Why Not Get the Most Out of Your ISMS Membership?

ISMS President
J. Regan Thomas, MD

December 16, 2021

ISMS membership is an investment in ourselves and our profession – one that will yield greater dividends as our involvement increases.

What opportunities are available for members who want to maximize their ISMS membership?

I'll answer this question with three often-overlapping categories:

1. Practical benefits save you time and money. Our license renewal assistance, wealth of CME and other resources, and timely news alerts help you spend more time on patient care and less time staying up-to-date. Our member advocacy team can work directly with you to help clear up issues with third-party payors. And ISMS member discounts on services offered by our benefit partners can save you money on everything from medical supplies to credentialing costs.
    
2. Professional benefits help you take your career to the next level. Our career center offers access to a nationwide database of job openings, and getting involved in our policymaking process can be a boon to your career prospects as well; few forms of networking are more effective than working together on policies that will make our profession stronger. Serving as a council/committee member or as an elected member of the Board of Trustees is also a great way to grow your leadership skills and prepare you for greater responsibility along your career path.
    
3. Personal benefits are realized when you form meaningful relationships with other physicians and physicians-in-training through your ISMS involvement. These relationships can be formal, as in a mentor-mentee relationship facilitated by our Mentor Center, or service as colleagues on an ISMS council or committee. They can also be informal, as we discover things we unexpectedly have in common over breakfast or dinner during an ISMS meeting or event. Regardless, these relationships are among the most rewarding parts of being a physician, and they will only grow richer with time.

What about ISMS' legislative, regulatory and legal advocacy, which is the cornerstone of what we do? This cuts across all three categories. As ISMS represents physicians' interests in the General Assembly, other areas of state government and the courts, we achieve victories that yield practical, professional and personal benefits for all Illinois physicians.

When we succeeded in passing the Prior Authorization Reform Act this year, for example, we helped every Illinois physician save time and money that would have been spent on burdensome prior authorizations. Similarly, when ISMS engages in court cases to protect our interests as physicians, the outcomes can help us all sleep better at night.

So maximize your ISMS membership! View this organization as in investment in yourself and our profession. And like any well-managed investment, those dividends can also be passed on to younger generations as we work together to make Illinois a better place to practice medicine.