The Wisconsin Medical Society (formerly the State Medical Society of Wisconsin), headquartered in Madison, is a professional organization for Wisconsin physicians. It provides a wide variety of services to its members, including a monthly journal, continuing education seminars, legislative updates and lobbying, insurance, and a large annual meeting. The Society also provides some health education programs aimed at the general public.
The Society was originally named the Medical Society of the Territory of Wisconsin. It was created in 1841 by Act 53 of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. This act authorized the organization of the Society for the purposes of the “advancement and diffusion of true science, and particularly of the healing art” and “the pursuit of professional excellence.” When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, the Society became The Medical Society of the State of Wisconsin, and its charter was included in the state's constitution. The organization's name changed to the State Medical Society of Wisconsin in 1880. The Society currently operates under Chapter 148 of the Wisconsin statutes.
Thirteen physicians attended the first meeting of the Society in January 1842. Their goals for the Society included advancing medical knowledge, protecting and improving public health, encouraging legislators to enact laws which advanced medicine and the medical profession, and improving medical education. They elected a president and agreed to meet annually.
The Society members adopted their first constitution in 1854. The constitution stated that the Society would be directed by a group of officers elected by the membership: president, first vice-president, second vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and three censors. The censors validated the credentials of potential applicants. If an applicant appeared to be an upstanding graduate of a medical college, the censors put his or her name before the membership. Applicants needed two-thirds of the vote of the membership to become members. This first constitution also stipulated that every member present at least one scientific paper or case study to the membership for discussion and study.
Shortly after the constitution was adopted, there was a decline in physicians' interest in the Society. Few members joined between 1858 and 1861, and many members feared the organization would fold. During the Civil War, the Society continued to exist, but was inactive. There were no meetings from 1862 to 1866. However, medical advances developed during the war renewed interest in organized medicine. By 1871 the Society had more than 140 members, five times the membership of the 1850s.
By the late nineteenth century, the Society had developed a formal structure which has remained in place with very slight changes through the twentieth century. This structure includes the House of Delegates, which is the policy-making body of the organization. All major changes in the Society's structure and resource allocation must be approved by the House. It approves actions and positions taken by the various groups, committees and commissions of the Society, and passes resolutions on important issues. Its members also elect Wisconsin representatives to the American Medical Association's meetings. Each county medical society elects at least one representative to the House of Delegates. The House also has representatives of various medical specialties. The House meets once a year at the Society's annual meeting. Special sessions are infrequently held to discuss urgent issues.
The Council (called the Board of Trustees after 1980) acts on behalf of the House of Delegates between sessions of the House. It also is the judicial arm of the Society. As such, it is responsible for determining disciplinary measures to be taken on members. It is made up of the officers of the Society and councilors representing all regions of the state. Both the officers and the councilors are elected by the House of Delegates. The councilors report on the activities of the Society to the county medical societies in their regions. The Council meets several times per year. Between meetings, the Executive Committee of the Council exercises the power of the Council. The Executive Committee is made up of several of the officers and two councilors.
The Society's many committees, commissions and task forces are the most active part of the organization. The number, names and purposes of these groups have constantly changed throughout the Society's history, but their work usually falls into two broad categories. The first category is administrative concerns of physicians and issues affecting the practice of medicine. Groups in the first category work on matters such as malpractice, medical education, peer review and government regulation of medicine. The second category is medical research and specialty areas, such as maternal health, occupational health, cancer, and drug addiction. Throughout the history of the Society, the emphasis of committee work has been in the second category, although in recent years there has been an increase in committee work in the first category. Committee members are usually chosen by the nominating committee, and officially appointed by the Council or the House of Delegates. Society members have also served as advisors to many state government committees.
Members of the Society have always been deeply involved with legislative issues. In its early years this involvement was mainly limited to urging state legislators to introduce and support bills that would advance the study of medicine by means such as increased appropriations to medical schools and legalization of human dissection. J. George Crownhart, secretary of the Society from 1923 to 1941, expanded the Society's legislative program. Under his direction, the Society began providing information to state legislators on a wide range of medical and public health issues.
Charles H. Crownhart, George's brother, was secretary from 1942 to 1970. Under Charles, Society staff and members began lobbying legislators to support specific positions on legislation. Most of this lobbying was on the state level, but the Society also began work on federal legislation at this time. Much of this lobbying was aimed at regulating the practice of medicine by non-physicians, such as chiropractors, homeopaths, physical therapists and masseurs.
Under Earl Thayer, secretary from 1971 to 1987, the Society began taking a more activist role in politics. This was partly a response to the perception that state and federal governments intended to greatly expand the regulation of medical care. In the mid-1970s the Society also focused much legislative work on combatting the malpractice insurance crisis in Wisconsin.
The House of Delegates founded the Physicians Alliance Division in 1975 to respond to socio-economic and legislative issues facing physicians and to implement the Society's political action program. The enabling documents stated that the Division's role was to “undertake aggressive promotion of medicine's views” and protect “with militancy” physicians' and patients' rights. Along with a physician for each councillor district, the Division had several paid staff members. One of the main roles of the staff was to inform local physicians about legislative issues and to assist them in setting up effective legislative action programs. The Division was mainly concerned with legislation affecting physicians' autonomy, especially bills dealing with malpractice, Medicare and Medicaid. The Division was disbanded in 1986. However, the Society still devotes substantial time and resources to political activities and working with physicians in the field.
The Society also formed the Wisconsin Physicians Political Action Committee (WISPAC) in the mid-1970s. This voluntary, nonprofit organization of physicians and their spouses provides financial assistance to politicians and political candidates. WISPAC concentrates on state legislative races, but it does cooperate with the American Medical Political Action Committee (AMPAC) on federal issues.
Another major activity of the Society is the education of both physicians and the general public. The Society began monthly publication of the Wisconsin Medical Journal in 1903. In its early days, the journal consisted almost entirely of research articles, but over the years its focus has shifted to organizational activities, legislation and public policy. Physicians educate each other about research and new procedures at the Society's annual meeting. The Society also sponsors numerous continuing education courses and seminars.
The Charitable, Educational and Scientific Foundation of the Society was founded in 1955 to provide loans to medical students. Since then, its activities have expanded to other areas, including funding medical research. In 1962 the Foundation opened the Museum of Medical Progress in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
The Society ran a health publicity service from the mid-1920s to the mid-1940s. This service provided many Wisconsin newspapers with weekly press releases on public health issues. From the mid-1940s to 1976, the Society sponsored the March of Medicine radio show which covered medical issues in nontechnical terms. The Society's “Wisconsin Work Week of Health,” an annual program from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, was aimed at educating high school students and educators on specific health issues, such as drug abuse and self esteem. Since the 1980s, the Society's programs for the public have been less regular. Instead, the Society has tended to sponsor intense short-term campaigns on well-defined issues, such as domestic violence or the use of infant car seats.
By the 1930s Society members had become extremely concerned about the ability of middle and low income people to afford health care. They were also worried that the idea of nationalized health care was gaining popularity among politicians. To combat these problems, the 1937 House of Delegates authorized the Society to study the feasibility and effectiveness of private prepaid sickness insurance. This study was the largest the Society has ever undertaken, and each member paid a surcharge on their membership fees to fund the study. The study had three components: an investigation of the distribution and delivery of medical care throughout the state; research on hospital insurance in general; and an extended trip to Europe by J. George Crownhart to study the health care systems in other countries. The committee studying the distribution of health care conducted hearings and interviewed physicians, social workers, public health nurses and other people with knowledge of social and health conditions throughout the state. The committee studying hospital insurance collected statistics on the character and extent of illnesses throughout the state and performed actuarial analysis on the data.
After the study was completed in 1939, the House of Delegates formed the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Sickness Insurance, which operated until 1944. This committee implemented prepaid sickness insurance plans in several Wisconsin counties. Although all of these local experiments eventually folded because of insufficient subscribers, they did demonstrate that there was significant interest in prepaid sickness insurance. In response to this interest, the Society began sponsoring the “Wisconsin Plan” in 1945. This plan offered prepaid surgical, obstetric and hospitalization insurance. It was aimed at low-income people, although anyone was allowed to join. The plan was administered by insurance companies with the guidance of the Society. Society members could join the Wisconsin Plan panel, and subscribers to the plan could choose from any of the panel physicians. The Society developed a master fee schedule of benefits and appointed physicians to serve on a conference committee of physicians and representatives of insurance companies. This committee met regularly to discuss subjects such as fees and quality of care.
In 1946 the Society founded Wisconsin Physicians Service (WPS) to provide surgical-medical-hospital insurance. WPS was controlled by the House of Delegates, and its day-to-day activities were managed by a committee of the Council. The Society negotiated a contract with Blue Cross to handle WPS's marketing, enrollment and billing.
At the time of the founding of WPS, the Medical Society of Milwaukee County ran a similar program called Surgical Care. Initially, the House of Delegates had expected WPS to absorb Surgical Care. However, the Milwaukee society opposed the merger, so the two parties made an agreement that Surgical Care would operate only in Milwaukee County and WPS would operate in the rest of the state. This arrangement continued peacefully until the late 1950s, when Surgical Care started to sell insurance outside of Milwaukee County. This provoked a bitter controversy between the two societies, and resulted in WPS ending its contract with Blue Cross.
By the mid-1960s, WPS had grown to over 100,000 subscribers. It also began handling claims administration for Medicare and Medicaid benefits. In 1976, WPS became a separate corporation, and its association with the State Medical Society ended.
