THE DOCTORS’ BALL
LOUISVILLE – The annual Doctors’ Ball, which recognizes Louisville area physicians and community leaders for their work in health care, was held October 19, 2013 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Louisville. Proceeds from the event benefit Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Foundation, part of KentuckyOne Health, which invests in improving health care facilities, services, and education of health care providers, while furthering clinical research and access to medical care.
This year’s event raised more than $330,000. The funding will be dedicated to the Jewish Hospital Trager Transplant Center, a joint program with the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine.
Awards were given this year to Frank Miller, MD, the Ephraim McDowell Physician of the Year; Luis Scheker, MD, and Tsu-Min Tsai, MD, Excellence in Education; Bryan Carter, MD, Excellence in Mental Health; Muhammad Babar, MD, Excellence in Community Service; Mary Fallat, MD, Compassionate Physician, and Bill and Lindy Street, Community Leader of the Year.
A memorial tribute for Harold Kleinert, a past Ephraim McDowell Physician of the Year, was included to honor the recently deceased physician.
LEXINGTON MEDICAL SOCIETY OCTOBER MEETING
LEXINGTON – AMA President Ardis D. Hoven, MD, addressed the gathered members of the Lexington Medial Society (LMS) at the annual meeting honoring LMS past presidents, October 8, 2013 at the Red Mile Clubhouse in Lexington. Hoven’s message was clear: “The dysfunction in Washington, DC makes it imperative that physicians maintain their focus on patients and patient care.”
Physician led health care teams using practitioners to their highest level of education, expertise, and training will be the answer to providing care for the millions of new patients that will be included under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Hoven said. “These are not new patients,” Hoven stated. “The new Medicaid and uninsured patients are already in the system but using the Emergency Room and local health departments. They’re at the wrong place at the wrong time for efficient health care.”
Hoven cited the top challenges of physicians as “un-predictable income, increased workloads, administrative hurdles, a move to consolidation, concern for patient care, and the uncertainty of the effects of the ACA.” The AMA achieved gains in the federal rules by including physicians as stakeholders and adherence to state scope of practice laws, she pointed out.
“If the private medical practice goes away, the health care delivery system in our country will suffer greatly,” Hoven warned. “We must relate to each other as physicians, not as Democrats or Republicans. The ACA is not a perfect law, but at the end of the day, it is a step forward.”