As the Southern California fires were being contained, the California Medical Association convened its House of Delegates in Anaheim on Oct. 27. The event gave organized medicine leaders the chance to offer support to those affected. The CMA board of trustees voted to waive dues for one year for any CMA member who lost his or her home or office in the fires.

In the aftermath of October's fires, physicians, hospitals and public health agencies are taking the opportunity to bolster disaster response skills, in the unfortunate event that an emergency strikes the region again.

Don't believe it when people say the Medicare program is going away.

Horacio Rodiles, MD * J. Brennan Cassidy, MD * Marcy Zwelling-Aamot, MD * Neil Barth, MD

The topics tackled and resolutions adopted by the California Medical Association House of Delegates in October displayed some of the new aggressiveness that the association has been developing, especially within the past year.

In October and November, the California Department of Managed Health Care held hearings in Burbank, Sacramento and San Diego to learn how physicians, health plans, consumers and others view its proposed rules on balance billing. As expected, doctors did not approve.

Here's a refresher on your responsibilities when it comes to disease reporting.

Five physicians get real about getting sued for malpractice. They reveal the emotions they felt, the support they received and the impact on their self-esteem. Learn from their lessons should you ever face a jury.

I'm a recovering doc-aholic. A doc-aholic is addicted to the fantasy that he can make it alone just by working a little harder. Doc-aholics see themselves as healers in isolation, disconnected from peers, business reality and professional organizations. They accept contracts out of fear. They embrace the idea that "I'm a doctor, so I'll be okay. I'll just keep doing the same old thing and expect a different result."

To improve doctors' professional future and garner power in the changing environment, medical staffs must cease to identify with hospitals and form regional physician organizations. Such organizations support the notion that the physician-patient interaction is the centerpiece of any healthcare delivery system.

Here are five tips from experts on finding a reliable professional financial planner.

The Los Angeles County Medical Association delegation to the California Medical Association House of Delegates had an amazingly successful and productive meeting this year. LACMA's advocacy on behalf of our members resulted in the passage of a number of policy statements by the CMA.

On Nov. 5, Luis Ayala became the Los Angeles County Medical Association's new director of government relations, filling the position left vacant when David Pruitt accepted a job as executive director of the California Medical Association Political Action Committee. In his new LACMA post, Ayala will be at the forefront of the association's advocacy efforts.

With the support of its Executive Committee and Board of Directors, the Orange County Medical Association has been working to improve member services and operations. Periodically, every organization needs to take a fresh look at itself, and we have spent 2007 doing just that.

Student-run free clinics are a means to address the needs of underserved patients while providing the next generation of physicians with the experiential learning necessary to better understand patients, communities and community healthcare.

While at the California Medical Association House of Delegates, members of the Solo and Small Group Practice Forum (SSGPF) invited me to attend a presentation by Howard Lang, MD, dealing with peer review and medical staff issues. The evening evolved into a self-confessional discussion about insurance contracting.

Recently, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. in a Wall Street Journal editorial said that better self-policing by physicians of their "errant" colleagues would reduce malpractice litigation and help control medical costs.

A special training session on Jan. 20 is designed to assist physician members in meeting the OSHA mandate requiring annual training by October of each year for all office employees.

The Riverside County Medical Association Medical Student Scholarship Fund provides yearly scholarships to Riverside County residents who are enrolled in or have been accepted to an accredited medical school and show financial need.

Andy Oppenberg, MPH, director of risk management at Glendale Memorial Hospital & Health Center, and I recently presented a paper at the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management Conference.

In response to the devastating firestorms, the Sheriff activated on Oct. 22 the San Bernardino County Medical Reserve Corps, a medical volunteer unit created by the San Bernardino County Medical Society and housed within the County Sheriff's Volunteer Forces Unit.

The San Bernardino County Medical Society is pleased to announce that our former president Dev GnanaDev, MD, was named president-elect of the California Medical Association during the 136th Annual House of Delegates in Anaheim in October. The CMA also pays tribute to Ronald Bangasser, MD.

Nearly 100 physicians and guests attended the Nov. 9 event to welcome the new leadership of the Ventura County Medical Association and raise money for worthy charitable causes. Radiologist Robert Lum, MD, passed the VCMA president gavel to psychiatrist Ron Thurston, MD, who takes over in January 2008. Adding to the excitement, doctors played casino-style games with the proceeds benefiting the VCMA Health Career Scholarship Fund and the Ventura Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health.

After a circuitous path, Charles McElwee, MD, settled in Southern California to become a leader and a steadfast advocate for physicians' causes.