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PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE

leader at down from our demanding full-time plus practices, the BCMS can
UT Long help foster a happy transition to meaningful part-time lower stress
School of but productive semi-retirements.
Medicine and a BCMS board member. This magnet school will be Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we must be in the fore-
located at Brooks City Base on the SE side of town near where the front to address the burgeoning epidemic of physician misery,
UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine resides. burnout and suicide. Enough is enough. I’m tired of seeing my
I am also heartened by the increasing participation in BCMS ac- partners, colleagues and friends become excessively stressed, un-
tivities and committees by medical students from both the UT happy, cynical, angry and worse.
Long School of Medicine and the UIW School of Osteopathic It is our responsibility to stand up and do more. Working with
Medicine. That said, we need to attract more of the very busy res- the TMA we have made efforts to address and mitigate some is-
idents and fellows and their spouses to the BCMS and the BCMS sues, but we have very far to go to reverse decades of insidious
Alliance. These graduate medical trainees are the largest reservoir loss of physician influence, respect and enjoyment of our practices.
of future BCMS members and leaders. Frankly, we haven’t been effective enough. We need to think out
San Antonio is one of the most important, if not the most im- of the box and focus on one or two pivotal areas where we can
portant centers of military medicine on the face of the Earth. I have monumental influence, such as we did when we fought for
look forward to working more closely with Col. Mahakian, General and achieved tort reform more than 15 years ago.
Hepburn, General Young and other local military medical leaders In the next few weeks, we will convene a meeting of those of
to better integrate military medicine with civilian private and aca- you who want to help lead this effort. We will also reach out to the
demic medicine. This will not only benefit the physicians and their leaders of other physician societies operating in Bexar County. If
families, but also our respective patients including the large number you or your group want to be part of this effort, please let me
of military veterans and retirees. know. I can be reached at adam.ratner@bcms.org.
One of the hidden gems of the BCMS family is the BCMS Al- When I think about all of the members of BCMS, all of the
liance. This group of physician spouses, both women and men, are supporting spouses and families, all of our staff, Circle of Friends,
an underappreciated and underestimated source of power and business partners and associates, I see an immense store of intel-
growth. I believe the BCMS and the Alliance should work far more lectual, emotional and political firepower which we can harness
closely together to improve the daily lives of physicians, their to reverse the course of physician and patient disempowerment.
spouses and their families. I look forward to working with the Al- We don’t need to accept the status quo. We can work together to
liance leadership to achieve this vision. free and energize physicians to more effectively do what we want
The BCMS must also work to find new ways to support our tra- to do, do what we are trained to do, and do with joy what we are
ditional base of private practitioners. As market conditions change, struggling to do now: Take the best care of our patients!
BCMS and TMA must be in the forefront to assist us in adapting
to challenging market and regulatory conditions as well as to ex- Dr. Adam V. Ratner is the incoming president of the BCMS. He also
plore new practice models. serves as Professor and Assistant Dean at the University of The Incarnate
Furthermore, when many of us become interested in slowing Word School of Osteopathic Medicine and Chair of The Patient Institute.

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