Dear NCMS Members,

Happy New Year! Hoping there was ample opportunity for relaxation and regeneration over the holidays, and from all of us at NCMS, wishing you a happy, peaceful, and prosperous 2024.

Thank you, first and foremost, for your tireless service, and passion for improving the health of our patients and the community, as we continue to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Inspired by this selfless gift of time and talent, over the previous year, to serve you, NCMS has been engaged in multiple areas and on many levels of advocacy, education, public health, and social activities, with the coming year promising to remain active in each of these — especially intensifying in the advocacy arena with the coming elections.

Our agenda for 2023 included enhancing support for mental health services in the region, especially as it pertains to the persistent public health threat of gun violence. Engaging with the FBI Behavioral Task Force, NCMS members initiated a dialogue at a joint forum in May, followed by a CME event led by a special agent from the Behavioral Analysis Unit, with efforts that grew out of this dialogue now to improve mental health screening questions in the emergency department and primary care settings, to offer education to local law enforcement and school districts on behavioral health triage, and better connecting our federal partners with local mental health service centers, such as the new behavioral health facilities in Loveland and Fort Collins. The goal this year will be to grow these action items, and to combine them in a research setting. Thank you to all the members who participated, with an invitation extended to anyone to get involved who might contribute towards our shared goal of public safety.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in healthcare remained an important issue to us this past year, and at a forum in December local and state stakeholders engaged with and learned from a physician expert in this arena:  Representative Yadira Caraveo, MD, newly elected to Colorado’s new 8th Congressional District, and a friend of NCMS. To improve health equity, Dr. Caraveo reinforced the need for broader STEM programs in schools, the expansion of residency programs into underserved areas, enhanced language services in local health systems, as well as maintaining freedom from bias in health research as a means of preserving public faith in medical science — just to name a few items. Recent successes in reproductive, LGTBQ+, and ophthalmological care are just the beginning, with system-level partners underscoring the need for more legislation and mandates to ensure that everyone in our diverse population can achieve optimal health.

We also listened to the results of the 2022-member survey, which requested enhanced social and advocacy events, including a combined bowling fundraiser in Fort Collins for our political action committee (COMPAC), a Summer Beach Party in Windsor, the continuation of our NCMS Book Club, as well as a medical student welcome event at New Belgium Brewery. We enjoy and look forward to seeing many of you at further events next year and invite additional ideas to help us build both community and advocacy initiatives. To contribute to COMPAC, whose agenda for the coming year features vetting candidates on their friendliness to prior authorization reform, scope of practice and liability protections, fair reimbursement, and public health efforts, please follow this link:

https://members.cms.org/contribute

2024 promises to be a year of continued growth, as we continue to develop an agenda centered around advocacy, physician wellness, enhanced DEI efforts, as well as awareness of the imminent growth of artificial intelligence in healthcare — the latter the theme of our annual meeting on Thursday, February 22nd, at the Windsong Events Center in Severance. Speaking at this year’s annual meeting will be Dr. Mark Michalski, MD, CEO of Ascertain, the company leading the adoption of AI in the largest healthcare system in New York City. During a wonderful dinner, winners of the medical student scholarships, as well as the NCMS Physician of the Year will also be honored, with the evening capped off by a professional drone show! We look forward to seeing you there, with link to register here:

http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ek6mvem7e297bd5d&llr=56a9oepab

Once again, boundless thanks for all your work towards the benefit of our patients and the health of the community at large! It remains an honor to serve those who serve Northern Colorado with such selfless resolve!

All the best,

Sean Pauzauskie, MD

President, NCMS