Contributor

Cecil B. Wilson

President, American Medical Association

Biography provided by participant

Cecil B. Wilson, MD, an internist from Winter Park, Fla., was elected president-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA) in June 2009. He has been a member of the AMA Board of Trustees (BOT) since 2002 and served as chair of the AMA-BOT from 2006 to 2007. Dr. Wilson has also been a member of the AMA House of Delegates since 1992, and was previously elected to two terms as a member of the AMA Council on Constitution and Bylaws, of which he also served as vice chair. Dr. Wilson has a distinguished record of service and leadership in organized medicine. He was president of the Florida Medical Association (FMA) and chair of its board of governors and executive committee. In 2003 Dr. Wilson was recognized by the FMA with its highest award, the Certificate of Merit. He served as president of the Orange County Medical Society, and of the medical staffs of the Winter Park Memorial Hospital and Florida Hospital Medical Center, Orlando, Fla. After receiving his bachelor's degree in history and his doctorate from Emory University, Atlanta, Dr. Wilson interned at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Va., and completed his residency in internal medicine at the U.S. Naval Hospital, San Diego. He served as a Navy flight surgeon, rising to the rank of commander. Dr. Wilson has been in private practice of internal medicine in Central Florida for more than 30 years. He is board-certified in internal medicine and a Master of the American College of Physicians (ACP). Dr. Wilson's service in organized medicine includes leadership in his specialty of internal medicine. He is a past chair of the ACP Board of Regents. He also served on the board of the American Society of Internal Medicine (ASIM) and was a member of the merger committee between ACP and ASIM, which resulted in the largest medical specialty society in the United States. At the state level, Dr. Wilson has received the prestigious Laureate Award for service to internal medicine from the Florida chapter of ACP. In addition to his work within organized medicine, Dr. Wilson is a board member of COLA, a physician-run organization that accredits more than 8,000 physician office laboratories nationwide. He is also a past president of the Florida Statewide Health Council and past chair of the Local Health Council of East Central Florida. Dr. Wilson and his wife, Betty Jane, past president of the FMA Alliance, have three children.

Recent Responses

October 25, 2010 04:51 PM

Keep Focus on Patient Care, Not Profits

At its meeting in Orlando last week, the NAIC endorsed a proposed federal regulation that would spell out how the medical-loss ratios would be calculated. This work was critical to the success of the law since without a clear definition of what medical care is, health insurance companies would be free to include some of their expenses that are mainly administrative -- not related directly to medical care -- making the requirement meaningless and the goal of providing more care unattainable.

Perhaps it is time to rethink the use of the term “medical-loss ratio.” The medical-loss ratio is a term developed by the insurance industry to measure how much of the premium dollar collected is “lost” on spending for health care. However, the purpose of health insurance is to pay for care that patients need. The goal should be to direct a larger portion of the premium dollars toward needed care, not less. Changing the name to “medical-care ratio” would put the emphasis where it should be -- on providing care, not on maximizing profit

July 21, 2010 11:24 AM

Better than draft, but challenges remain

The final rule for the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) is an improvement over previous drafts, but challenges still remain that will make it difficult for physicians to meet the requirements – especially physicians in solo and small practices. Making the requirements more flexible and accessible to physicians is crucial so that as many physicians as possible are able to adopt and use EHRs and qualify for the federal incentive programs.

The rule includes greater flexibility for physicians to pick and choose the meaningful use criteria that best fits their practice. It also removes measures that are not directly related to an EHR, such as checking patient eligibility for care and submitting insurance claims electronically, and limits the number of clinical quality measures physicians have to report to those with electronic specifications. These are all improvements the AMA worked for, but challenges do remain.

Among the concerns are questions about product availability, the tight timeline for adoption and the high overall number of measures ph