Dear Colleagues,

I am humbled to have been elected as President of the Montgomery County Medical Society for the 2024-2026 session.  As we are all aware, Montgomery County is a highly diverse county with much to offer.  As a medical community, we are tasked with caring for a wide array of conditions ranging from those more common in rural / agrarian communities to those more often found in urban centers.  We are faced with encroaching pressures from all sides including but not limited to venue shifting, scope of practice, hospital / health system consolidations, financial burdens due to decreasing payments and increased overhead from administrative burdens.  These pressures can be daunting and lead us to burn out faster.  Burnout leads to loss of empathy, chronic fatigue, development of medical conditions, and ultimately early retirement or leaving the practice of medicine in favor of industry.

My goals for my presidency are centered around these issues.  Firstly, I’m going to focus on improving communication between the MCMS board, MCMS members and local organizations such as the Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Medical Society.  Real time communication of public health and advocacy issues is vital to our community.  We’re looking to work with the Chamber of Commerce to start collating and developing resources to help physicians protect their practices.   We’re improving access to care of our patients by promoting prior authorization reform, decreasing unnecessary administrative burdens, and taking on venue shifting.   We’re going to work with medical staff at each of our county hospitals to re-engage physicians.  As we have updates in any of these key areas, we’ll be updating it on our website and our social media platforms.

Lastly, we’re in this together.  I’m interested in hearing your ideas for a better society.   If there are any suggestions, please contact our Executive Director, Theresa Barrett, PhD, CMP, CAE at tbarrett@montmedsoc.com.

Sincerely,

Neerav Sheth MD, MBA FACC FSCAI FSCCT FASNC RPVI
President, Montgomery County Medical Society