Medical society serves physicians and community

There is a long history of service to physicians and by physicians in the Greene County Medical Society. While the society exists to serve Greene County physicians in a number of ways, the society's physicians also seek to serve the community.

The society's mission statement advances advocacy for physicians, advocacy for patients, promotion of medical education, and assurance of ethical practice of medicine.

Medical society history

The society was formed in 1874, and was at several locations in Springfield before moving to its present location in the Woodhurst office center, according to Dr. David Muegge, president of the Greene County Medical Society and internal medical specialist who serves as the Medical Coordinator for SMSU's Health Center.

The Greene County Medical Society is one of the more active medical societies in Missouri, said Muegge, adding that the immediate past president of the Missouri Medical Association, Dr. Norm Knowlton, is from the Greene County Medical Society.

The society has approximately 459 physician members. Out of those, about 100 are retired, according to Cathy Leiboult, managing director of the society. She said the society offers opportunities for all members to meet once or twice a month to discuss subjects of interest. The programs offered by the society are for all physicians.

There are several groups within the society, such as the retired physicians and the young physician groups, which both meet monthly.

The society is accredited by the Missouri State Medical Association to be a Continuing Medical Education credit provider and provides free tracking of their members' CME.

Members themselves provide many of the educational programs.

For example, the doctors put on an annual one week presentation given by experts within their own ranks called CME by the Sea, which is held in Florida, said Dr. Jim Blaine, past president of the medical society and current member of the executive counsel.

There are educational trusts, such as the Carrick Trust, which allows the society to have occasional educational symposia for arthritis and skeletal diseases, and the Van Smith Trust, that allows educational symposia on blood-related diseases, according to Muegge.

For the future

The medical society also helps future physicians. For example, there is the Singing Doctors' scholarship. In the 1960s and '70s, a group of society physicians put on humorous singing concerts about medical maladies, patient care, and doctors, said Muegge.

"The money raised by the Singing Doctors has been used for scholarships for medical and nursing students with roots in southwest Missouri. Recently, this scholarship was transferred to the University of Missouri medical," Muegge said.

"Every year the Greene County Medical Society facilitates a meeting with local pre-medical college students and the deans of medical schools in Missouri. The GCMS also arranges an opportunity for these pre-medical students to job-shadow a physician for a couple of weeks to gain a first-hand appreciation for the practice of medicine," Muegge said.

In the community

According to Blaine, the medical society serves the good of the patients and the public health, and has done a good job advocating with patients.

He noted that the society has initiated many charitable projects in the community, such as the Child Advocacy Center on Walnut Street. The center was formed through the collaboration of community leaders, Blaine said, and it is now community owned.

The society also started the City of Springfield DWI Task Force, and about 10 years ago, it started the Automated External Defibrillator project for Springfield, now a statewide program known as Operation Heartbeat, according to Blaine.

Many nonprofit organizations cannot lobby for legislation due to their 501(c)3 status, Blaine noted, but the society does not have 501(c)3 status and can lobby on such issues as tobacco, child abuse, and drunk driving.

The society is now actively promoting the initiative petition on the November ballot to increase the price of tobacco to raise around $400 million "to help fund preventive efforts and help indigent patients access health care," Blaine said.

Muegge said the society also is involved in influenza vaccination clinics every fall, and it also now is working with Harold Bengsch, director of the Springfield-Greene County Public Health Department, on bioterrorism preparation.

Muegge noted there is a continued increase in the technical ability of the hospitals and doctors to serve the needs of the patients, and said, "Seldom do patients need to leave Springfield for medical care."

However, managed care is changing the local medical field and it is a challenge for doctors to maintain a close relationship with their patients, Muegge added.

He said there are access problems for patients due to inadequate Medicaid funding, and also escalating malpractice insurance costs and increasing difficulty in finding medical malpractice insurance.

Added Blaine, "The cost of medical care has changed the atmosphere of medicine for all of us."

New technology is very expensive and there is increasingly diminished funding for the indigent, Blaine said. At the same time there is growing emphasis on preventive aspects such as tobacco use and exercise, which have cause-effect for health and longevity.