PCMS_Philadelphia_Medicine_Summer2017 - 32

p h i l a m e d s o c .org

PCMS & COMMUNITY NEWS

The Philadelphia County Medical Society (PCMS)

Installation of Cadence A. Kim, MD, FACS, as the
156th President and Annual Awards Program
The Philadelphia County

Excerpts from Dr. Kim's Inaugural Speech

Medical Society's new pres-

"By the time I graduated from medical school, the practice of medicine was rapidly changing.
Group practices and employed physicians were replacing solo practitioners. Patient care
became more complicated. Many tests and medications now require prior authorizations
wasting precious time and resources. EHR constructed with the idea that they would facilitate better documentation and communication do not talk to each other and produce so
many pages of documentation it is difficult to sort out what the bottom line is. Moreover,
the systems are so poorly designed that I find myself spending more and more time with
my computer and less and less time with my patients - the reason I became a physician
in the first place. I am feeling less engaged with the actual care of my patients and more
engaged with the documentation of it.

ident, Cadence Kim, MD,
FACS, has pledged to devote
much of her term in office
into finding ways to confront
the burnout in the medical
profession.
Dr. Kim was installed as the
156nd president of PCMS
on Saturday, June 17, 2017,
at the Philadelphia Country
Club in Gladwyne. She's a
urologist in group practice
with Urological Associates,
P.C., and practices general
urology with an emphasis on
urologic oncology and stone
disease. She is affiliated with
the Aria-Jefferson-Abington
Health System as well as the
Temple-Jeanes Health System.

32 Philadelphia Medicine : Summer 2017

"This decrease in autonomy and increase in administrative tasks has produced a rapid rise in
physician burn out. It is also the reason I joined and became an active participant in PCMS.
"PCMS is here to support you as physicians. We are here to advocate for you so that you
feel you have a voice, because your voice is critical to the delivery of excellent patient care
which is what all our institutions also value.
"We recognize that our institutions play a vital role in the delivery of health care. Unfortunately, hospital metrics in their current form do not measure physician, provider satisfaction.
While a low patient satisfaction score will generate large quantities of resources to correct
it, few organizations measure provider satisfaction. Imagine the increased productivity and
efficiency if this were to be addressed.
"Women in medicine also need to be addressed. In 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell became the
first woman in the U.S. to receive her MD. Today 50% of our medical school classes are
composed of women, and women now make up 30% of the doctors in America. However,
an article published in JAMA last year showed that female physicians still receive about
$20,000 a year less than their male counterparts in the same job.
"The PCMS is here to support our members. As your president, I will advocate for policies to help us as physicians spend more time in the care of our patients and less with our
computers. I will advocate for policies to help prevent physician burn out. I believe women
should receive equal pay for equal work, and the society is here to teach both women and
men how to negotiate their salaries and contracts. This society is here to serve and represent
you. I look forward to being your president.

https://philamedsoc.org/

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