PAMELA S.N. GOLDMAN, DO, Installed as the 108th President of the POMA

“We DO...”

As physicians practicing in Pennsylvania:

  • We practice in many different professional situations.
  • We serve diverse patient populations and speak many languages.
  • We manage and administer in healthcare systems.
  • We care for multiple generations of families.
  • We educate with our osteopathic philosophy.
  • We lead in our communities.

No matter the situation, we shape the practice of medicine to treat the whole person and their families. This year, POMA will focus on who we are and what it looks like to practice patient-centered, osteopathic medicine in Pennsylvania.

There are many changes within our osteopathic profession and the practice of medicine. As change is inevitable, POMA is on the front line, not only to inform our members of the changes and to provide ways to make the process less painful, but to have a voice in the process.

The Board of Trustees developed a four-pillar strategy to support the osteopathic physicians of Pennsylvania. Let me tell you about the pillars.

COMMUNICATIONS

Through the communications pillar, after a full assessment of the communications needs, our short-term goals were to develop the POMA app as an easy-to-use tool that connects you to all the things you will need as a member of POMA and the integration of an online advocacy tool called VoterVoice where we can now send out a request for members to contact their legislators on issues affecting us.

We are seeing growth of our publications, both the newsletter and Journal, with more interest in research regarding osteopathic manipulation and research with osteopathic physicians integrating the osteopathic philosophy. The Clinical Writing Contest this year saw over 30 submissions.

COMMUNITY

We’ve also grown in our community pillar with the strengthening of our districts. The district model has been a part of POMA for a long time. Yes, the boundaries may have changed over the years, but the idea that your local community can provide members with robust, quality programs to meet educational and networking needs remains the driving force. The local district is a great place for you to receive what you need to practice given the culture of the area in which you practice.

Thank you to all the district chairs and officers – you are osteopathic leaders. We’ve developed district leader meetings and conference calls to support local efforts. The district leaders group share creative ideas on programs and events, as well as challenges on how to get members involved. POMA provides funding for social and networking activities, as well as educational activities.

Throughout the year we will focus on the different champions in each of the districts – people involved in projects or other exciting activities in their profession and extra-curricular activities, making a difference in their own communities. We will continue with the How Are You DOing? articles to explore ways others create wellness. It’s been instrumental in starting the conversation.

Our osteopathic community is more than just our practicing physicians. Our community includes our residencies. 2020 brings about the next phase in graduate medical education as our residencies become accredited by the ACGME. They’re about to embark on a potentially challenging new phase as ACGME regulations coming to play. One of the requirements for our residents is to publish – POMA will be offering avenues for poster sessions and publishing research for our residents. Some of you may have been volunteer teaching faculty with residents, sharing what you know for the next generation of physicians. Now that may not be an opportunity because of ACGME rules about having employed teaching faculty. To provide you a mechanism to continue to share your knowledge, we’re putting together a mentor database with the idea of connecting students, residents, new physicians to practice and even physicians who anticipate a change in their career to connect them with another physician in Pennsylvania with something in common professionally. I encourage you to sign up to be a mentor so you can continue to have influence on students and residents.

Part of our community are the osteopathic medical students. We have three osteopathic medical school campuses in Pennsylvania with more than 2,000 medical students. Many of those students have outstanding debt, close to $200,000 or more. As part of our community outreach, we’re working with the POMA Foundation to create scholarships – mostly merit – not just for students but also residents, as we recognize that they too have need as well. We are putting together webinars regarding loan repayment as this is one of the top things that our residents and students worry about most. It also affects where they choose to practice and what they choose to practice.

EDUCATION

Our next pillar is the education pillar. POMA was built on a strong reputation of providing quality continuing medical education for the last 111 years. The amount of time, effort and expertise that goes into creating a quality program is astounding. POMA has a reputation for excellence in CME that is noticed by other physician organizations in Pennsylvania.

But CME as we know it is also changing. POMA is in the application process of receiving the ability to provide AMA credits in addition to our osteopathic credits for programs. As an accrediting body, we can offer stellar education to organizations in Pennsylvania and surrounding states and organizations. We’ve been approached already by a group inquiring how they can get osteopathic credit for their upcoming program this summer. We look forward to collaborating more with similar organizations because together we are stronger with more resources and we can have a louder voice.

We are also growing our technology platform. The robust technology and communication system will help lead us into the future of the changing world of CME by being able to offer webinars and credits for our doctors in Pennsylvania on your phone, on your time to meet the ever-increasing demands for evidence-based practice and licensure requirements.

As a member, you can view your CME report as the association management system allows POMA to generate reports and keep track of your needed credits.

As practice situations are unique, there are needs for practice management support and physician leadership and professional development. More to come on these initiatives.

ADVOCACY

That leads us to the influence pillar which includes political advocacy but also public policy and building reputation across the Commonwealth. We’re working this year to build a public policy platform. There are many times when different pieces of legislation come up and while most of the time it’s easy to see which side physicians fall on, it would be powerful to have our stance vetted through our House of Delegates and through our members. We will continue to expand the role and the exposure that POMA has in the state regarding issues that matter to our members. Practice rights and protection of your ability to practice as you advocate for your patients and your community. We are collaborating with other medical associations and joined coalitions that support and protect the practice of medicine in Pennsylvania.

We recognize there is an issue with promoting osteopathic medicine and practice and principles – helping legislators, patients and other stakeholders to get to know who we are and the power of being an osteopathic physician. Influence within our osteopathic family.

FOUNDATION

Lastly – the Foundation. We have an amazing resource to support the initiatives of the strategic plan to support the activities that help us to achieve the desired goals of the strategic plan. We are on the way to creating a more robust foundation, one that has the ability to support our physicians and the things that matter to them most.

We started with the resident grant program where in the first two years of its implementation, we’ve been able to give out 22 $500 grants –$11,000 in grants for our next generation of doctors. We are supporting residencies for their Wellness programming requirements.

We look forward to expanding our granting passes to programs like regional OMT education and supporting substance-abuse projects across the state.

CONCLUSION

POMA is your home for those things you need to help you be successful in your practice in Pennsylvania. I am so looking forward to this year. You’ve got a great group of leaders who work tirelessly toward making POMA an organization to be proud of.