By OMA President Carla McKelvey, MD
I had the pleasure of spending my 50th birthday with a great group of people – the OMA’s Board of Trustees. As usual, Chef Ron prepared a wonderful dinner and a special dessert for me – crème brulee with a candle on top.
The burning issue at the meeting was an ongoing discussion regarding the elimination of the House of Delegates. Attendance has continued to decline over the years and, in fact, when the numbers were reviewed the majority of attendees at the House were actually Board of Trustees members; only an additional 10-15 delegates were not Trustees.
After an extensive discussion at that Board meeting on Oct. 21, it was decided that new bylaws would be drafted and brought back to the Board of Trustees in January. The bylaws would eliminate the House of Delegates, with the provision that the new bylaws be approved by the House at the meeting in April.
What would the OMA look like without a House? There would be an annual General Membership Meeting, which would include a keynote speaker, a State of the Organization presentation as well as more in-depth reports from our committees who are doing incredible work. There would also be time for members, any member, to present concerns or issues that they believe the OMA should address. As we have traveled around the state, we find that the House of Delegates system has served as a barrier for members. This is not only because 23 out of 36 counties no longer have county medical societies but also because they do not know how to become delegates.
The nominating committee would be selected by the Board of Trustees (although the next one will be selected at the House in April 2012) and part of their new responsibility would be to help find nominees for counties that do not have representation at the Trustee level. They would also consider resolutions and recommendations that came from the OMA sections as well as committees or individual members.
The OMA currently has four sections – IPAs, Resident Physicians, Physician Assistants and Medical Students. At the Oct. 21 Board meeting, we instructed the bylaws revision to include the addition of three more – rural physicians, hospital and health system employed physicians and the Alliance. We are in the process of organizing those sections. Sections will also meet at the annual meeting.
We are also committed to traveling around the state and meeting with members through “Day with the OMA” in which we will have a town hall meeting and also provide CME including our ever popular risk management program. These will start next year.
In addition to all of these items, the Board of Trustees felt it was time to review their structure. Are they a representative body? Should there be terms of service? What should the content of the meetings be? Once again, the President’s Task Force on Governance will take on this issue and hopefully, report back in 2012.
It is important that our organization remain relevant to its members, and that it becomes relevant to the physicians who are not members. Ensuring that we have an organization that is more open to its members’ concerns is an important step. That is not only changing from a structure that seems to be a barrier but also to one that utilizes the most up-to-date methods to communicate including not only this blog but also social media such as Facebook and Twitter and our new website. I would love to hear from OMA members and stakeholders on these governance changes. Please email me at carlamckelvey@theOMA.org with your input. Related FAQs and an online comment form are available at www.theOMA.org/GovernanceChange.
