2012 CMS Annual Meeting

Saturday, September 01, 2012 01:12 PM

Medical society elects new officers, sets policy at 142nd annual meeting

Delegates at the 142nd Colorado Medical Society Annual Meeting inaugurated Jan Kief, MD, as president and elected John Bender, MD, as president-elect. In addition, M. Robert Yakely, MD was elected as speaker of the House, Brigitta Robinson, MD, vice-speaker of the House, Lee Morgan, MD, AMA delegate, Mark Laitos, MD, AMA alternate delegate and W. Gerald Rainer, MD, CMS historian.

Important policy discussions from the meeting included the approval of a major plan to ensure the future relevance of CMS to all physicians regardless of practice setting and active debate on whether the state of Colorado should voluntarily expand Medicaid via federal health care reform.

With regard to Referendum 64 concerning the recreational use of marijuana, CMS decided to take no formal position on the criminality of recreational marijuana use. The House of Delegates did, however, pass policy recognizing the published scientific data that the recreational use of marijuana has a deleterious effect on the health of individuals and public health, particularly on the developing brains of adolescents.

Resolutions calling on CMS to halt physician gag orders relating to hydraulic fracturing operations and to oppose unfair non-compete or liquidated damages clauses in physician employment contracts were referred to the CMS Board of Directors for decision after additional legal research on the two issues is completed.

Read the official disposition of resolutions, the CMS discussion paper on Medicaid expansion, view a video of Colorado’s major health plans discussing payment and delivery system reform and more coverage from the annual meeting at www.cms.org.