20 Ways to Make SDCMS.org Work for You, Your Staff, Your Patients, and Your Practice!
1. Join Online in Under Five Minutes!
If you’re not yet an SDCMS-CMA member, joining is as easy as answering eight simple yes/no questions to determine your membership type (new, rejoining, young physician, military, government-employed, resident, medical student, etc.), after which the system calculates your dues rate, you enter your payment information, and you’re a member — it’s as simple as that
2. Access Valuable Members-only Content!
Signing in to access members-only content is as easy as clicking on “Sign In” at the top left of the screen and entering your email address or username and your password. If you have any trouble at all signing in, contact Kyle Lewis at SDCMS at (858) 300-2784 or at KLewis@SDCMS.org and he’ll get you signed in. Some of the content available to members and their staff includes valuable toolkits, access to previously recorded seminars, access to our FAQ database, and more!
3. Manage Your Account, Your Private Messages, Your Profile, and Your Classified Ads
After you sign in, you’ll notice “Welcome, Dr. X” appears at the top of the homepage, which hyperlinks directly to your profile. If you hover your cursor over “Your Account” in the upper left, a dropdown menu will appear that will give you direct access to your account (where you can edit your username, password, email address, etc.), your private messages (see #7), your profile, and your classified ads.
4. Ensure Your Public Profile Is Accurate and Complete!
All current SDCMS-CMA member physicians have a public profile at SDCMS.org, which you can edit when logged in. Update your training information, your board-certified specialties, your self-designated interests, the health insurances you accept, the programs (Medicare, Medi-Cal, etc.) you accept, the languages you speak, your affiliations, your practice location(s), and any information you would like to provide about your practice, including a basic description of your practice, what your new patients need to know, information for your current patients, your practice hours, and more. The more information you provide in your profile, the easier patients and physicians can find you when doing a physician search.
5. Renew Your Membership With Just a Few Clicks!
If you have trouble signing in in order to renew your SDCMS-CMA membership, contact Kyle Lewis at SDCMS at (858) 300-2784 or at KLewis@SDCMS.org, and he’ll fix the problem.
6. Tell Your Patients to Register With SDCMS.org Today!
If you would like to communicate with your patients in a HIPAA-compliant environment, tell them to register at SDCMS.org. Once registered, they will be able to send you HIPAA-compliant messages, to which you can respond within the same HIPAA-compliant environment. When a patient (or other SDCMS member physician) sends you a message, you receive a notification email in your regular email account to let you know that you have a message waiting for you at SDCMS.org.
7. Communicate With Physicians and Patients in a HIPAA-compliant Environment!
As an SDCMS-CMA member physician, you can send HIPAA-compliant messages to other physicians and to your patients at SDCMS.org. In order to send a message to another member physician, log in and go to that physician’s profile. Each physician profile has a “Send This Physician a Message” button at the top that, when clicked, will bring up a messaging tool. Patients who have registered with SDCMS.org and are logged in (see #6) can do the same as well. When a message is sent to you at SDCMS.org, an email is sent to your regular email account notifying you that you have a message waiting for you at SDCMS.org.
8. Hyperlink to the California Medical Association (CMA) Website
To access CMA’s ON-CALL documents, valuable toolkits, and other members-only content at cmanet.org, click on CMA’s logo in the upper right. If you’ve never logged in to CMA’s website, you’ll need your CMA ID, which Marisol Gonzalez, your SDCMS physician advocate, can help you with. Contact Marisol at (858) 300-2783 or at MGonzalez@SDCMS.org.
9. Your Office Staff Can Access Members-only Content Too!
Office staff of current SDCMS-CMA member physicians can contact Sonia Gonzales, their SDCMS office manager advocate, to be assigned a unique username and password that will allow them to access all of the valuable content available to members at SDCMS.org. Contact Sonia at (858) 300-2782 or at Sonia.Gonzales@SDCMS.org.
10. Find Information on All Other SDCMS-CMA Member Physicians!
We designed our Find a Doctor tool to be user-friendly and powerful by allowing patients to cast their net wide at the beginning of their search and filter down from there. Searchers can type in a keyword to get an initial list, which they can then filter down by choosing board-certified specialties, special interest areas, programs accepted, and more. Physician profiles that are accurate, up-to-date, and complete are more likely to appear at the top of search results.
11. Quickly Find What You Need With Our Filtering Search Function!
Searching for content at SDCMS.org is as simple as entering a keyword and filtering down from there. If you enter “Medicare,” for example, more than 1,500 pieces of content will show up in your search results. From there you can filter down by checking (and unchecking) “Physician Profile,” “Article,” “FAQ,” “Event,” “Classified,” etc. You can also filter by using multiple keywords.
12. Affect and Effect Legislation Critical to Your Practice and to Your Patients
Our advocacy tool allows physicians to quickly and easily affect and effect legislation and regulations important to you, your patients, and the practice of medicine. SDCMS’ and CMA’s advocacy efforts run the gamut from protecting MICRA and maintaining the corporate bar, to fighting unfunded mandates, holding the line on practice intrusions, seeking regulatory relief, protecting physician reimbursement, and ensuring fair and equitable physician contracts. With our advocacy tool you can sign petitions, send letters to newspaper editors, and contact politicians with just a few clicks.
13. Post Your Own Classified Ads Free of Charge and Search SDCMS’ Physician Marketplace
As a member physician, you can log in to SDCMS.org and post classified ads in a number of different categories — Physician Positions Available, Clinical Trials, Office Space, Medical Equipment, Services Offered, and much more — all free of charge. Let SDCMS’ online marketplace be your first stop when looking to buy and sell goods and services with others in San Diego County’s physician community.
14. Search Our FAQ Database to Find the Answers You Need When You Need Them!
We have uploaded the answers to hundreds of questions already asked of our physician advocate and office manager advocate, ranging from economic advocacy and employment questions, to legal advocacy, medical licensure, member benefits, and more. If you don’t find the answer to your question, simply give Marisol (your physician advocate) or Sonia (your office manager advocate) a quick call, and they’ll find the answer for you!
15. Read San Diego Physician Online
Every month we post a complete copy of that month’s issue of San Diego Physician online in order to ensure the broadest possible distribution of SDCMS’ official publication and to make accessing previous issues easy and enjoyable.
16. View All of SDCMS’ Past Seminars and Webinars When You Have the Time!
SDCMS’ seminars and webinars are all made available for viewing online by members and their staff within 24 hours of recording. For those busy physicians and office staff who can’t tear themselves away from the office to attend in person, you can always go to SDCMS.org within a day of the seminar/webinar, log in, and view it in its entirety.
17. Never Miss an SDCMS Seminar, Webinar, Event, or Meeting
A complete list of all currently scheduled SDCMS seminars, webinars, events, and meetings is available at SDCMS.org/event. If you have any suggestions for future seminars or webinars, don’t hesitate to let us know!
18. Follow SDCMS on Twitter!
Get the latest healthcare news and updates from SDCMS, CMA, and respected media sources from across the country by following SDCMS on Twitter.
19. Meet Your Leadership and Support Teams
You have a dedicated team of physician leaders and staff at SDCMS who are here to support you, your staff, your practice, and your patients. Get to know us, and let us know how we can serve you better!
20. Learn More About Your SDCMS Foundation
Founded and directed by physicians, the SDCMS Foundation manages a host of programs that help physicians, patients, and our community. Together, your Foundation solves unmet healthcare needs by offering efficient and meaningful access to care, preventative health education, resource information, and support for local medical students. The SDCMS Foundation is actively recruiting board-certified physicians in all medical and surgical specialties — physicians willing to see at least one uninsured patient. Contact the Foundation today to learn more!