In mid-November, PCMS had its 2016 Annual Meeting. The atmosphere was electric and the air was thick with camaraderie amongst member physicians and their guests. The meeting was a huge success as attendees might have been eager for a little relief from being so pressed for time, patient demands, and maybe even personal moments of stress.  Or perhaps it was their anticipation for the future of PCMS and its revitalization. Whatever the reason, we were all having fun, enjoying the sensation of meeting one another or just catching up, and filling our bellies full of East Coast Pizza’s authentic Sicilian meal.

We kicked off the meeting with our new board president, Henrique Fernandez, MD, making introductions and thanking our honored guests, Larry Wolk, MD; Alfred Gilchrist, CEO, Colorado Medical Society; Bob Yakely, MD, CMS president-elect; and Mike Ware, CEO, El Paso County Medical Society, who all were  gracious enough to drive through snow and ice to join us.   Dr. Fernandez briefly discussed the strategic process we now have in place to revitalize and rejuvenate PCMS and move our society forward. 

Alfred and Dr. Yakely provided us with a brief rundown of the Colorado Medical Society’s restructuring into a forward-thinking organization. They discussed the mobilization of policies being planned to interact more with state legislators and the congressional delegation. Both expressed their (much appreciated) willingness to join forces with PCMS while we go through our restructuring process, and provide us with keen insight and many years of business sense growing organizations.

Mike Ware, CEO of the El Paso County Medical Society, discussed their efforts over the last four years to redesign EPCMS. After an extensive strategic review of the entire organization, EPCMS has expanded beyond the traditional medical society model and is now offering services directly to practices – consulting, credentials verification, regulatory compliance and education, and will soon be adding turnkey human resources services through an EPCMS PEO. Over the last four years, EPCMS has grown its membership by 10 percent, gross revenue by 250 percent, and meeting attendance by 215 percent. Mike expressed their willingness to helping PCMS as we begin our own strategic redesign.

Our guest speaker, Larry Wolk, MD, Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, presented an enlightening discussion and PowerPoint presentation on the legalization of marijuana. He shared data on marijuana sales and excise taxes, statistics from the prevention and education campaign, usage rates among adolescents, young adults, adults, and overall common challenges including offenses in Colorado schools, suspension and expulsion rates, emergency room admissions, tourism, poisonings, and treatments and fatalities. In the end, Dr. Wolk r eceived the highest rating when participants were asked what they liked best about the annual event! 

ENT Credit Union generously donated a gift basket for a raffle that was won by one of our valued members, and CMS generously donated an iPad to raffle and provided their CME services to provide educational credit. The event was well attended with over 40 attendees present. In the future, we look forward to our next exciting event still in the planning stages and hope you, too, will join us!

Note: The previous version of this story failed to thank CMS for the donation of an iPad. We are grateful for their support!