ARTICLE X. COMPONENT COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETIES

SECTION A. DEFINITION

The term “component county medical society” shall include all county medical societies now in affiliation with the Medical Society of the State of New York or which may hereafter be organized and chartered by the House of Delegates. There shall be but one component county medical society in each county affiliated with the State Society. If there should be an insufficient number of physicians in any of the counties of this State to form themselves into a component county medical society, such physicians may become members of the component county medical society of an adjoining county when eligible by the constitution and bylaws of such component county medical society.

SECTION B. MEMBERSHIP

Eligibility for membership in a component county medical society shall be determined by that society. However, all county medical societies shall utilize a universal membership application form which shall be approved by the Council. Component county medical societies shall act upon the receipt of a membership application in a timely manner not to exceed sixty days. A former student member of the Medical Society of the State of New York shall be permitted to convert to resident member status through his local county medical society during the first post-graduate year in an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) approved residency training program upon payment of county and state society dues and provision of an updated information form. Except by the approval of the Council, no physician shall be an active member in a component county medical society other than that of the county in which said physician works or maintains legal residence.

Whenever an active member in good standing or a life member in any component county medical society removes to another county in this State, said member’s name on such request shall be transferred to the roster of the component county medical society of the county to which said member removes, without cost to said member, provided that the member is in good standing and communicates his or her wishes to one of the county medical societies affected, or to the Medical Society of the State of New York.

A transfer will be presumed to be approved unless the county medical society in which the member seeks to participate notifies MSSNY in writing that acceptance has been delayed.

Determinations as to the portion of the member’s annual dues payable to each of the affected county societies shall be based on the number of quarters for which each county society has provided or will provide service to the member. If the transfer is requested after dues notices have gone out for the year, the physician should pay the county dues amount billed, and the county medical societies will determine the portion of county dues to which each organization is entitled.

Where there is significantly lower dues rate in the county society to which the member is transferring than is charged in the county from which the member is leaving, the affected county societies shall attempt to work out an agreement acceptable to the member.

If the county societies are not able to resolve the question of county society dues to the satisfaction of the member within 45 days of the transfer request, MSSNY will record the transfer and send the physician a dues statement for the lower of the two county medical society’s dues rates.

No physician shall be granted membership by any county medical society in any category of membership which has been created for the benefit of physicians who neither reside nor work in such county, unless and until such county medical society verifies, with the Medical Society of the State of New York, the fact that the applicant currently holds either active, junior, or life membership in another county of this State. This requirement applies with equal force whether the category of membership on the local county medical society level be designated “associate membership” “affiliate membership,” “corresponding membership,” “nonresident membership” or by any similar designation.

No member shall be an active member of more than one component county medical society, nor shall any component county medical society accept as a member a physician who does not work or have a residence in that county in any other way than in accordance with the law governing transfers.

Every component county medical society shall provide for membership for graduates of recognized medical or osteopathic schools who are in residency training or who otherwise qualify for Resident membership in accordance with Article II of these Bylaws. The constitution and/or bylaws of the component county medical society shall provide that residents shall be eligible for membership whether or not they are duly licensed and registered to work in the State of New York. The resident members will have all the rights and privileges of active membership. Dues and assessments for the members in residency training shall be not more than one-tenth the amount levied on all other active members.

Except by the approval of the Council, no resident may be a member in a component county medical society other than that of the county where the resident is in residency training or where the resident maintains a legal residence.

SECTION C. DUTIES OF OFFICERS

The secretary of each component county medical society shall keep a roster of its members in which shall appear the full name of each of said physicians, the date of admission to such society, the member’s residence, and the date when said member’s license to practice medicine in this State was granted. The secretary shall note any changes in said roster by reason of removal, death, or change of name, revocation of license, or other disqualification.

The secretary shall forward said roster and information together with the names and places of residence of each of the officers of said society and the names and residences of each delegate to the House of Delegates from said society to the secretary of the Medical Society of the State of New York at least ninety days before the date of the annual meeting of said House of Delegates.

The treasurer of each component county medical society shall forward to the treasurer of the Medical Society of the State of New York the amount of the State Society per capita dues and/or assessments and the amount of all American Medical Association dues collected from members of said component county medical society as promptly as possible, but in any event before the first day of February of each year.

SECTION D. MEETINGS

Each component county medical society shall hold an annual meeting for the purpose of electing officers and a delegate or delegates to represent it in the House of Delegates of the Medical Society of the State of New York in accordance with the Bylaws.

The annual meeting of each component county medical society shall be held at a time which it shall determine.

All officers of the component county medical society shall enter on their official duties at a date determined by the component county medical society and shall serve for a term of one year or until their successors shall have been duly elected and qualified. Each component county medical society shall submit to the Medical Society of the State of New York the names of their officers immediately after their election.

SECTION E. RESIGNATIONS

An active or life member in good standing whose resignation from membership in a component county medical society shall have been duly accepted, shall be considered to have resigned from the Medical Society of the State of New York.

When a member in good standing, other than a life or honorary member, ceases, between May 1 and December 31 of any year, to reside and work in the State of New York, that member shall be considered to have resigned from membership effective as of that December 31. If such cessation to reside and work occurs between January 1 and May 1 of any year, the member shall, provided he has been in good standing for the prior calendar year, be considered to have resigned from membership effective as of the previous December 31.

On resignation, a member shall forfeit all rights and title to any share in the privileges and property of the Medical Society of the State to New York, the district branch, and his component county medical society.

SECTION F. CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS

Each component county medical society shall adopt a constitution and/or bylaws for regulation of its affairs and may amend them. The constitution, bylaws, and amendments shall not be in conflict with the Bylaws of the Medical Society of the State of New York and, before becoming effective, they shall be approved by the Council.