What's New?

22 Jan, 2024
To Members of the Kansas City Medical Society: Greetings, My name is Greg Unruh , and I am honored to be the President of the Society for 2024. By way of a short introduction, I practice anesthesiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. I have been involved in and have held leadership positions in local, state, and national societies of organized medicine throughout the years, both in anesthesiology and non-anesthesiology societies. I was an officer in the Wy-Jo Medical Society when we merged with the Kansas City Medical Society and have remained on the Board throughout all of the reorganization. I am very proud of how far we have come, It has put us in position to speak for physicians on both sides of the state line. We have expanded our Leadership Council, and we have passionate members of our Board of Directors. I want to commend our Immediate Past President, Dr. Carole Freiberger for her leadership in 2023. She provided us with an optimistic, can-do Presidency that advanced the Society and the practice of medicine in the KC area, so thank you Carole! In addition, we have welcomed the steady leadership of our executive director, Mr. Micah Flint. We appreciate him keeping us on track and organizing our many activities. Several of the things I mention will be dealt with in more detail throughout this communication, but I wanted to highlight some the several areas the Board has chosen for our work this coming year: Advocacy We want to advocate on both sides of the state line working with both the Missouri State Medical and Kansas Medical Societies (MMSA and KMS) on behalf of physicians. On the Kansas side, the legislature is working on many issues that affect us including scope of practice, vaccinations, Medicaid reimbursement and Medicaid expansion. We are working with KMS to provide testimony and influence our legislative representatives. Support for our Foundation We want to support our crown jewel whole heartedly, the Kansas City Medical Society Foundation which continues to be a model for advocacy and education, as well as our charitable care program which provides immense benefits for our uninsured or under insured patients. The Foundation supported expansion of Medicaid on the Missouri side and is advocating tirelessly for expansion on the Kansas side. Ms. Karole Bradford is our Executive Director. Opioid abuse We have been working to help stem the tide of opioid abuse through education and visibility. We are in the process of putting together TikTok videos about the dangers of opioid abuse produced by local high school students and targeted at high school students at their level and their preferred communication platform. We also have activities targeted to school district officials and several of our Board members and members provide advice around opioid use disorder and school policies. Wellness and Suicide Prevention Our focus has been on removing the stigma that sometimes attaches to physicians help-seeking. We have been advocating for health systems and hospitals to remove credentialing language that could impede a physician from seeking help. Several systems are reviewing their language and are now trying to focus on current, not historical, mental health issues or substance use that could affect safe practice. We are also working to participate in Physician Suicide Awareness Day in September. Welcoming New Members If you are a current member, thank you! I hope you have found our activities to be meaningful for you and your practice. Please consider asking your colleagues to join our collective voices. If you are not a member, please consider joining-we’d love to have you! In conclusion, I’m excited about the year to come and look forward to hearing any and all thoughts and ideas for the Society moving forward. Thanks, and best regards, Greg
29 Nov, 2023
Congratulations to our 2023 Kansas City Medical Society Medical Student Scholarship Recipient
06 Nov, 2023
2023 Annual Meeting: An Amazing Event!
People walking
18 Jul, 2023
Walking has many health benefits including improving cardiovascular health, increasing energy levels, decreasing body fat, and strengthening bones and joints.
President of KCMS Carole Freiberger, DO speaks at an event
18 Jul, 2023
As we enjoy the last month of summer and the vacations, family and time by the water, I am reflecting on the first half of 2023, and looking forward to the things to come for the Kansas City community and their physicians. Our Leadership Council continues to work on the opioid crisis, and ways of developing effective education for the Kansas City metro. We are exploring several avenues such as an education curriculum for Narcan for area middle and high schools and video shorts created by teens for teens with physician guidance. Our Walk with a Doc program is underway with the Retired Physician organization. We are set up to help with the Rockhurst Nursing program’s health fair this fall. Advocacy remains a priority for KCMS. From the national level (see Dr. Loethen’s update on the AMA’s annual meeting in June) and support for MSMA, we continue to elevate the physician voice. Our collaboration with the KCMS Foundation and their mission and the Wellness Committee remains robust and effective. We recently formed a chapter of the Walk with a Doc program in May, with events on both sided of the state line. We could not do the work we do without the support of the professional medical community. We appreciate our partnerships, with North Kansas City Hospital, University Health, Anesthesia Associates of KC and Olathe Medical Center. The benefits of these partnerships are many – the sharing of ideas and experiences, networking, mentorship – all of which help to combat physician burnout. We will be meeting with leadership from areas hospitals over the next few months. As we move forward to the second half of 2023, I am pleased with the progress of KCMS. It is truly a place for physicians to nurture their careers and be a part of their community from medical school through retirement. We are grateful for your support. Look for information about representing your hospital or practice as a part of the Leadership Council, our upcoming happy hour networking and social event, leadership and mentorship training opportunities, and information on ways to serve. Yours truly, Carole Freiberger-O’Keefe, DO St. Luke’s Hospital Critical Care Medicine President, KCMS
Kansas City skyline greyscale
04 Jul, 2023
Through the Cancer Care Access Initiative, the Kansas City Medical Society Foundation is dedicated to achieving equitable care for all people in our community, irrespective of their insurance coverage, immigration status, or other barriers they may face in accessing treatment. The Foundation’s approach is rooted in systems change theory. A select group of diverse stakeholders will assess and address barriers to cancer care. This community-based collaborative will identify solutions to cancer treatment disparities, engaging with community partners to realize this mission.
Kansas City Skyline  greyscale
20 Jun, 2023
Kansas City Physicians Dr. Amanda Bell, Dr. Betty Drees, Dr. Joanne Loethen, Dr. Mark Meyer, Dr. Luke Selby, Dr. Art Snow, Dr. Benjamin Stone, Dr. Kimberly Templeton, and Dr. Charles VanWay attended the Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA). The meeting was held June 9-14, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Additional representatives from Kansas City included medical students Charles Adams (Kansas City University), Tanvi Karmarkar (UMKC), and Maddy Mash (University of Kansas). Drees, Loethen, VanWay, and Adams serve on the Missouri Delegation to the AMA House of Delegates. Snow and Stone serve on the Kansas Delegation. Karmarkar and Mash serve as Regional Medical Student Delegates. The AMA is the largest group of organized medicine consisting of and medical students physicians.
KCMS Members hold Donate Life banner
07 Apr, 2023
North Kansas City Hospital kicked off the month with t-shirt sales (pictured below). The proceeds will go to fund several causes to include memorial plaques to honor organ & tissue donors at the hospital Donate Life memorial garden, to send rose vials in honor of all of the hospital organ, tissue, and eye donors from the previous year for the Donate Life float in the Rose Parade, and to fund two scholarships for graduating high school seniors who have written an essay about the importance of donation and created a poster to be displayed at their school.
Rep. Jon Patterson, MD getting an award at MSMA for his service to medicine in the legislature
02 Apr, 2023
The 165th MSMA convention was held in KC this year on March 31- April 1st. KCMS’s past president, Lancer Gates,DO was elected this year’s MSMA president.
Kansas City Skyline
08 Mar, 2023
KCMS is excited to announce that Micah Flint and his team at evos consulting firm began administrative and organizational support in January 2023. Our 2023 goals for KCMS are to strengthen our organization by focusing on implementing and assuring we meet member society organizational standards, increase membership engagement, and promote membership growth. The following is a brief biography of Micah and his team.
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