FROM THE PRESIDENT by Aneeta Bhatia, MD, MBA, FFARCS, FASE
United We Rise— In Voice and Purpose
Note: the following text is taken from a speech made by Dr. Bhatia as part of the 2026 President’ s Celebration.
To my family, distinguished predecessors, colleagues, mentors and friends! Thank you for being here today. Standing before you as the incoming President of the Greater Louisville Medical Society is a moment I will carry with me forever. This honor is not mine alone. It belongs to every physician in this room, and to every physician who has come before and laid the foundation upon which we stand.
I want to begin by expressing my deep gratitude to Dr. Thomas Higgins, whose year of leadership was defined by heart, courage and an unflinching belief in what organized medicine can do.
I am also grateful to Dr. Lewis Hargett, whose tenure challenged us to think bigger, advocate louder and never forget that physicians are, and must remain, the leaders in healthcare.
To Dr. Jiapeng Huang, our KMA President, my colleague, my friend and a man who has shown this community what physician leadership looks like at the highest levels, I am deeply grateful. Jiapeng, your presidency of the Kentucky Medical Association reminds us that Louisville medicine punches above its weight. We are not a footnote in Kentucky’ s story. We are its opening chapter.
To Drs. Monalisa Tailor, John Roberts, Wayne Tuckson, Bruce Scott, who served GLMS and are now serving KMA, KET and AMA, our members and the community appreciate your dedication and involvement! Dr. Scott, who spent more than two decades serving on the boards of the American Medical Association, and then as President, has proven that organized medicine is not about politics. It is about purpose. And purpose, as it turns out, is exactly what brought all of us here today.
To all GLMS past presidents who are here, I am humbled. The baton you have passed is one I will carry with pride, with humility.
Before I go further, I want to say something to the GLMS staff: you are the engine that powers everything this society stands for and I could not be more grateful for your dedication, your professionalism and for your heart in this mission. I look forward to working with GLMS staff and I look forward to working with the elected officers.
Now, let me tell you what this year is about. Seven words.
United We Rise! In Voice and Purpose. Seven words. One conviction.
We are living through one of the most consequential, and frankly, one of the most exhausting moments in the history of American medicine. And I say that as a cardiac anesthesiologist who has spent very long hour stretches in a hospital, so I do not use the word“ exhausting” lightly.
Physician burnout is not a personality flaw. It is not a weakness. Burnout is what happens when brilliant, dedicated, compassionate human beings are asked to do more, document more, justify more and then, earn less. We have been buried under electronic health records, standards of care, designed by people who have never donned a stethoscope. We have absorbed Medicare payment cuts with a quiet shrug. Medicare physician payments have declined by more than 29 % in real dollars when adjusted for inflation. We have work ahead of us at the federal level which starts locally.
But here is something worth celebrating. Because of the work of organized medicine, the work of physicians in this very room showing up in Frankfort, building relationships with legislators, making the case with data and with persuasion and perseverance, we won. House Bill 176 passed in Kentucky, delivering meaningful prior authorization reform for our patients and our practices. This was not a gift. This was earned. Through persistence, through unity and through the power of physicians speaking with one voice.
Now, I want to talk about Frankfort and Washington. And I want to do it with love, because some of my favorite people work in those buildings.
Here is the reality we cannot afford
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