Yolo County Med Society May Merge With SEDMS

If the merge goes through, Yolo County physicians would become the sixth district in SEDMS ~ and we would need a new name.

YCMS was established in 1940. Today it has a little over one hundred active members compared to SEDMS with 1180 active members. Yolo County is a largely rural area known for its agriculture, and for the University of California at Davis and the School of Medicine. There are many striking similarities in its health care environment.

Like Sacramento, four major health systems provide the bulk of medical service: Catholic Healthcare West with its affiliated Woodland Clinic Medical Group and Woodland Hospital; Sutter Davis Hospital and its affiliated medical group, Sutter West Medical Group; the UCD Medical Group; and the Permanente Medical Group. Yolo's Medi-Cal population remains fee-for-service.

In September 1997, SEDMS entered into an agreement to provide administrative and management services to YCMS, which had formerly been provided by an association management firm on a part-time basis.

Recently, the YCMS Board of Directors, chaired by President James McGibbon, MD an OB/GYN from the Woodland Clinic, voted in favor of a merger. Since then, information on the pros and cons of a merger has been mailed to the YCMS membership, and a membership meeting was held on April 12 to discuss it further.

Since SEDMS began providing management services, all the members of YCMS have been receiving Sacramento Medicine and On Friday.

Two years ago, through the offices of Joseph Silva, MD, Dean of the UCD Medical School, all 400 medical students have become members of the local society, the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association. They, too, have been receiving our publications, and many of them have become active in our Adopt-A-School Program. Five medical students are currently serving on our Editorial Committee.

Mergers between medical societies and even some specialty societies are becoming more commonplace in the US. If the merger is approved, Yolo will become the sixth district of the Society; currently, districts are North, Central and South Sacramento, El Dorado Country and the Permanente Medical Group. When fully integrated into SEDMS, physicians in Yolo County will be represented by their own director on our Board, designated representation on the CMA Delegation and with positions on our committees. The SEDMS Board has set the merger as a major priority. We want to make it a successful merger in which the members in Yolo will feel welcome and become an active part of our organization.

While geography affects participation in society activities, the SEDMS current President, Earl "Trey" Washburn, MD, is from El Dorado County and so was our 1989 President, Ron Foltz, MD. In addition, SEDMS is exploring ways to create "electronic committee membership" using technology for physicians who wish to participate but cannot devote the substantial time to travel to our headquarters.

Finally, if the merger is approved, SEDMS will be looking for a new name, one that is not geographical in nature. Our legal name as established in 1868, is the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement. We changed it many years ago when El Dorado County joined us. We are open to your suggestions. The new name would include the motto, "Serving the Physicians and Communities of El Dorado, Sacramento and Yolo Counties."

bsandberg@ssvms.org