Physician leaders hail former state senator as the "right leader at the right time" for the medical association.

Theodore Hostetler, MD * M. Nicole Jamali, MD * Arnold Gilberg, MD, PhD * Lawrence D. Piro, MD * Houshang Hakhamimi, MD

With onerous billing regulations on the table and Medicare cuts looming, delegates promote unity among physicians and set the CMA advocacy agenda.

By educating patients and writing prescriptions, physicians can help
prevent unwanted pregnancies.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get valuable protection against malpractice liability. Simple risk-reducing tactics abound. If you're committed to staying out of the courtroom, commit to applying the common-sense ideas and information-rich resources shared here.

As traditional practice modes become more challenging and less rewarding, physicians are searching out new ways to be doctors. Meet four peers who have changed their approach to medicine and learn how they spend a typical day. See what their personal stories mean for the physician community overall.

Meet Norman Vinn, DO. A board-certified osteopathic physician, Dr. Vinn, 57, has an office without walls, but with wheels instead. As chief medical officer of Housecall Doctors Medical Group Inc. in Laguna Hills, he coordinates medical care on the phone from the black leather seat of his car. And when he sees patients, the walls of the exam room aren't his, but theirs. Dr. Vinn makes house calls, delivering examinations, diagnoses and treatments in the living rooms and bedrooms of Orange County's homebound.

Read a personal message from a budding physician of the future in this special "Holographic Internet Transmission" to Ralph Di Libero, MD.

The Los Angeles County Medical Association's Beverly Hills District 7 hosted a membership recruitment event on Oct. 25 at the Le Meridien Hotel in Los Angeles. Irving Posalski, MD, president of District 7, welcomed plenty of prospective members such as Michio Abe, MD, a Los Angeles internist, and Marion Johnson, MD, immediate past president of the Association of Black Women Physicians in Marina Del Rey. Dr. Posalski invited local physicians to join organized medicine and briefly outlined the association's benefits.

"When we ask physicians to join, many object by saying they don't have time or ask 'What will LACMA do for me?'" Dr. Posalski says. "LACMA fights for physicians and their patients on the state and national level. But we can't do it alone. We need you to join and fight with us."

To congratulate Los Angeles County's new delegation to the Legislature, the Los Angeles County Medical Association and the California Medical Association hosted an evening reception for local state senators and assemblymembers. The LACMA Political Action Committee played an integral role in getting 75 percent of LA County's local legislators into office, including Assemblyman Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita), Assemblyman Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles) and State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-San Fernando Valley). More than 100 people attended the October reception.

"One of my goals in office is to fight for universal healthcare in LA County so consumers won't have to worry about insurance," says Assemblyman Davis. "My relationship with LACMA will show me how to go about doing that."

After 29 years of service to the OCMA, Marika Bonner, executive director, has resigned and will be leaving in February. As a special thank you for her contributions to the OCMA, I asked several of her friends and colleagues to share memories and good wishes.

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

At the Oct. 26 meeting of the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce, the Riverside County Medical Association presented a $25,000 check to the Inland Empire Coalition UCR Medical School Fund to support efforts to bring a four-year medical school to UC Riverside.

The Riverside County Medical Association is pleased to inform you that the EMSA (Emergency Medical Services Allocation) funds that were being held by the state for the fiscal years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 have now been successfully recovered. The allocation for this three-year time period is approximately $1.9 million, or about $650,000 a year.

Technologies such as electronic medical records, computerized order entry for prescriptions and diagnostic tests, and clinical decision-support tools may improve quality, reduce medical errors and prevent deaths.

Members of the San Bernardino County Medical Society actively participated in the California Medical Association House of Delegates meeting in Sacramento, Oct. 28-30. The CMA celebrated its 150th anniversary and dealt with 145 resolutions and 46 reports.

The San Bernardino County Medical Society Nominating Committee will meet on Jan. 9, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. to nominate one or more candidates for each elective office on the SBCMS Board of Directors, and for California Medical Association delegates and alternate delegates to serve during the 2007-08 fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2007.Submit your nominations by Dec. 22, 2006.

Late fall brought a flurry of activity at the Ventura County Medical Association. Most significantly, leaders of the VCMA attended the California Medical Association House of Delegates during the final few days of October. I was there for the action, along with Drs. Nick Bednarski, Art Inoshita, Lynn Jeffers, Kelvin Loh, Robert Lum, Gerry Murphy and Ronald Thurston.

Experts reveal seven ways to find desirable terms for practice and equipment loans.

Santa Monica psychiatrist Elizabeth Galton, MD, fights for the mentally ill through political action and leadership positions in organized medicine.