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Message from SGIM President

Published on 28-May-10

Dear SGIM Members,  

I wanted to update members on SGIM Council's deliberations and decision regarding plans for the 2011 Annual Meeting. At a specially convened conference call on May 26th Council unanimously passed the following motion: 
 
  • "After careful consideration of moving the 2011 SGIM Annual Meeting from Phoenix in the wake of the 2010 Arizona immigration legislation, Council has determined that SGIM should hold the 2011 meeting in Phoenix as originally scheduled and ensure that the meeting reflects an important core value of the Society to "promote social responsibility and the health of vulnerable, underserved, and diverse populations." 
This was a difficult decision to make, given the diverse opinions of members about whether to move the meeting from Phoenix and the strong personal feelings of many Council members. In arriving at this decision, Council sought to act in the best interest of SGIM and to adhere to three basic principles:
 
  1. The decision-making process and the information considered by Council will be transparent to members.
  2. Council will be respectful of the diversity of members' opinions about this issue. 
  3. Council will consider the financial implications of any decision and the potential impact of the decision on the long-term vitality of the Society. 
In the spirit of transparency, I outline below the issues considered by Council, the incremental steps that Council has taken over the past month, and perhaps most importantly the decision-making process.
 
First, Council reviewed the opinions of members that were voiced through e-mail communications and at a special Town Hall Meeting that was convened on Thursday April 29th at the Annual Meeting in Minneapolis. A broad range of opinions emerged from these comments, as summarized below.  
 
  • SGIM should abandon plans to hold the meeting in Phoenix, no matter what the financial consequences to the Society.
  • SGIM should hold the meeting in Phoenix and use the meeting as an opportunity to engage local healthcare providers who care for immigrant populations, to engage community organizations, or to protest the legislation.
  • SGIM should hold the meeting in Phoenix because moving the meeting would hurt lower wage workers much more than it would hurt the state or local governments.
  • SGIM should hold the meeting in Phoenix because the financial consequences of breaking the existing meeting contract are substantial and threaten the financial viability of SGIM as an organization.Moreover, some members who had contributed to the Capital Campaign to improve SGIM's long-term financial vitality would feel that their contributions had gone for naught.
  • SGIM should not concern itself with political issues that are not central to the main goals of the Society.
Second, Council authorized Executive Director David Karlson to negotiate with Starwood Corporation to release SGIM from its contractual obligation to hold the meeting in Phoenix. SGIM proposed a number of options to Starwood, including holding the meeting in another Starwood property in 2011 and extending the length of our current contract (which currently runs through 2016) with Starwood. In the end, Starwood corporate leadership and the owners of the Sheraton Phoenix were unwilling to let us out of the contract for 2011. 
 
Third, Council carefully considered the financial implications of the decision and the recommendations of the SGIM Finance Committee, which reviewed a number of potential financial scenarios. 
 
The contract with Starwood obligates SGIM to pay the Sheraton Phoenix 60% of expected revenues from room fees plus revenues from food and beverage if SGIM canceled the contract by June 1, 2010, and 80% of expected room revenues plus food and beverage revenues if the contract was canceled after June 1. These amounts were estimated to be $541,000 if SGIM canceled the contract by June 1 and $663,000 thereafter. Because of this, Council pushed to come to a final decision before June 1. To put these amounts in perspective, SGIM has cash reserves of roughly $515,000. As a rule of thumb, it is recommended that organizations like SGIM have roughly 6 months of operating revenue in reserve. For SGIM, with an annual budget of $2.3 M, this would amount to $1.15 M. 
 
The Finance Committee recommended to Council that SGIM keep the meeting in Phoenix. In arriving at this decision, the Finance Committee examined a number of financial scenarios that compared the costs of moving the meeting to another locale with the potential losses in revenue from a reduced meeting attendance if the meeting were held in Phoenix and some members elected not to attend. It was the committee's belief that even with significant declines in attendance, the costs of moving the meeting would far outweigh the costs of remaining in Phoenix and would seriously threaten SGIM's vitality.
 
Fourth, Council took several additional steps and considered a number of other factors in its decision making. 
 
  • SGIM spoke with other professional organizations, including the ACP and AAMC, regarding their positions on the Arizona legislation and potential steps these organizations might be taking, as well as the possibility of mobilizing a broader coalition of organizations. Based on these discussions, it was unlikely that a significant unified response from organized medicine could be marshaled.
  • The opinions of SGIM members in Arizona were obtained to better understand the perspectives of the local healthcare community. There was a strong sentiment that SGIM could do more good by holding the meeting in Phoenix and engaging community health centers and other local providers, and showcasing community-based initiatives.
  • Council reviewed comments from the SGIM Social Responsibility Interest Group.
  • Members of Council met with the members of the Disparities Task Force and Minorities in Medicine Interest Group to further understand their sentiments and thoughts on how SGIM should respond to the legislation.
  • Council considered that steps that might be taken prior to the Annual Meeting by Attorney General Holder and other groups to overturn the legislation and have it deemed unconstitutional.
  • Letters were sent to the Arizona Governor Janet Brewer, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, and Congressman Raul Grijalva on May 7th expressing Council's concern that the recent legislation is contrary to the core values of many of our members and that SGIM Council was considering canceling its meeting in Phoenix in 2011. Copies of these letters can be found on the SGIM website. As of today, no formal responses to these communications have been received. 
Rationale for Council's decision: In unanimously approving the motion noted earlier, Council believes the best and most responsible of the available options is to hold the meeting in Phoenix and to use the opportunity of SGIM's presence to encourage a discussion of all dimensions of the situation and enable members to engage in advocacy at a grassroots level, if they so choose. By taking this step, Council feels that SGIM can best act in concert with its core values, including our commitment to "promote social responsibility and the health of vulnerable, underserved, and diverse populations." Holding the meeting in Phoenix also provides SGIM with unique opportunities to highlight and locally publicize members' work that reflect our core values and to reach out to local healthcare and community organizations that are seeking to improve the health of vulnerable and underserved population, but that may not have previously connected to the Society.  
 
Council further believes that moving the meeting from Arizona would not respect the diversity of opinions within the Society about the meeting and would threaten the financial viability and vitality of SGIM as an organization.
 
Importantly, Council is committed to working with the 2011 Program Committee, chaired by Louise Walter and Hollis Day, to ensure that the 2011 Annual Meeting: 
  • presents members' best work and encompasses the spectrum of issues that are important to GIM;
  • enables members who so choose to express SGIM's commitment to social responsibility, recognizing that this expression may take different forms and reflect different perspectives; 
  • provides opportunities for members to better understand the needs and concerns of local healthcare providers and to learn whether and how Arizona's policies are affecting physicians, patients, and the health of vulnerable, underserved, and diverse populations;
  • engages members who feel passionately about this issue to provide input to the program committee.  
Council and I recognize that many members will not agree with the decision and that some may elect not to attend the meeting. We also recognize that many members will be upset with the attention that has been given to an issue they believe is not central to SGIM's mission to "improve patient care, education, and research in primary care and general internal medicine." However, we hope that everyone feels that Council's decision-making process was transparent and respectful and was done in what we believe is the best interest of the Society. 
 
Sincerely,
 
Gary Rosenthal, President, on behalf of the SGIM Council
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