By OMA President Carla McKelvey, MD
Jo and I drove from Klamath Falls to Grants Pass last night. We got here at 11 pm and went right to bed. It was a pleasure to wake up this morning and look outside to see the Rogue River off the hotel balcony.
Coos Bay and Grants Pass have much in common. Kim Kozak, DO, an ENT moved from Coos Bay to Grants Pass, and Laurie Hamilton, DO, an OB/Gyn moved from Grants Pass to Coos Bay. The CEO of Bay Area Hospital moved from Grants Pass to Coos Bay. Grants Pass has the amazing Rogue River and we have the powerful Pacific Ocean.
The morning was lovely and we walked along the river from the hotel to where the breakfast was. We had a good turnout of physicians and a good conversation primarily regarding the health transformation that is occurring in Oregon. As in most communities, there are many questions about how the process will work. The legislation that passed is a skeleton and the current workgroups are putting the meat on the bones. It won’t be until the final rules are passed in February that we will know the nuts and bolts of the transformation.
We also talked about the Patient Centered Primary Care Home (PCPCH). In general, the physicians are supportive of the PCPCH, but as one physician put it, “I am about initiatived out!” There are many concerns that while many of these items are well worth the change that it will require more paperwork and the amount of new documentation required will not be worth the financial incentives.
The physicians in Grants Pass seem confident about their ability to approach the future even though there is so little known. It is always great to see doctors who see opportunities in the challenges that we may face.
We moved on to Roseburg for lunch at DCIPA. Once again, there was a good turnout of physicians.
There seemed to be more of a focus on recruiting physicians. This has been a concern in most of the communities that we have visited. One physician stated, “Tell me who will take care of me when I retire.” They indicated that none of the physicians in Roseburg are currently taking new Medicare patients.
We had a good discussion about what motivates medical students to choose their future specialty. Is it the debt that makes them choose a higher paying specialty or is it lifestyle? Is there a belief that primary care has less respect or standing then a specialty field? There is no simple answer but we agree that mentoring and being role models for future doctors is important.
Our next meeting was at Marie Stoddard’s home with her and other Alliance members. The Alliance faces many of the same challenges that the OMA does – a changing demographic. Like the OMA, the Alliance is looking at how to update their structure to reflect their changing membership. The OMA and the OMAA are looking at ways to maintain relevance and vitality as well as reflect the needs of our members.
We spent a lovely evening with Jon and Jeannie Burpee. Jon is a retired ophthalmologist. For dinner we had fresh King Salmon, corn and broccoli from their garden. Fresh food tastes amazing, especially accompanied by the hospitality of the Burpees.
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