendations that will help to stabilize existing primary care practices in the short term and both grow
and recruit new primary practices for the state in the future, and
3) Insurance providers will be required to submit claims data to the Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN).
The process for getting SB 199 introduced initially so late in the legislative session, followed by its passage in such a short period of time, during a legislative session with such a large number of important issues before it, is extremely unusual. Both the speed of the process and the ceremony held by the Governor for signing SB 227 are clear indicators of the impact political advocacy by physicians can have. By being actively engaged in the legislative process, we send a clear message that not only do we understand the process, but we are also committed to working within it to achieve our goals and objectives. The latter occurs through the activities of political action committees, or PACs.
A PAC has four essential goals:
1) achieve strategic and political priorities,
2) protect the legislative agenda and political priorities,
3) elect/support those who share the same legislative and political priorities and,
4) oppose those who do not.
Del Med J | November/December 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 8 277