Fellow members of the Michigan Radiological Society (MRS),
I am humbled and excited to have the opportunity to serve as president of the MRS for the 2018-19 term. I certainly have some big shoes to fill. Dr. Roger Gonda did an outstanding job as president and brought life, humor, and a breath of fresh air to our board meetings. It is an honor to have received the baton from him. If I could glean a fraction of what our 96 past presidents like Roger have brought to the table, I would consider it a success.
Inspired by past and current leaders in our professions, I hope to create a Michigan Radiological Society Foundation to help encourage scholarship, education, leadership, and service. Foundations like this have yielded great results in other states. There will be more on this over the coming year, and I am excited about the possibilities.
Representing and serving radiologists, radiation oncologists, and medical physicists across our great state is no small task and is certainly a team effort that requires as much participation and input as possible. It is with this in mind that we seek to increase membership and participation by these professionals across our state. Our membership is our greatest asset and magnifies our voice in Lansing to those who scarcely know what we do for a living, yet have the power to have great impact on our professions and our patients. Fostering young membership by those who will be the stewards of our professions in the future is particularly important.
Our legislative efforts remain one of the core reasons that many join the MRS, and we are fortunate to have an active legislative affairs committee continuing to keep our issues at the heart of the discussion table in Lansing. As always, we will continue to deal with scope-of-practice, licensing, reimbursement, insurance, safety, and other issues that invariably arise each legislative session. This is only made possible through membership and through the sacrifice of those giving their time to continue the effort.
We are living in interesting times, both for our professions and for our patients. One of the most important issues on the minds of young medical students considering radiology as a profession is artificial intelligence (AI). Will we be replaced by machines? It is a valid concern that has been the topic of many a book and movie. Years ago, similar questions were raised with the advent of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD). If past experience is to be trusted, we can remain at the forefront of implementing new technology as a tool in our proverbial tool box, rather than as our replacement. This is another reason strong membership and involvement are vital to our success.
There are several other issues on which we will remain focused over the next year. Physician burnout is a pervasive and increasing problem in our professions. We are currently working to either end or dramatically improve the current practice of prior authorization and have been approached by major insurers and others to help brainstorm solutions. We will continue and hopefully expand our partnerships with other state societies. I would also love for Dr. Gonda to continue his RAVE cases that really highlight why we do what we do.
I look forward to serving as the 97th president of the MRS, and I hope see you in Lansing for our legislative day.
Sincerely,
Stephen Kilanowski, M.D.