Page 10 - Layout 1

PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE

BCMS in 2022 –

A Year to Remember or a Year to Forget

By Rajeev Suri, MD, MBA, FACR, 2022 BCMS President

2022 will always be remembered as the year we fought our way out of health care systems are at an even higher risk of closing down with dele-
the COVID-19 pandemic and recreated a semblance of what is the new terious effects on patient care, and add to that the redistribution of
normal or almost back-to-normal. The year saw us finally get a control workforce due to the great resignation/retirement, higher wages (com-
over the disease with more available vaccines/boosters and better treat- petitive wages, locums), a smaller healthcare workforce and a looming
ments but saw the challenges of its effect on the healthcare supply chains, recession, the end is not near.
and workforce redistribution. At the local and state level in organized At a regional level, similar to other institutions, BCMS and TMA,
medicine, effects included exacerbated challenges with revenue sources, have also emerged from the pandemic, slightly leaner with a reduced
but also opportunities like more interaction. We also have started seeing revenue source, though the last quarter has started showing a turn-
downstream effects of passage of some major legislation from last year around. Organized medicine was not built for a remote environment
(prior authorization) and ongoing challenges with surprise billing. and as we emerge into a social interactive medical society we were in-
With billions of COVID-19 vaccines administered worldwide, the tended for; we will morph back to who we were. The successful 2022
pandemic response has proved what collaborative revolutionary science BCMS Women Leaders in Medicine awards ceremony was a classic ex-
can do, and how a historic global effort to develop, distribute and pro- ample of what the society needs to rejuvenate its members. Continued
vide access to COVID-19 vaccines is making an impact. Equitable ac- efforts in the coming years in this direction including leadership sem-
cessibility and distribution are however still a challenge due to local and inars and partnership with healthcare focused pipelines in schools and
global socioeconomic factors. Of the 3.47 billion vaccines administered colleges will be essential for BCMS to continue to have a voice for our
globally, 49.6% of inhabitants in high income countries have received physicians.
at least 1 dose, compared with only 1% in low-income countries. As the Laws passed last year are finally having an impact this year. H.B. 3459
vaccine production is being ramped up to an additional 10-14 billion or the “Texas Gold Card Act”, was passed as a law in September 2021
doses, challenges with supply chains will need to be addressed. in Texas to establish continuous prior authorization exemption for
What has changed in 2022 compared with 2021 is more availability physicians who earned 90% approval rate on prior authorization re-
of proven treatments for COVID-19 – ritonavir-boosted nirmatrelvir quests for services over a period of six months. After an intense rule
(Paxlovid), remdesivir, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) including making process, certain provisions of the “Texas Gold Card Act” have
Evusheld, bebtelovimab and/or combination treatments. Again, wide- started taking effect beginning October 2022, and have the capability
spread availability is still a challenge due to local and global socioeco- of changing the healthcare environment for years to come.
nomic factors. So yes, 2022 is not a year we will ever forget. There were achieve-
COVID-19 shone a bright light on the cracks and weaknesses in the ments, challenges and opportunities. Wishing you all the very best for
healthcare supply chain (PPE, iodinated contrast, tracheostomy tubes, 2023 for amazing opportunities for BCMS and its physician commu-
needle biopsy guides, to name a few). The root cause for this is the in- nity. Best wishes to a new leadership that will be at the helm starting
tent of US healthcare systems to reduce supply costs, thus pushing the new year.
many medical manufacturers offshore and increasing dependency on
these offshore sites. This coupled with transport bottlenecks, References:
global/local economic changes affecting workforce, and lack of trans- 1. FDA.gov. Medical devices shortages during the COVID-19 crisis
parency of supply and demand can and did create severe disruptions in public health emergency. https://www.fda.gov/medical-
patient care. Systems are learning to cope with this with diversification devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/medical-device-
and targeted inventories but the underlying root cause still persists. shortages-during-covid-19-public-health-emergency#shortage
Since its inception in March 2020, the $2.2 trillion CARES Act has
helped healthcare systems weather the pandemic storm, but many sys- Rajeev Suri, MD, MBA, FACR is the 2022 President of the Bexar
tems did not survive. With the CARES Act support to health systems County Medical Society, Tenured Professor and Interim Chair of the De-
winding down and still with persistent challenges of increased cost of partment Radiology at UT Health San Antonio and Chief of Staff at
healthcare (supplies, decreasing reimbursements and high inflation), University Hospital San Antonio.

10 SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • December 2022