As one of about 750,000 practicing physicians in the United States, it’s unlikely that you could influence change merely by advocating for it on your own. But what if you added your name to the roster of a more powerful force — a medical association with thousands of members? Would that lend your voice some political power? It just might.

Being a physician is a more-than-fulltime job. Every day brims with your primary purpose — caring for patients. Add to that chasing down reimbursements from payers, staying (or becoming) technologically current, retaining compliance with shape-shifter legislation, and honoring your personal life. It’s all so physically, psychologically, and spiritually exhausting. Self-advocacy feels like a luxury you can’t afford, and you don’t know where to start anyway. Feeling pushed around, overworked, underpaid, and isolated, it’s really no surprise if a victim mindset takes root.

But feeling alone doesn’t necessarily mean you are alone. You can find refuge in your peers, and you should. “There’s safety in numbers,” says Ted Epperly, a family physician and president of the American Academy of Family physicians.

We’re talking about medical associations at the local, state, and national levels. A medical association — or any association in any industry, for that matter — exists because like-minded people banded together to support and forward a common cause. Think of a medical association as an archetypal big brother. He’ll come to your aid against the school bully, and he’s a kindred spirit who empathizes with your reality. Of course, there’s another side to big brothers: They tend to headlock you without warning, desert you for their latest love interests, and consistently beat you in a race to the bathroom. A relationship with an association can feel similarly disenchanting; many physicians find them hardly worth their time and money.

Still, Epperly espouses the notion that an association’s strength is its membership, whose sum is greater than its individuals. “The concept is that all of us are smarter than any [one] of us,” he says. “Our single greatest objective is advocacy, with people speaking on your behalf to very powerful groups — the president of the United States, large employers, insurance groups. … Through an organization you can get access.”

Such coming together works both ways. Surely, you’ve got some good ideas on how to effect fundamental change. “You can put in requests that can be acted upon,” says Epperly. “Many associations are kind of like unions: They represent you. Your membership can affect the association. It’s a two-way street.”

What’s the big deal?

Who do you think was pivotal in getting CMS to hold off on the Medicare cut this past July? The AMA, for one, along with many other concurring associations, including the AAFP. Speaking of which, the AAFP takes pride in its instrumental involvement in promoting the concept of the medical home in support of the primary-care physician. To date, four states have taken steps to transform this concept to actual legislation: Kansas, Massachusetts, Iowa, and Minnesota have passed pilot projects and/or payment reforms based on the medical home concept.

Those are just a few examples; you’ll find similar ones in most every functioning association across the United States.

Indeed, national medical advocacy organizations can be tremendously powerful, but only as much as their members support them. A groundswell of such support truly does make a difference, and there’s nothing like desperation among the constituents to serve as a catalyst. Consider what’s happening in the pediatric world:

“Things have gotten so bad for pediatricians that the floor is in sight. You’re finally seeing some pediatricians saying, ‘Wait a minute! This can’t continue!’” says Chip Hart, pediatric solutions manager at PCC, a pediatric-focused software and practice management solutions vendor.

How did this happen? Largely through increased communication among pediatricians and the strengthening of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Ten years ago, the AAP was broadly viewed as advocating for children but not for physicians,” says Herschel Lessin, a practicing pediatrician in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

But now, Lessin says, “the AAP has made some pretty substantial strides as it relates to legislative or policy negotiation on behalf of everyone in the specialty.” Many of those strides were where you’d expect them to be: In the “limbs” of the state level. For example, the New Jersey AAP chapter “has been stellar in getting the spotlight on payers and getting things fixed,” says Hart. “They got UnitedHealthcare to come and meet. [UnitedHealthcare] never comes to anything.”

Let’s get accessible

General medical associations and societies abound at all levels — county, state, regional, and national. You’ll want to poke around a prospective organization before joining. Ask yourself these questions before sending in your membership application: