News from MSSNY House of Delegates

This past weekend was the annual MSSNY House of Delegates (HOD) meeting, at which physicians from all over the state get together to decide MSSNY policy. While the AMA-MSSNY chapter here at Buffalo focuses heavily on community service to promote health and physician awareness, these groups are at their hearts advocacy organizations. So it came as no surprise that proposals were raised on issues ranging from restricting children/adolescents from commercial tanning to how to apportion revenue raised by the society to repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Much of the political focus centered on the NYS budget that did not include medical malpractice reform. MSSNY had made a statement that it would not support the budget without these stipulations (caps on pain and suffering litigation, a lower-than-expected fund for infants born with neurological problems, etc.). The HOD was a reminder to all physicians (and future physicians) to play an active role in government by calling up and e-mailing our legislators -- just because we aren't politicians doesn't mean these issues don't affect us!

As far as new policy in the HOD went, the Medical Student Section particularly came out on top. We sponsored four resolutions, all of which were passed by the voting body of MSSNY, the House of Delegates. The proposals were:

1) Promoting financial aid opportunities for NYS medical students. (The importance of this one is fairly obvious.)

2) Expanding graduate medical education (GME) funding for residency spots. The problem is that medical schools keep increasing class sizes and new medical schools are opening, but there are no new residency spots! There is currently a cap on GME funding/new residency spots, and now MSSNY has committed itself to advocate for making sure all of these new doctors will have the appropriate training upon graduation.

3) Expanding MSSNY’s physician database to include an opt-in mentorship program based on race/ethnicity, LGBT status, etc. Based on 2008 data, only 10% of NYS physicians identify as underrepresented minorities, and only about 20% of US medical students do the same.

4) Giving preference to US medical students over offshore students in nearby clerkship sites. This is a big problem in NYC, where many local students are excluded from NYC clerkship rotations due to Caribbean medical schools effectively buying out the clerkship positions.

Additionally, the HOD spent quite a while battling out its position on PPACA. A compromise was reached, and MSSNY’s position is now that it has a specific set of grievances against the bill and supports new legislation to improve any shortcomings, but MSSNY is not 100% against this health care reform.

Overall, it was a very exciting weekend. If anyone is interested in getting involved in the more political side of AMA-MSSNY, contact our VP of Policy/Legislation, Lauren Gluck at lgluck01@gmail.com.

Congratulations to the UB AMA-MSS Chapter!

We are proud to announce that on March 12th, the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) awarded the UB American Medical Association Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS) two honorable awards: Chapter of the Year and the Recruitment Award for NY State!

It is officially the tenth consecutive year for our chapter to receive the Recruitment Award! On average we recruit over 75% of the incoming first year medical class to join the AMA - a number that is significantly higher than other NY medical schools. The Chapter of the Year award was a great achievement. The past e-board, led by co-presidents Joanna Lim and Gaurav Rao, successfully held a full year of events. Some of the most notable accomplishments include a Halloween for Children with Diabetes Party, Miles for a Healthier Life Style, and passing a student-written resolution to decrease the price disparity between healthy and unhealthy foods (which is currently being lobbied for in Washington, D.C.).

A new e-board was recently elected and has taken off with a promising start. For example, Linda Wong is leading a Worldscopes Project, CJ Cancino was recently elected to state recruitment chair, and Lauren Gluck is serving as an Alternate Delegate on the state level. We have many new goals set. We plan to focus more on state policy, keeping an updated website, addressing minority issues (such as human trafficking), and simply filling the big shoes left by our predecessors. Several new e-board positions were created to help our more widespread goals for the next year, including Minority Issues Community Liaison, Worldscopes Project Leader, and AMA Student Advisor. There are several upcoming events planned in April so check the website frequently to keep yourself updated!

Please read the recent article about our UB AMA-MSS chapter on the SMBS website: http://medicine.buffalo.edu/news_and_events.host.html/content/shared/smbs/news/2011/03/ama-mss-awards.detail.html

Website Updates!

Checkout the new tab above titled "Upcoming Events." The website will be updated frequently to keep you up-to-date with all UB AMA Events! There is also a link to the SUNY at Buffalo Event Calendar on the UB Polity Website in the Margin to the right.

NY to Fix Medicaid?

Monday night kicked off MSSNY's annual Lobby Day, an opportunity for doctors and medical students to meet with their lawmakers and discuss issues important to them. Important to us. At the ever exotic Hampton Inn in Albany, Monday night's event featured a Q&A with Dept. of Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah and with a panel of state senators and assemblymen.

The two hours of discussion focused on Gov. Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign (MDR) plan, a multi-hit effort to reform managed care and medical liability in order to cut costs and improve patient care. If passed, the reforms would reach the NYS Medicaid population of about 5 million, which includes half of all children in NY and about a quarter of the adults. (In the words of Dr. Ettinger, WOW!)

Tort reform -- the whole liability issue -- was the lynch pin of the evening. Not a bad move, since NY has the highest medical malpractice insurance rates in the country. All the panelists seemed to favor the MDR reforms, at least theoretically, although not all believed the proposals would pass through the state legislature. Say they do pass: We'll get caps on moneys awarded in lawsuits and a stricter scope of what is considered malpractice -- "so physicians can practice without the fear of litigation."

The evening's moderator, MSSNY Speaker of the House Dr. Jerome Cohen, gave the organization's bottom line: MSSNY will support MDR only if liability reform proposals remain intact. He stressed that "liability reform equals Medicaid reform." Doctors can't improve quality of and access to care if they keep practicing such defensive medicine -- while worrying if they'll even get reimbursed for their efforts.

So, check out the Medicaid Redesign proposals here. What do you think?

MSSNY Webcast Open Forum

This coming Monday, March 7, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, MSSNY is webcasting its Open Forum.

This will be a great opportunity to watch a Q&A focused on issues that we care about as medical students and future physicians: Managed care, medical liability, public health, and so much more. Invited speakers include Gov. Andrew Cuomo as well as key leaders from the state Assembly and Senate.

All AMA members are welcome and encouraged to attend. The AMA has organized a broadcast location at the Erie County Medical Society at 1317 Harlem Rd, Buffalo.
OR tune in on your home computer here: http://www.nystv.com/mssny/index.cfm (make sure to have Flash installed).
Note: To watch at home, you might have to click on the link a bit in advance, MSSNY will send you a direct link after you "log in."

However you choose to participate, it should be a good discussion about a lot of important topics!

Doctors Back to School Program

This past Saturday, the student AMA and SNMA chapters of SUNY Buffalo hosted its first Doctors Back to School Program (DBTS), which is an AMA initiative targeted to help increase the number of minority physicians in the US. As many of you know, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans comprise nearly 1/4 of the U.S. population. In 30 years, these groups are expected to make up 1/3 of the U.S. population. Surprisingly, only 7% of physicians and 6% of medical school faculty come from these groups. The goal of the DBTS is to help address this issue and encourage young minority students to pursue a career in medicine and make them realize that this is a profession that is attainable with much dedication, hard work and mentorship.

The event took place on a Saturday morning at UB's South Campus. 5 physicians consisting of a cardiologist, internist, family physician, pediatrician and obstetrician/gynecologist participated in the program's panel discussion. Of the 5 physicians, Dr. Kenneth Gayles was one of the first African American students to be accepted at SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine in the late 1960s. About 20 college students attended, and 5 medical students volunteered to assist in the event.

Overall, both the physicians and students enjoyed the event. The students thought that the program was helpful in meeting other physicians and medical students who have the same background as them. They also thought that the discussions and past experiences of the doctors and medical students helped encourage them to pursue their dream of becoming a physician.

Both the student AMA and SNMA chapters hope to host another similar event at the end of the spring semester next year targeted to minority high school students. If you are interested in helping out next semester, you can contact Vanessa Sarfoh, MS2 who is part of the AMA's Minority Issues Committee and also the lead organizer of the event, or Joanna Lim, MS2 one of the Co-Presidents of the AMA SUNY Buffalo Chapter.

For more photos from the event, please click HERE

Kids with Diabetes had fun in Halloween!

The AMA-MSS Buffalo chapter organized the annual Halloween Party for Children with Diabetes on October 28th, 2010 held at the University at Buffalo South Campus. Vice Presidents of Community Service Jessica Aliotta, Kiu Gladjar, and Brooke Meade, all second year medical students, took charge arranging the event. This is an important event for the children who might otherwise not enjoy Halloween given its focus on sugary candy.

Both the children and volunteer medical students were encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes. On this night, 25 children and their families were greeted by a princess, broccoli, an angel, superheroes, a cowboy, jesters, a dinosaur, a spider, and the myriad of other fun costumes worn by the 33 medical student volunteers.

AMA-MSS Buffalo chapter’s first year medical student representatives put together a number of Halloween activities for the children, despite having an exam the next day. First and second year volunteers ran these activities, which included karaoke, apple bobbing, pumpkin knock out, ghost bowling, pumpkin painting, Halloween melty beads, make your own festive mug or door hanger, coloring stations, pumpkin mouth toss, and Halloween Twister. Students and children worked together to wrap each other in toilet paper for a mummy wrapping contest. Especially popular was the piñata filled with sugar-free candy.

Prizes were given to the winners of contests, games, and a raffle. Every child that came to the party left with a raffle prize. These activities and prizes were made possible by donations amounting to $700.00 generously given by over twenty local stores as well as the Medical Society of Erie County. The spirit of the medical students and the support of the community helped make the Halloween Party for Children with Diabetes a haunting success.

For more photos, please click HERE.

Breast Cancer Walk a Success!

On October 3rd, the SUNY Buffalo AMA Chapter put together a team to walk and raise money for breast cancer research. Despite the rain, several first and second year students attended and walked the event. Thanks to our generous supporters, we were able to raise $550 from the event. Many thanks to Chantal Bartels, Kiu Ghadjar and Jess Aliotta for organizing the event.

Get out and VOTE on Nov 2nd!

U.S. midterm elections are here!

We wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that YOU have the privilege and the right as an American citizen to say and choose the candidates who best represent your values and principles. If you are registered to vote, please visit the Erie County Board of Elections website (http://elections.erie.gov/) to find your polling station and what you need to bring with you. If you are not registered to vote in Buffalo, but are registered in your home state/county, go to that website and request an absentee ballot.

Additionally, if you are unsure of who is running and need some guidance, the Medical State Society of New York has put together a scorecard of physician-related issues that are pertinent to New York State and where the candidates stand. Click on the link (MSSNY Candidates Score Card) to view the scorecard. The following sites are also helpful:

http://www.vote-ny.com/english/index.php
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/INDEX.html

As much as we may not like to admit it, these elected officials will wield a heavy hand in determining how medicine is practiced as we go forward. If health care reform survives in its current form, there are still many sections that have yet to be interpreted, which may potentially impact your future practice. Don't wait until you finish your residency to do something. Make your voice heard and VOTE on Tuesday, November 2nd!!!

Off to the polls!!

Students "Dash for Dad" 5K Race

On Sunday, September 19th, Community Service VP Jess Aliotta (MS2) organized a team of MS1 and MS2 students to run the 5K "Dash for Dad" race in downtown Buffalo! The race was organized by Cancer Care of Western New York, Main Urology Associates and Western New York Urology Associates to help raise awareness for prostate cancer and raise money for prostate cancer research. 15 medical students participated in the event. To top it off, 2 pairs of Sabres ticket were raffled off by Dr. Aliotta to 2 medical students participating in the event! Congratulations to Rob Taylor (MS2) who finished first in the AMA Medical School team and came in 3rd for his age group, and Jane Arcadi (MS2) and Lisa Linde (MS1) for winning the Sabres tickets!