Candidate Statements (2009)

President: Lisa Miller, MD
I am honored to assume the position of president of the San Diego County Medical Society (SDCMS). I look forward to the challenges ahead, for medicine, for the delivery of healthcare, and for SDCMS member physicians. SDCMS needs to continue to have a strong voice in legislative issues locally, statewide, and nationally. As physicians, we are faced with ever-increasing challenges to our autonomy to practice medicine, to deliver timely and appropriate care to all members of our community, and to be reimbursed appropriately. As a medical society, we must maintain a strong membership base and continue to provide our physicians with valued benefits. I look forward to the privilege of serving the San Diego County physician community.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE • CLICK HERE TO VOTE • CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Notes: Number in parentheses below after candidate's name (X) = term length in years. Asterisk below after candidate's name (*) = incumbent.

Candidate for SDCMS President-elect (unopposed): Susan Kaweski, MD (1)
I am honored to be your candidate for president-elect. I have served as your Kearny Mesa board of directors representative, delegate to the CMA House of Delegates, chairman of the Legislative Committee, member of the Finance Committee, secretary, and most recently as treasurer.

During these tough economic times, President Obama wants to provide affordable, accessible healthcare for all Americans. We have to be at the negotiating table as the decisions are being rendered or other healthcare providers will step up to provide cheap care, which in the long range becomes very costly for the patient when diagnoses are missed. In addition, we cannot afford to lose appropriate payment due to grossly unfair Medicare RBRVS GPCI disparity with having San Diego County included in a rural payment area.

Healthcare plans are increasingly controlling our practices. We have to waste time and energy on filling out forms and calling them about nonpayments in return for nominal retribution. It is time we get paid fairly for our services, especially when we render emergency care outside our contracted plans.

Health information technology will be required of all physicians. The Obama Administration has said that the goal of HIT is to “reduce costs and guide your doctor’s decisions.” If you do not become a “meaningful user,” you will face a penalties. Don’t let our autonomy be lost!

The trial attorneys are always challenging MICRA. We are so fortunate to have our malpractice rates one of the lowest in this country, but we need to continually be vigilant that this will not be taken away because our lawmakers view this as outdated legislation.

These difficult times require strong organization. It is your SDCMS and CMA that provide the necessary ammunition to meet these challenges and defend your rights. I look forward to joining you in this mission as your president-elect.

Candidate for SDCMS Treasurer (unopposed): Robert Wailes, MD (1)
These are very tough times for just about everybody. Patients lack good access to care, doctors’ practices are suffering from too much overhead, and the economy stinks! I think we can all agree that governmental over-regulation and insurance company bullying are affecting our professional quality of life. We all have a lot to complain about, and I think organized medicine is the best way to look for solutions. One unified voice has the best chance of successful lobbying for our patients’ health and our professional careers. I have really enjoyed working with SDCMS at the local and state levels as an advocate representing the North County medical community. I would like to bring this experience, enthusiasm, and optimism for progress forward to be treasurer for the San Diego County Medical Society. I appreciate your support as well as any input you may have to offer. I am a firm believer that the more involvement and brainpower we can recruit, the more our organization and community as a whole will benefit.

Candidate for SDCMS Secretary (unopposed): Sherry L. Franklin, MD (1)
We are at the forefront of a significant time of change in the practice of medicine. It is now the time to be sure our voices are heard, our hearts our felt, our profession preserved, and our patients protected. Partisan politics and the fear of not being re-elected dictate policy driving medicine today. My hope is to echo the words of Dr. Hertzka in saying that physicians are here to be part of the solution, and add my own words that we are here to be part of it on a grand scale. We must sit at the table. We must be willing and able to negotiate. We must have the best interest of our practice and our patients at the forefront of our decisions. I would like all of you to know that I am the candidate that is ready, willing, and able to sit at that table. I will fight tirelessly for your rights, regardless of specialty.

Candidate for SDCMS Kearny Mesa Geographic Director #2 (unopposed): John Lane, MD (2)
Thank you for considering me for the position of director on the SDCMS board. I have been practicing orthopedic surgery in San Diego since 1990. Through my fellowship in sports medicine and private practice, I have had the opportunity to practice in HMO, solo and small group as well as large group settings. This has allowed me to be in practice settings that have treated managed care, private practice, and workers’ compensation patients. I believe that these experiences give me a broad perspective regarding the practice of medicine in our community. As a physician who takes trauma call, I find emergency room coverage, balance billing, and patient access to be issues that need physician input to provide realistic solutions. I would be grateful for the opportunity to bring my experience to the SDCMS board to help our member physicians maintain successful practices and provide high quality care to patients as we navigate these changing times.

Candidate for SDCMS East County Geographic Director #2 (unopposed): Heywood “Woody” Zeidman, MD* (3)
I have been privileged to represent the San Diego County Medical Society (SDCMS) at CMA since 1992. Starting as an alternate, I was honored to become a full delegate. I have since become the representative for East County on the SDCMS board of directors. However, SDCMS rightly has term limits to allow for increased involvement of its members. This is the last time I can run as the district representative to the board. I have authored resolutions, on your behalf, accepted as policy by CMA. I have been a representative to special sections of both CMA and AMA. Please allow me the honor to represent the East County district one last time.

Candidate for SDCMS La Jolla Geographic Director #1 (unopposed): Steven Poceta, MD* (3)
I hope to remain a member of the San Diego County Medical Society board of directors and delegate to the California Medical Association. I have been an elected board member representing La Jolla since 2004. I have been practicing at Scripps Clinic since 1988 and have been a member of SCMA and CMA since that time.

I am committed to the fair and open representation of our profession to the financial and political systems in which we operate. I have tried, since 2004, to bring the voice of La Jolla physicians to the board and to the state. I have participated in various training programs to help me do this in a competent manner, attended various political events such as fundraisers, and kept up with issues of healthcare reform.

Physicians from my district come from many types of practices. I am a member of Scripps Clinic Medical Group, a large multi-specialty group, where I have served on the board of directors and been active in a number of committees. Although a large group practicing on contract with a foundation, Scripps Clinic represents a mix of different practice styles. We are not paid on salary, but on productivity. Much of each of our success comes from individual relationships with referring physicians, not from large HMO contracts. Because of this, I understand some of the problems and issues that face physicians in small and solo practice. Scripps Clinic also has an academic model of practice, where research and teaching in our residency program and fellowship programs are encouraged. In this regard, Scripps Clinic operates as an academic model, with pooling of revenue prior to distribution. Lastly, we have practiced capitated medicine as a major model (and still have a small number of such contracts). I understand some of the primary care/specialist differences. Lastly, as we have grown larger, we initiate physician benefits such as retirement plans, reminding me of several of our physicians who have left to work at Kaiser for just such benefits. I recognize the differences that physicians have on some of these issues, especially electronic medical records and pay-for-performance.

I hope to continue to bring these background perspectives to the upcoming issues facing medicine in the coming few years. I support current CMA and AMA policy guidelines on healthcare reform, whatever the ultimate form this takes. Basic principles include an individual mandate, regulation of any private insurance element to enforce community-rating mechanisms, a government safety net, and physician autonomy from regulation and employment by government or hospital, where feasible. I personally think that a government-sponsored universal healthcare system is not practical or desirable. However, if our society decides that this is the best way to make our country’s health strong, I will fight within that system for adequate physician autonomy, the relationship with the patient, adequate reimbursement, and freedom from burdensome regulation. Should we choose to strengthen and enhance our system of employee-based healthcare insurance, we need to improve regulation on the insurance industry and devise a mechanism for universal coverage or near-universal coverage. Lastly, we need to stop the upcoming Medicare cuts and reform the GPCI system to ensure stability — and do it this year.

Please support my candidacy for SDCMS directorship.

Candidate for SDCMS North County Geographic Director #1 (unopposed): James Schultz, MD* (3)
Thank you for your consideration for membership on the SDCMS board. I have been a family medicine specialist in Escondido since 1988. I have a broad range of clinical and administrative experience, and continue to be active clinically in the outpatient setting and in the inpatient setting as a part-time hospitalist at Palomar. I have had the honor to serve in various administrative roles as well, including as medical director of a larger private practice group and currently as the CMO for a group of Community Health Centers. I will, if elected, bring a unique perspective to the board, that of a frontline physician in the safety-net world who also has lived the leading (bleeding) edge of managed care. The Community Health Centers take care of hundreds of thousands of patients and deal with resource limitations and scarcity of available services on a daily basis. We and our patients are among those most at the mercy of the whims of local, state, and federal policy, yet traditionally have not been represented in SDCMS.

Candidate for SDCMS North County Geographic Director #2 (unopposed): Arthur “Tony” Blain, MD, MBA* (3)
It is a privilege and honor to be a candidate for re-election to the position of SDCMS North County director. I am a family practice physician and faculty at the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton Family Practice Residency. In both my current position on the board of directors for SDCMS and, when I was a resident, as president of the California Medical Association Residents and Fellows Section, I have had the opportunity to see first-hand the challenges facing medicine regionally and nationally, such as medical coverage for the uninsured, malpractice reform, reimbursement, access to care, and healthcare reform. The only way to protect and improve our profession is for physicians to serve in political, leadership, and organized medicine roles. I feel a deep debt of gratitude for those who have served in organized medicine before me, and serving as an SDCMS director is my way to contribute in a proactive way to support and improve our profession.

Candidate for SDCMS East County Geographic Alternate Director (unopposed): Venu Prabaker, MD* (3)

Candidate for SDCMS Hillcrest Geographic Alternate Director (unopposed): Eric Yu, MD* (3)

Candidate for SDCMS North County Geographic Alternate Director (unopposed): Steven Green, MD* (3)
I am honored to be a candidate for SDCMS North County alternate director. I am a family physician, practicing with Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group in Mira Mesa for the past twenty years. I’ve participated in the CMA House of Delegates through the specialty delegation for the last several years. Given the difficult economic times we find ourselves in, it is more important than ever for San Diego County physicians to focus on our common ground and work together. Government is taking a more active role in areas like universal healthcare access, and non-participation in any such effort is not really an option.

Candidate for SDCMS La Jolla Geographic Alternate Director (unopposed): Matt Hom, MD (2)
U.S. medicine is at a crossroads. With healthcare reform at the front of the president’s agenda, I feel that physician participation in the process will be critical to ensuring that physicians are properly represented moving forward. As an internist in private practice caring for patients on several outpatient and inpatient levels, my experience provides me a breadth and perspective on the dynamics and issues that confront medicine today.

Candidate for SDCMS At-large Director #2 (unopposed): Robert Peters, MD* (3)
I have had the privilege to represent physicians of San Diego County for the last three years. During this time I have been a delegate to the CMA House of Delegates, chaired Reference Committee E on Quality, Ethics, and Legal Affairs, and serve on CMA’s Council on Ethical and Legal Affairs, and currently I am your board of director representative to the SDCMS Executive Committee. I want to continue my active involvement in organized medicine and seek your support for re-election. The San Diego County Medical Society has a rich history as a leader in both local and state issues. More than ever these issues will have a profound impact on the quality of your practice and that of your patients’ lives. These issues include the protection of MICRA, scope of practice, reimbursement, access to and quality of care, information technologies, and satisfaction of practicing medicine. If re-elected, I will proudly serve as your advocate, solicit your input, and seek solutions to the issues that are germane to your mode of practice.

Candidate for SDCMS At-large Director #4: David E.J. Bazzo, MD (3)
I seek the privilege to represent San Diego County physicians as an at-large director for the San Diego County Medical Society. I have a long history of serving our profession and acting as a physician advocate. I am currently a clinical professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine. One might ask if an academic physician could represent the community of physicians of San Diego County. I will let my past record speak to this. I have served on the board of directors for the San Diego Academy of Family Physicians since 2001, serving as president in 2005. During my time on the board, I have been fortunate to be involved in planning educational opportunities for our membership, being involved at the local and state level in physician advocacy and support. I have been selected as one of San Diego’s “Top Doctors” for the past four years by my colleagues. This year is a particularly important year for healthcare. As the new administration has made healthcare one of its top priorities and our state budget issues have forced a hard examination of delivery of healthcare and it’s funding, having a voice on how the future is shaped is paramount. Nathan Fletcher, our 75th district assemblyman, is the vice chair of the California Assembly Committee on Health. Advocacy for the San Diego County physician will take on an extra importance. We need someone who will work for physicians, and I vow to commit tirelessly to this service. I seek your support in electing me as at-large director #4.

Candidates for SDCMS At-large Director #4: Wayne Iverson, MD* (3)
I appreciate the opportunity to serve the medical community and bring an extensive background and experience in my medical professional activities. I am a physician in private practice with offices in La Jolla and Poway. I am a clinical professor of medicine at UCSD, volunteer faculty, and a fellow of the American College of Physicians. I served as chairman of the Graduate Medical Education Committee at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. Also, I served on a CMA task force charged with acquiring a completely new enterprise database and association management system for CMA. Previously I was appointed as a Solo and Small Group Practice CMA delegate from San Diego County. At the 2006 CMA House of Delegates meeting, I authored and successfully pushed through a late emergency resolution calling on CMA to undertake a national campaign for Medicare reform. As an SDCMS director, I will endeavor to maintain our professional traditions related to patient care, educating new physicians, and serving the community. The changing social environment, economics, medical technology, and computer technology will touch on every aspect of medical care. With your support, I am confident I can be a positive factor integrating these changes into our medical professional culture and at the same time maintaining our traditions as physicians.

Candidate for SDCMS At-large Director #7 (unopposed): Mihir Parikh, MD (2)
It is a privilege and honor to be a candidate for the position as an “at-large director” for the SDCMS. I thoroughly enjoyed learning and participating in the political process as a “young physician director” over the past three years. During this time I have come to understand the importance and necessity of having an active medical society that bridges multiple specialties and multiple types of physicians. The consensus voice that emerges from the medical society becomes our position when discussing issues such as access to healthcare, scope of practice, and quality of patient care. This voice is very important in the coming years as healthcare reform gets underway. I am very interested in continuing to participate in the process of representing physicians at SDCMS meetings, helping to formulate organized medicine’s position, and then communicating this information back to the physicians and, of course, the public. If elected, I will do this to the best of my ability.

Candidate for SDCMS At-large Alternate Director #3 (unopposed): Ben Medina, MD* (3)

Candidate for SDCMS At-large Alternate Director #6 (unopposed): Alan Schoengold, MD (2)
I appreciate the opportunity to serve as an at-large alternate director for SDCMS. I have been a member of the medical society for 35 years, and I’ve had the privilege of serving on the boards of a few IPAs in the past 20 years. As the president of Sharp Community Medical Group for the past four years, I have had extensive exposure to the ongoing development of managed care in San Diego. I believe the SDCMS’ board will benefit from the experience I will bring to our local and state medical societies. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the board of directors to strengthen the relationships between our medical leaders in San Diego County.

Candidate for SDCMS Young Physician Director (unopposed): Kimberly Lovett, MD (1)
I am enthusiastic to represent the voice of the young physician on the board for the San Diego County Medical Society. I have had the opportunity to work closely with and learn from many of the board members and staff at SDCMS over the past two years. SDCMS and CMA have been instrumental in developing ideas and providing education to patients and non-medical professionals in the arenas of healthcare reform and access to care. I have a passion for actively participating in the transformation of our system of medicine, and I believe it can be done through a collective effort among physicians within organized medicine. I pledge to represent the interests of young physicians who will inherit the changes that are occurring today as new legislation is passed at the city, state, and national levels. I pledge to take an active role in ensuring that the occupation we love only grows stronger and more functional for ourselves and our patients.

Candidate for AMA Delegate (unopposed): James T. Hay, MD
I have had the privilege of serving you in many capacities over the past 24 years, including as the 2001 president of the SDCMS; the first president of the SDCMS Foundation; delegate, trustee, and now speaker of the CMA House of Delegates; and delegate of Our AMA. I hope and expect to become the next CMA president from San Diego in 2011.

More important than the titles we accumulate are the accomplishments of your San Diego County AMA team. The Hertzka, Hay, Ray, and Miller team is a major influence within our California delegation to AMA. This past fall, I wrote and introduced a series of resolutions that resulted in the adoption by the AMA HOD of the “Principles of the Patient-centered Medical Home.” I was part of the campaign to elect Bob Hertzka to AMA’s Council on Medical Services. I am chair of the Finance Committee of the delegation and helped to reduce expenses for CMA during these tight budgetary times. I have become a recognized consensus-building voice in the AMA House.

Locally, I am proud of the tremendous growth of SDCMS since we hired CEO Tom Gehring in 2001; of the Foundation, now an important part of the charitable community in San Diego County; of what the Foundation’s Project Access will do for the underserved; and of the reorganized governance structure of SDCMS, begun during my president year, that, along with a dynamic CEO and current leadership, has made San Diego County the premier county medical society in California.

We need leaders who build consensus and can get things done. Certainly, as we face the challenges of healthcare reform and system reorganization proposals of the new administration in Washington, DC, we want people who understand the policy and the politics. I am very grateful that you have believed that I do, and I ask for your support to continue as your delegate to the AMA House of Delegates.

Candidate for AMA Delegate: Robert E. Hertzka, MD
In these most challenging of times, I have become the first San Diego County physician in decades to actually reach the senior policymaking ranks of AMA. Last year I was elected unanimously by the 475 delegates of AMA to be one of only nine physicians on their Council on Medical Service. This Council is charged with developing virtually all of the socioeconomic policy for AMA, and I am now there to represent the interests of San Diego County’s physicians.

Times have never been more challenging for us. While headline after headline highlights the nation’s escalating economic woes, physicians have been economically pounded for decades. We have had to deal with underfunded Medicare and Medicaid programs, unfunded mandates on our cost of practice, and private health insurers who have been so abusive in their practices that they were successfully sued as racketeers just a few years ago.

Against these challenges, I have been honored to be aggressively representing the physicians of San Diego County in various capacities for nearly 20 years, including as your SDCMS president in 1999 and your CMA president in 2004–05. And I continue to be fully engaged at the local, state, and federal levels — all while maintaining a full-time practice and teaching two health policy courses at the UCSD School of Medicine.

Finally, I would note that on the federal level, in addition to my active participation on your behalf in AMA affairs, I continue to travel to Washington, DC, several times each year to stay in touch with many in Congress, including our five local representatives. And, as recently as last summer, I spent two hours on the phone one morning to convince wavering members of Congress to support reversal of a pending Medicare physician payment cut — just as the vote was about to taken.

I respectfully ask for your support to be re-elected as one of your AMA delegates.

Candidate for AMA Delegate: Wayne Iverson, MD, MBA
As a medical student at Northwestern University School of Medicine, I gained my academic training several blocks from the home offices of the American Medical Association in Chicago. My professors were not only giants in academic medicine but critically involved in AMA activities. It was at this early age in my adult life that I gained undying respect for my fellow physicians and their ability to work collectively to advance the medical profession in all its activities. I never had any doubts that my life as a physician would have the three integral parts of clinical patient care, teaching young physicians, and serving my colleagues in our professional associations. I first became a member of AMA in 1978 and believe I have a great deal to offer as an AMA delegate. It is a privilege to have my name placed in consideration for AMA delegate, and I would be honored to receive you support.