If you care about issues ranging from NIH funding to the streamlined payment structure for E/M services—& you know you do—then RheumPAC is a worthy recipient of your support.
A firestorm of criticism followed this statement, and in his defense, it should be noted he never said he would not meet with one of his constituents unless a donation was in the offing. That said, it also occurs to me that in other news, water is wet. Money buys access, and although it doesn’t buy you a vote, it may buy you 20 minutes to explain your point of view. So if you care about issues ranging from NIH funding to the streamlined payment structure for E/M services—and you know you do—then RheumPAC is a worthy recipient of your support.
I am not suggesting you mortgage your house to support RheumPAC, just that you stand up to be counted. Currently, a little over 4% of rheumatologists in the U.S. contribute to RheumPAC. Four percent. I can’t imagine the verbal legerdemain that must take place to convince a member of Congress that an organization that receives donations from only 4% of the group represents the interests of all the members of that group.
This past election cycle has shown all of us the power of the micro-donation. Improbable campaigns have sent improbable candidates to Congress, many on the strength of $5 or $10 donations. Even those of you who can’t afford to donate anything can probably afford to donate something, and that’s all I ask.
Giving Thanks
And now, to give thanks, first to my local fan-club: Ethan Craig, MD, MHS, former trainee, and now colleague and friend, helped edit the first few columns I wrote. He reined in many of my more unwieldy sentences while I was trying to get the hang of writing a monthly column. If you like the new feature, Rheumatology, Lost and Found, in which prominent rheumatologists are asked to reflect on classic articles in rheumatology, then you should thank Max König, MD, one of my current fellows, who came up with the idea. I would also like to thank John Miller, MD, another former trainee and, now, my number 1 fan. I know this because every month, nanoseconds after my column is available online, he shows up in my clinic, quoting from my article, his voice tinged with gentle snark.
Simon Helfgott, MD, the previous physician editor of The Rheumatologist, has served as my consigliere and has been instrumental in helping me avoid trying to reinvent the wheel. Similarly, Joan Roth, MBA, PMP, the ACR’s senior director of communications and marketing, has been instrumental in representing the interests of The Rheumatologist to the ACR (and occasionally, vice versa), and her help and support have also been invaluable.
My partners in crime have been Paul Monach, MD, PhD, and Vicky Ruffing, RN-BC. I thank them for agreeing to serve as the associate editors of The Rheumatologist long before I was able to explain coherently what that might mean. They have prevented The Rheumatologist from just becoming a reflection of my own, myopic viewpoint. I have been trying to expand the scope of The Rheumatologist, so that it better reflects the needs and concerns of people who are not primarily practicing rheumatologists, and they have been instrumental to that effort.
The discussion of the instrumental inevitably brings us to Keri Losavio, editor of The Rheumatologist. I don’t always make this distinction in casual conversation, but I am the physician editor: my job is mainly to provide color commentary and, on occasion, to roll up my sleeves and pitch in. Keri Losavio is the editor-editor: her job is to turn out a news magazine, once a month, every month, through national holidays and personal emergencies and other obstacles for which most of us would call for a time-out. Keri was responsible for bringing me up to speed—and spent the entire year gently telling me why we capitalize the letter I in Internet and why so many of my sentences end up in italics.
More importantly, she ensured continuity between me and Simon Helfgott. If any of you are wondering why The Rheumatologist didn’t go on hiatus for four months while I was trying to figure out what I had gotten myself into, you largely have Keri to thank. Many of you have noticed the size of The Rheumatologist has grown over the past several months, and with this growth has come more work, which Keri has taken in stride.
I would be remiss if I did not thank Kelly Weselman, MD, former chair of the Committee on Communications and Marketing, whose committee selected me as physician editor. I also owe thanks to the ACR’s Board of Directors, which has given me two gifts, first by approving my selection as physician editor and then by leaving me alone to write about and publish whatever I chose, mostly.
Finally, I want to thank all of you. I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you in conferences and meetings, and I have been flattered and humbled by your kind words of support. I say this fully cognizant of the fact that there may be a silent majority who has been less impressed, but has chosen to keep their thoughts to themselves given the newness of the role. I thank you, as well, because that is a kindness of another sort.
My friends tell me that reading one of my columns is just like listening to me talk. I hope they meant that as a compliment. I also hope you will hear more of my voice in upcoming editions of The Rheumatologist. I am a firm believer in the adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and The Rheumatologist is not broke.
That said, I hope to continue to make it more inclusive, and more representative of all of our voices. I noted at the beginning of this year that Simon Helfgott wrote 72 of these columns before he stepped away. With this column, I am at 72-12. With luck, you have noticed something of an upward trend, in both this column and this publication, and I hope the editions to come will be even better!
