Remarks From Incoming SCMA President, Outgoing SCCSI Chair Dr. John Ropp III

Jul 10

Dr. John C. Ropp III, MD, has been elected the 2021-22 president of the South Carolina Medical Association (SCMA). Dr. Ropp is a family medicine physician in Hartsville and the immediate past Chair of the South Carolina Coalition for the Care of the Seriously Ill (SCCSI).

The following remarks were delivered on June 9, 2021 at the South Carolina Governor’s Mansion during Dr. Ropp’s inauguration as SCMA President:

As many of you know, I am a family physician who owns my practice with my close friend, Dr. William Long. I also work in hospice care.

As President [of the SCMA], I will focus on two areas that relate to my own experience in medical practice.

First, I will continue to advocate for freedom of medical practice. I will encourage physicians to consider the benefits and reality that it is possible, and maybe preferable in many settings, to own your own practice. Unfortunately, many of our younger physicians do not understand this or think it is possible.

Yesterday, I spoke to a group of family medicine residents. They know a lot—how to drop a line, insert a tube, run a test, order a panel, break good and bad news, and even shed a tear with patients.

But what did they want to hear during the Q & A with me? How to select a billing company, managing accounts payable, setting up an LLC, applying for Medicare numbers, selecting an office manager, and other business items. I told them “don’t let the hospital admin fool you, you can do this and you can do it well.”

Our students and residents need business of medicine training.

Second, I will continue to promote advance care planning in all clinical settings. The SC Coalition for the Care of the Seriously Ill and the My Life My Choices initiative have established a one-stop shop for advance care planning (ACP) in our state.

ACP is at the heart of medicine—these are conversations between patients and physicians that clarify goals of care and gives peace of mind to families when serious illness arrives.

I will use this year to advocate for two specific items related to advance care planning.

First, our state should establish a statewide electronic repository for advance care planning documents, including physician scope of treatment orders (POST), that are accessible by patients and their families, clinical personnel, and others.

Second, all health insurance payers who do business in our state should follow Medicare’s lead and add ACP conversations to their list of services. BCBS of SC did this last year, and the others should too.

Dr. John Ropp III, MD is a board certified family physician in Hartsville, South Carolina. He served as SCCSI Chairman prior to becoming SCMA President. He graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia in 2001 and is affiliated with Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center.