To::         Federation - Current and Past Members
Fr:          Jack Seddon, Executive Director
Re:         SUCCESS vs. FAILURE
Date:     July 1, 2000
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I just received a letter from a group of physicians thanking the Federation for its hard work and accomplishments on their behalf for the preceding membership year. Sadly, the letter also stated that physicians in the group would not be renewing their memberships for the current year.

Candidly, this crystallized my thoughts and feelings. . .resulting in this letter.

Physicians may understandably run late in renewing their memberships, but I am bewildered as to why they would resign. Do they assume the Federation assimilates its funding through osmosis?  Do they conceptualize that SUCCESSful representation of their interests against Big Insurance is a one-time deal?  Do they believe that the lack of immediate SUCCESS should be deemed a FAILURE?

Do they feel that passage of the Campbell/Conyers Collective Bargaining Bill by the House of Representative was a fluke?  Do they allow underlying pessimism to generate a "negative prediction" that such empowerment truly will never be achieved? 

Such non-futuristic thinking breeds FAILURE.  Such short-sightedness dooms any realistic change to FAILURE.

The Campbell/Conyers Bill was passed by the House because of the perseverance of the Federation and its members and coordinators.  Federation Coordinator Michael Ross, MD, a Virginia Obstetrician/Gynecologist, continually met with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, SUCCESSfully explaining that our bill should be reported-out with his support.  By conveying the concerns of physicians, Dr. Ross converted Congressman Hyde from a suspicious detractor of the bill to an ardent supporter thereof.

As the bill gained adherents and, thus, unmasked opponents from the health insurance industry, Congressmen Tom Campbell and John Conyers requested--through the Federation and AFSCME--that Federation Vice President, Michael Connair, MD, be invited to provide testimony and to attend committee meetings to explain the rationale for such legislation.

When Merck and its wholly-owned subsidiary Merck-Medco collaborated with a number of other companies lobbying and advertising against the bill, it was only the Federation which called this Company to task.  As was documented in the New York Times, Merck was forced to withdraw from the coalition.  That is SUCCESS.  To do nothing would have or could have led to FAILURE.

As I wrote in a letter to you, a few months ago, "SUCCESS is achieved when together you Reward Your Friends and Punish Your Enemies."  The Federation's SUCCESS was achieved through unity and commonality of purpose.

FAILURE occurs when individuals abandon the very organizations that have uniquely served to attain their goals and objectives.  The Federation is a non-profit organization; like any other such organization, its only source of income is through its dues.  FAILURE to maintain continuity of membership will predictably perpetuate FAILURE. Indeed, we must "grow" and not simply "maintain" our membership, lest we allow the Senate to shirk its responsibility to pass the bill.

Each of you must keep in mind that, several years ago, envisioning such accomplishments would have been considered unrealistic.  Today they are reality.  Know this, too:  your lobbying efforts have been supported by the combined membership of the Federation, comprised of workers who earn a fraction of a physician's income and who can ill afford to fund futile gestures.

FAILURE is based on a foundation of sand.  SUCCESS is built on a base of steel and concrete.  FAILURE is depressing, particularly when you know SUCCESS is sorely needed.  For your patients and for your selves, maintain your membership in the Federation.  The Federation continues to fight for physician rights, lobbying in state capitols and in Washington, vigorously litigating while others "hold our coats." The Federation must maintain its position in the forefront of physician activism, unafraid to do whatever it takes to struggle on your behalf.  You must help our membership grow, so that the Federation can continue to be the Number One advocate for physicians.

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The Federation Web Site has been newly-updated and its contents convey the unique work performed both nationally and locally for physicians.  It employs a variety of reader-friendly formats: quick updates in HTML (with hyperlinks to many other resources) and complete documents in PDF (which can be downloaded for free from Adobe Acrobat).  It is considered by many to be the #1 Web Source for useful information customized for physicians.  Read of the Federation's SUCCESS.  Check it out:  www.fpdunion.org.