For Surgeons – Membership Benefits

As the largest state society of plastic surgeons, the California Society of Plastic Surgeons has strength, influence, and presence at both the state and national levels. The Society's mission is to promote the highest standards in plastic surgery, to provide our membership with continuing medical and professional education and to advocate for patients and plastic surgery in the public domain.

Over the past few years, the CSPS has accomplished its goals through legislative and professional activities. A few years back, the California Legislature enacted three important cosmetic surgery bills: AB 271 (Gallegos), SB 450 (Speier), and SB 836 (Figueroa). These bills were strongly supported by the CSPS and their passage mandates higher standards of outpatient surgical care and truth in advertising. Over the past few years the Legislature has been considering numerous bills whose passage would affect the way you practice plastic surgery including the fact that we were able to submit wording to the Board of Equalization to eliminate the taxation of products approved by the FDA whether they are used for cosmetic or reconstructive purposes.

Beyond legislative representation, membership in the CSPS has other advantages. There are many benefits that you can obtain only if you are an Active CSPS Member including the following:

• Continuing Medical Education (CME): Each year the CSPS holds its Annual Meeting. Your attendance at these meetings is an excellent and low cost way of fulfilling some of your CME requirements. You will find the programs to be interesting, informative and intriguing. As an applicant, your general registration fees are waived for your first Annual Meeting.

• Third Party Payer Assistance: Our staff is available to assist your staff with coding, approvals, denials, and other reimbursement related issues. Letters are often sent on CSPS letterhead to various third party payers on behalf of those members seeking assistance.

• Website Listing: It is an extremely low cost effective way to market your practice. As a member, you will have a physician listing within our directory.

• Toll-Free Consumer Information Line: This line (800) 722-2777 is available for patients to call to verify that you are a member of the CSPS and Board Certified by the ABPS. Many potential patients call the line requesting names of Board Certified Plastic Surgeons in their area-we provide them with three names per call.

We do have requirements for membership, which must be documented prior to your presentation to the CSPS Council.

If your application is completed and subsequently approved by the Council, it will be voted on by the membership at the following Annual Meeting.

When you apply, you will receive various CSPS mailings, including the newsletter, and have the opportunity to take advantage of attending the CSPS Annual Meeting at no charge.

If you feel that you do not meet the requirements for Active Membership, we also offer a Candidate Program, which is a non-membership category that you may sign-up for until you meet the Active Membership requirements and are ready to apply. Please contact the Executive Office if you would like more information about the Candidate Program.

If you need any additional information or have questions about the application process, please contact the CSPS Executive Office at (510) 243-1662.

Thank you very much for your interest in the Society.