When the members of the Riverside County Medical Association selected me as their president--a female, international medical graduate who is a solo practitioner in a small town--it showed that our organization belongs to every doctor in Riverside County. In taking the oath of office, I vowed to work with the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association to maintain the dignity of our profession.

There was not a single day in 2007 when the RCMA didn't advocate on behalf of doctors. RCMA leaders met, on several occasions, with Rep. Mary Bono in Washington, D.C., and in Palm Springs. We shared with her the need to eliminate the Sustainable Growth Rate formula and requested her vote in support of expanding SCHIP. The RCMA Executive Committee also met with Rep. Ken Calvert during its visit to Washington, D.C., for the AMA Leadership Conference.

In April, RCMA officers and Legislative Committee members attended the CMA Legislative Leadership Day in Sacramento. There, we met with state legislators to expand their knowledge of CMA-sponsored bills and local healthcare issues. Because of doctor efforts this year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger not only removed the 2-percent tax on physicians from his revised healthcare proposal, but he also signed all CMA-sponsored bills.

The RCMA understands physician education is critical to improving quality of care. Therefore, the association is proud to be one of only four associations in California accredited to provide continuing medical education. This year, the RCMA calendar was full of CME events, including the opportunity for members to earn 20 hours of CME credit while cruising in Alaska.

In other educational events, members also traveled to Australia and New Zealand to extend their knowledge of overseas healthcare systems. Three Medical Staff Leadership Forums taught medical staff leaders how to deal with disruptive physicians and offered ways to improve the peer review process. Two billing and coding workshops were held for office staff members and a managed care contracting seminar was held for physicians.

To tackle professional liability issues, the Medical Review Advisory Committee met four times in 2007 to review malpractice cases, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the cases with the defense attorneys and providing insight into standard-of-care issues for NORCAL-insured members. NORCAL, our sponsored professional liability program for members, will not be increasing rates in 2008 and also declared a 8.7 percent dividend for 2007.

The availability of an excellent medical education is critical to the future of medicine. And the RCMA would like that education to be available right here in Riverside County. That's why we supported UC Riverside's effort to expand its two-year biomedical sciences program to a four-year medical school and donated $25,000 for the development of the medical school.

All these activities translated into membership growth, with the RCMA leading the state, posting 10 percent growth in 2007. Still, there are almost 40 percent of practicing physicians in Riverside County who are not members. Please encourage you colleagues to join and take part in advocating for the profession of medicine.

The year went by fast, and the time has come to hand over leadership to Del Henninger, MD. Dr. Henninger will be installed as RCMA president for 2008 at the Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula, on Jan. 25. I urge you to attend the Installation of Officers and bring your physician friends so everyone can appreciate the value of the organization.