2010, a Pivotal Year

The year 2010 will be a turning point for general practitioners in Montreal and for all general practitioners in the province. This year our priorities will be to renew our general agreement and to enhance the value and place of family medicine. The current difficulties facing family medicine will have to be resolved quickly. We have agreed to do whatever is necessary in this regard.

For the first time in its history, the Federation has decided to submit the draft agreement to all members for approval. This is an important element, which will affect the entire process.

Negotiations

While the Association does not participate directly in the negotiating process, we will make sure that each member is informed to the extent that is possible about developments along the way. We will certainly want to discuss them with you and this will be done using all the means available.

Communication

We believe that it is of the utmost importance to develop simple, easy and effective means of communication. We will finally be using modern means to reach you. The new website has just been set up and we are in the process of collecting as many e-mail addresses as possible. We are currently reaching 81% of our members and we hope to increase this percentage very soon.

We will continue to publish our newsletter, L’OMNI, but we will be adding something new, the FLASH – AMOM, which will consist of a brief message sent by e-mail on the developments at the negotiating table or on any other topic seen to be a priority.

In addition, whenever necessary, we will organize meetings with members by sector. We are obviously continuing our tour of the departments of general medicine in the region, just as we did last year.

Mobilization

Whenever there are ongoing negotiations, there is the possibility of pressure tactics! We must be prepared. In each of the six sectors of the Association, the sector delegates are fine-tuning their communication pyramids. Everything should be up and running by the spring.

Committees

Though the emphasis will be on the renewal of our general agreement and our communications, regular work will be continuing:

• The committee on physicians nearing retirement was given the mandate to implement the nine recommendations adopted by the Board in June 2009. The report has already been sent to all general practitioners who had responded to the questionnaire. The final report should be ready for the Annual Meeting in 2010.

• The Bylaws Committee will be focusing on changes to be made to our Bylaws and Regulations as they relate to the arrival of the specialty in family medicine, which should be appearing in the summer. The committee will also have to review the welcome brochure for new arrivals to the region as well as the AMOM membership form.

Each year brings its own set of projects and 2010 will not be any different. The Board is already hard at work.

Dr. Marc-André Asselin, president