Important Issues

In its first Board of Directors meeting of the year, the MSDC Board formalized new avenues of member involvement in the Society by formally creating a "Bright Young Docs" section and creating an annual awards committee.

The MSDC Board met on Monday night in the ProAssurance "Benjamin A. Harrison" conference room in Washington, DC. The meeting began with a presentation from the DC Department of Health Care Finance. Medicaid Director/Senior Deputy Director Melisa Byrd presented on the department's major initiatives and solicited ideas and assistance from the Medical Society.

As part of its business for the meeting, the Board created a new Awards Committee. The committee's role is selecting nominees for the four annual awards given at the MSDC annual meeting: the Certificate of Meritorious Service, the Dr. Charles H. Epps III Community Service Award, the Distinguished Service Award, and the John Benjamin Nichols Award.

The Board also formally voted to charter the Bright Young Doctors section. The section, which existed informally for the past twelve months, serves those new to the physician profession or early in their careers. Dr. Matthew Lecuyer was approved as the first chair of the section's governance committee. BYD joins Women in Medicine as MSDC's current sections for physicians.

Other business conducted at the Board meeting included:

• The approval of the Society's 2020 Investment Policy Statement for its financial reserves
• The approval of a new staff handbook to strengthen staff benefits
• Signing off on the Women in Medicine proposed activities for the first half of 2020
• Hearing a presentation from Immediate Past President Dr. Raymond Tu on reimbursement differences between inpatient admissions and observation
• The announcement of MSDC adding a third delegate to its American Medical Association delegation

The next MSDC Board of Directors meeting will be April 27, 2020 at 6:30 PM. The location will be announced prior to the meeting, and any MSDC member interested in attending may contact Robert Hay Jr. for an invitation.