Letter from Damian P. Alagia, III, MD, MBA
2006 President

Dear Friends:

As clinicians our voices are confident and strong when caring for patients in our offices, our clinics and our hospitals.  And yet we often become silent when faced with the discouraging and often gut-wrenching facts that affect our professional lives.  Sure, we turn to one another and complain about rising costs, decreasing reimbursement, and more regulation, but our voices are not heard in places where they count. Decisions about the way we practice medicine are being made by individuals who simply do not understand the essence of medical care-the essence of what we do.  Insurance companies, trial lawyers, and politicians make decisions that require our participation but exclude our input. We all know this.

In the District of Columbia the very real personal pressures associated with delivering high-quality medical care are made worse by rising operational costs, a toxic medical liability climate, and a City Council that is unsympathetic and insensitive to the medical liability concerns of physicians. But, there is hope.  And that hope comes in two words: physician leadership. If we are to have any voice in the direction of our medical system, either locally or nationally, we as physicians need to assume and become comfortable with leadership roles outside our normal domains of expertise.  This means we need to get involved as change agents in this system.  We need to learn how to lead.

My agenda as president of MSDC is simple: identify and develop the physician leaders in our community and provide them with opportunities to fine-tune their leadership skills.  Our membership revenue will be directed towards leadership workshops, public-speaking workshops, and media training. MSDC will develop a forum for physician leaders to learn to think differently about the problems that we face.  Furthermore, for those of you who are interested-and I hope that there are many-MSDC will match physicians with leadership opportunities in this community. 

It is my belief that strong physician leadership is the solution to many of the problems that are in front of us.  If we are to have a place at the table in discussions about health care in general and patient care in particular, we need to develop the skills of the clinical leaders among us so that our positions are well-represented.  There is too much at stake to leave the future of medicine in the hands of non-physicians.  The voices of physician leaders must be identified, developed and heard if we are to succeed. We can lead and must lead.

Thanks,

Damian P. Alagia, III, MD, MBA

2006 President