Whether you were interested in Wal-Mart's pending retail clinics, the tiered physician networks begun by for-profit health plans, or the future of U.S. healthcare in general, the California Medical Association's May 2-4 Leadership Academy in Anaheim presented a deep well of information and viewpoints. All the while, doctors from the Los Angeles Medical Association made their presences known, asking questions and joining the debate.

Judging by audience response, the most popular presentation was author Ron Galloway's "Wal-Mart and the Future of Healthcare," which laid out the retail colossus' likely plans for entering the retail clinic market. Close runners-up included CMA Vice President of Government Relations Dustin Corcoran's breakdown of the likelihood of meaningful healthcare reform, an irreverent healthcare policy discussion by U.S. Rep. Pete Stark, and a blistering broadside against influences on the medical profession and organized medicine's policy choices delivered by Harvard Medical School Professor of Medicine and Social Medicine Arnold Relman.

Most visible among LACMA physicians and leaders was President-Elect Howard Krauss, MD, who served as a panelist in a discussion on retail clinics, allied health practitioners and scope of practice. In his role as chair of the CMA Scope of Practice Forum, Dr. Krauss showed a brief presentation lightheartedly discussing the serious topic of how physicians are increasingly sidelined as healthcare evolves. He aimed his critique at Medicare and Medi-Cal cuts, pay-for-performance initiatives-which he calls "stealth fighters" fighting against clinical judgment-payer-centered standards of care and prior approvals, to name only a few targets.

Additionally, nearly every presenter answered questions from LACMA physicians who lined up at the microphones to add their knowledge to the discussion or debate a point.