MMA News
MMA 2006 House Sets Policy
During the Minnesota Medical Association’s (MMA’s) 153rd Annual Meeting in Minneapolis September 15, the House of Delegates considered about 60 resolutions. Here are some of the highlights from the deliberations of the approximately 250 physicians who gathered to set MMA policy. Look for a complete listing of resolutions in next month’s issue.
Health Care Access Fund
The House adopted R218, which calls for the MMA to urge the Minnesota Legislature to create a committee that would review and advise lawmakers on Health Care Access Fund expenditures. The goal is to make sure that the fund’s revenues are used only for health care–related purposes.
Alcohol tax
The House passed Substitute R201 calling for the MMA to make underage drinking a priority issue. As part of that effort, the resolution calls for the MMA to push for a 10 cents-a-drink tax increase. The revenues would pay for prevention, education, and other services related to alcohol consumption and abuse.
Universal coverage
The House of Delegates voted to reaffirm the MMA’s position calling for a state mandate that all individuals have health insurance coverage. However, the House did not direct the MMA to introduce legislation requiring the mandate during the 2007 session. Delegates said they wanted to avoid preempting the work of Healthy Minnesota: A Partnership for Reform.
Drug advertising
The House adopted R409 calling for the MMA to urge the American Medical Association to study restricting direct-to-consumer advertising of sleep medications.
Pay for performance
The House adopted R212 , which directs the MMA to encourage third-party payers to reimburse health care providers for costs related to pay-for-performance data collection and reporting.
Medical home
The House passed R315 calling for the MMA to support the concept of a medical home for all Minnesota citizens and to explore payment restructuring options that would better support Minnesota patients having a medical home.
Emergency contraception
The House passed R403 calling for the MMA to introduce legislation that requires pharmacies to have protocols for immediately fulfilling a request for emergency contraception.
Safe driving
The House referred resolutions R305, R310, R314, and R318 to the board for further study. These resolutions addressed issues such as drowsy and distracted driving and new driver’s license requirements for teens and seniors.
Coordination of care
The House adopted R301, which calls for the MMA to oppose carve-outs that take the form of disease-management programs provided by third-party payers and do not involve a patient’s physician. The resolution also calls for the MMA to encourage health plans to use their resources to support physician-provided disease-management programs.
New MMA President Urges Engagement
One thing G. Richard Geier, M.D., can’t abide is apathetic doctors. “It is said that the best is the enemy of the good,” Geier said during his inaugural speech as president of the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA). “I tell you that apathy is the enemy of everything.”
Geier made that statement as part of his call for the state’s physicians to join the MMA, engage in politics, support public health and education, and fight quackery. He assumed the presidency on September 14 during the MMA’s 153rd Annual Meeting. He spoke to about 250 guests during the inaugural dinner at the Minneapolis Hilton.
During his half-hour speech, Geier praised Minnesota physicians, saying they consistently outperform those in other states and play a key role in making Minnesota the healthiest state in the nation. But he also warned that cultural, political, and economic trends threaten Minnesota’s status as a health care leader.
“Minnesota’s leadership in health and health care is not accidental, nor is it by divine right,” he said.
Geier thinks that Minnesota’s prosperity combined with its socially generous public and private policies have led to high levels of affluence, education, and health. He noted that Minnesota is home to more Fortune 500 companies per capita than any other state except one, and that in 2001 it had the eighth highest per capita income as compared with the other states.
Geier credited Minnesota’s business and government leaders with promoting health by providing health insurance to residents and employees. “Minnesota has the lowest percentage of uninsured in the country. Is it surprising then that it has the best health?”
The state has also invested in education. In 1933, the Republican Legislature imposed the state’s first income tax to support K-12 education. By 2000, Minnesota ranked third nationally in the percentage of high school graduates and seventh in the percentage of adults who hold at least a bachelor’s degree, he said.
“All these factors compound each other in a series of virtuous cycles,” Geier said. “Better-educated citizens are more prosperous and better insured. They are more aware of health, and have healthier habits. Healthier citizens are more productive and more prosperous. Prosperity provides more resources for education and health care.”
But he warns that these cycles can be interrupted. He noted that uninsured rates have risen in recent years, and the state’s educational underpinnings have been weakened. For example, in the 1950s, student tuition accounted for about 19 percent of the cost of a University of Minnesota education. Today, students bear about two-thirds of that cost. Today’s leaders are also less progressive than those of previous generations regarding public health and tax policies, he said.
To counteract these trends, he called for physicians to become leaders in their communities, get involved politically, improve health care quality, and support general education and public health. Such involvement will keep Minnesotans healthy and help the MMA meet its short- and long-term goals, he said.
Geier’s top priorities for his presidency are passing a ban on smoking in workplaces and health care reform. “It’s an exciting time to be president, as we are moving forward and making progress in areas such as Freedom to Breathe and health care reform,” he said in an interview after his speech.
MMA Gives Distinguished Service, Other Awards
Frank J. Indihar, M.D., M.B.A., received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor bestowed on a colleague by the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA). Indihar was given the award for his contributions to medicine and the MMA.
Indihar practiced general internal medicine and pulmonary medicine with St. Paul Internists, P.A., in St. Paul from 1973 to 2000 and has served as president of the Ramsey Medical Society. First elected as an alternate delegate to the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1992 and then as a delegate in 1996, Indihar currently serves as chair of the Minnesota delegation to the AMA.
Indihar is active on a number of boards, including the Minnesota Orchestra’s Board of Directors. In addition to being a member of the MMA, AMA, and the Ramsey Medical Society, he is a member of the American College of Physicians, the Minnesota Academy of Medicine, and the Minnesota Society of Internal Medicine.
Indihar also is a vice president of HealthEast Care System, CEO and medical director of Bethesda Rehabilitation Hospital in St. Paul and Minneapolis, a consultant to the Social Security Administration’s Office of Hearings and Appeals, and an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Community Service Awards
Three physicians were honored for their community service.
Douglas Pryce, M.D., specializes in internal medicine and began working with the Somali community shortly after joining Hennepin County Medical Center in 1995. Pryce chaired a fundraiser to benefit immigrant health care and serves on the Board of Directors of the Somali Health Project.
J. Kevin Croston, M.D., practices in Fridley and Rob- binsdale and has campaigned for a statewide trauma system, which was recently approved by the Minnesota Legislature.
Robert Ross, M.D., a family physician at Northside Medical Center in Ortonville and Big Stone County coroner, volunteers his time to help people quit smoking.
Minority Affairs Award
Barbara Leone, M.D., received the Minority Affairs Meritorious Service Award for her work in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer in African American and Asian women. She is a family physician at University Family Physicians North Memorial Clinic and is medical director of Model Cities Health Center, now known as Open Cities, which serves the needs of low-income patients.
President’s Awards
Jane Abrams, former executive director of the Lake Superior Medical Society, and Noel R. Peterson, M.D., a urologist and urological surgeon at Olmsted Medical Center who serves on the MMA Board of Trustees and the Healthy Minnesota Steering Committee, each received the President’s Award in recognition of the time and energy they have devoted to serving the MMA.
Quality Awards
Three physicians were honored for their efforts to improve the quality of health care in Minnesota.
John D. Bergseng, D.O., of Glencoe and William Davis, M.D., of Winona received the MMA Leadership in Quality Award. Bergseng, a general surgeon at Glencoe Regional Health Services, has worked to implement best practices based on Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) guidelines in several clinics. Davis, a family physician, has been a champion of the communitywide electronic medical record system in Winona.
Gordon Mosser, M.D., the former director of ICSI, was given a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to improving the quality of health care in Minnesota.
Physician Communicator Award
Charles R. Meyer, M.D., received the Minnesota Medical Association’s Physician Communicator Award for his work during the last 12 years as editor in chief of the MMA’s journal, Minnesota Medicine. Meyer practices internal medicine at and is president of Consultants - Internal Medicine in Edina.
Medical Student Award
Lisa McGinnis, a medical student at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Twin Cities campus, received the Medical Student Award for her service to the AMA, MMA, and Hennepin Medical Society, and for her volunteer work at clinics in Costa Rica, Panama, and Golden Valley.
Excellence in Medical Journalism Award
Jamie VanGeest, a staff writer with the Minnesota Daily, received the Minnesota Medical Association’s Excellence in Medical Journalism Award for her September 2005 article “On the Inside,” which raised awareness about depression. The Minnesota Daily is the University of Minnesota’s student newspaper.
MMA Elects New Officers
The Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) House of Delegates elected the following officers for 2006-2007 at the 2006 Annual Meeting in Minneapolis last month.
James J. Dehen, M.D., was chosen president-elect. Dehen will assume the presidency of the MMA at the 2007 Annual Meeting. He is board-certified in general surgery and has been in private practice at Brainerd Medical Center since 1988. He was elected speaker of the House of Delegates in 2003.
Carolyn McKay, M.D., was elected secretary-treasurer. McKay is a pediatrician practicing in Minneapolis and Eagan. She is the current chair of the MMA Committee on Administration and Finance. McKay served as treasurer last year; that office has been combined with that of the secretary.
John W. Larsen, M.D., was elected speaker of the MMA House of Delegates. Larsen is a board-certified otolaryngologist who practices at and is president of Minnesota Otolaryngology.
Lyle Swenson, M.D., was elected vice speaker of the MMA House of Delegates. Swenson, who is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and interventional cardiology, practices at St. Paul Cardiology. Frank J. Indihar, M.D., was re-elected as a delegate to the American Medical Association (AMA). Indihar is board- certified in internal medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Kenneth W. Crabb, M.D., was re-elected as a delegate to the AMA. Crabb is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and has practiced in St. Paul since 1979. He is an adjunct professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Minnesota.
John M. Van Etta, M.D., was re-elected as a delegate to the AMA. Van Etta is board-certified in internal medicine and a fellow in the American College of Physicians who practices at St. Luke’s Internal Medicine Associates in Duluth. He is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Minnesota.
Benjamin H. Whitten, M.D., was re-elected as an alternate delegate to the AMA. Whitten has practiced internal medicine in the Twin Cities since 1985. He has served on the MMA Board of Trustees and was chair of the Uniform Credentialing Task Force.
Blanton Bessinger, M.D., was re-elected as an alternate delegate to the AMA. Bessinger is board-certified in pediatrics and pediatric cardiology. He was recently elected a member of the AMA’s Council on Constitution and Bylaws.
Michael B. Ainslie, M.D., was re-elected as chair by the MMA Board of Trustees. Ainslie is a pediatrician and pediatric endocrinologist who practices at Park Nicollet Medical Center.