three days in October, the Riverside County Medical Association Board of Councilors held its planning retreat to craft a strategic plan for 2007.

As a starting point, we first evaluated our activities and achievements during 2006. I am pleased to report that the RCMA has exceeded both its financial and membership growth projections for the year. Our membership grew by 7 percent, making the RCMA the 10th largest county medical association in California. Thank you for your membership and support!

Leadership expert Mark Levin facilitated the meeting and assisted board members in identifying challenges and opportunities in the development of future RCMA leaders as well as membership campaigns. The RCMA must continue to grow in order to have the resources necessary to advocate on behalf of physicians at the county, state and federal levels.

Board members spent many hours discussing the hurdles physicians face in medicine today. We identified five local priorities for the RCMA in 2007. The association will also continue its many advocacy efforts at the state and national level with the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association.

These five priorities are:

1. Membership: We must recruit more physicians in Riverside County to become members.

2. Unfunded Medical Care: We must work with the county and area hospitals in providing an adequate safety net and adequate funding for medical care provided to indigent and uninsured patients.

3. Balance Billing: We must continue to support the right for physicians to bill usual, customary and reasonable fees while providing a dispute resolution process for physicians and payers. Simultaneously, we must aggressively pursue increased reimbursements from all payers.

4. Physician On-Call/Backup Panels: We must work with the hospitals to ensure adequately funded voluntary back-up panels at all hospitals.

5. RCMA Governance and Policy: We must review and update the RCMA governance structure and policies.

I would like to offer personal thanks to all members who selflessly volunteer on the RCMA board, committees and task forces. This leadership and dedication to the organization and our medical profession will serve us well as we continue to advocate for physicians and patients. It has been a pleasure to serve as your president during 2006. I look forward to working with incoming president S. Ava Mahapatra, MD.