MMA News
MMA Honors Physicians, Medical Students, and Others
The MMA presented the following awards at its 2007 annual meeting.
Distinguished Service Award
MMA Past President Blanton Bessinger, M.D., received the highest honor bestowed on a colleague by the MMA for his outstanding contributions to medicine and the MMA. Bessinger served as president of the MMA in 2000 and is a member of the AMA Council on Constitution and Bylaws. He also has served as a member of the MMA Board of Trustees and as speaker and vice speaker of the MMA House of Delegates. He is currently an alternate delegate to the AMA House of Delegates.
A retired pediatric cardiologist, Bessinger has served on the Governor’s Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Task Force and the state’s Alliance with Youth Advisory Committee. He was on the board of directors of Ready 4 K, which is dedicated to helping all children get ready for kindergarten, and is currently on the board of Way to Grow.
James. H. Sova Award
The Sova award was given to two lawmakers who were leaders in the successful effort to pass the state law banning smoking in all workplaces including bars and restaurants. Rep. Thomas Huntley, DFL-Duluth, was the chief House author of Minnesota’s Freedom to Breathe Act, which is scheduled to take effect October 1. Sen. Kathy Sheran, a first-term DFL senator from Mankato, was the chief Senate author of the legislation. The Sova award is given to someone outside the medical profession who made a significant contribution to medicine or the health of Minnesotans.
Community Service Awards
Lindsey C. Thomas, M.D., of the Minnesota Regional Coroner’s Office at Regina Medical Center in Hastings, was the driving force behind passage of the updated coroner and medical examiners’ statute that took effect in 2006. The law makes death investigations more uniform statewide.
Ann C. Vogel, M.D., an obstetrician and gynecologist and family physician at Open Door Health Center in Mankato, which provides care for families who don’t have adequate health insurance, is dedicated to helping the uninsured and under-insured. She also educates the public about health issues and was a staunch advocate for the Freedom to Breathe Act this year.
Minority Affairs Meritorious Service Award
Clifford Phibbs Jr., M.D., a retired surgeon and a former member of the MMA’s Minority and Cross Cultural Affairs Committee, has promoted mentoring as a way to encourage minority youth to pursue careers in medicine. Phibbs has led a medical mentorship program at Valley View Middle School in Bloomington for children who are interested in a medical career.
Physician Leadership in Quality Award
Burnell Mellema, M.D., a family physician at Affiliated Community Medical Centers (ACMC) in Willmar, directs the center’s care-improvement program. Mellema heads ACMC’s best practice committee, is devising methods to use electronic medical records for measuring quality and e-prescribing, and is promoting health literacy and cultural competency to meet the needs of the changing patient population in his community.
Physician Communicator Award
Raymond G. Christensen, M.D., is host of the popular Duluth public television program “Doctors on Call,” a live, call-in show that airs weekly on WDSE-TV. Christensen is cofounder of the Gateway Family Health Clinic in Moose Lake, Minnesota, and assistant dean of rural health at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He is a past president of the MMA.
President’s Awards
The following individuals were honored for their service to the MMA:
John R. Balfanz, M.D., of Pediatric and Young Adult Medicine in St. Paul, has served on the MMA Board of Trustees and chaired the MMA Committee on Communications. He also represented the MMA on the state’s e-health advisory committee and is a member of MEDPAC.
Roger K. Johnson has held several key positions in Minnesota’s largest medical societies, including director of communications at the MMA and CEO of the Ramsey Medical Society, a position he held for 13 years until June 1, 2007.
George D. Malkasian Jr., M.D., an emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Mayo Clinic, is a delegate to the MMA House of Delegates. He was executive director of the Zumbro Valley Medical Society and served on the MMA Maternal Mortality Committee and the MMA Professional Liability Committee.
Patrick J. Zook, M.D., a family physician with St. Cloud Medical Group, serves on the MMA Board of Trustees, the Membership Task Force, and the Committee on Legislation. He is also an at-large member of the Executive Committee of the Board and a member of MEDPAC. He served for several years on the MMA Communications Committee.
Medical Student Award
Nicholas Zane, a student at Mayo Medical School and Mayo Graduate School, has been a delegate to the MMA annual meeting and a member of the MMA Medical Student Section. Through the Mayo chapter, he has been a leader in the Student Helping Hands project, which provides household goods and clothing to families in need. He also founded Computers for the Community, which gives used computers to children who would otherwise not have them.
Excellence in Medical Journalism Awards
David Phelps, health care reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, was honored for his article “Burden of Hospitals’ Charity Is Growing.” Barbara Reyelts, a news reporter for the Northlands News Center in Duluth, was recognized for writing and presenting the special report “Dealing with Breast Cancer.”
2007 House Sets Policy
The MMA’s 154th House of Delegates considered more than 50 resolutions during its annual meeting in Mankato last month.
Physician delegates from around the state set and clarified the MMA’s policies regarding health care reform, construction of radiation therapy facilities, improving access to care for homebound patients, and other issues.
Here are some of the resolutions that the House considered:
Radiation therapy facilities
The MMA will oppose restrictions on the construction and development of new radiation therapy facilities in Minnesota by physician practices, hospitals, or hospital-physician partnerships.
“Given the contentious nature of this debate, we decided to stick with the MMA’s current policy and let the market decide,” said James Young, M.D., who chaired the reference committee that considered the resolution.
Tiering
The MMA will submit a resolution to the AMA asking it to develop a tiering system of third-party payers that would be used by state medical associations to rank their value and performance.
The MMA will also advocate for a requirement that all health plans make their methodologies transparent, understandable, and available to the public.
Health plan accountability
The MMA will work to hold health plans responsible for the timely implementation of medical therapies while the health plans process prior authorization requests.
Health care reform
The House did not pass a resolution advocating that the MMA support a single-payer health care system if the MMA’s current reform plan, Physicians’ Plan for a Healthy Minnesota, fails.
The MMA recognized that universal access, clinic-based chronic disease management, and the concept of a medical home must include adequate funding to be successful.
The House referred to the MMA Board of Trustees the issues of developing an essential benefit set of health care services and amending the Minnesota constitution to make health care a right.
Healthy food
The MMA, along with other organizations, will advocate for the removal of artificial trans fatty acids from food served in hospitals and nursing homes by January 1, 2009, and urge that such removal be a matter of public record reported to the commissioner of health.
Care for the homebound
The MMA supports adequate access to health care for the homebound and/or disabled and will work to ensure that third-party payers provide adequate reimbursement for physician home visits.
Torture
The MMA supports the AMA’s definition of torture and its policy (H-65.997) against the participation of physicians in torture. In addition, the MMA encourages physicians who observe torture to report it.
MMA Chooses New Officers
The Minnesota Medical Association inaugurated a new president, James J. Dehen Jr., M.D., a general surgeon in private practice in Brainerd (see next page), and chose a new slate of officers for 2007-2008 at its 154th annual meeting in Mankato last month.
George E. Schoephoerster, M.D, who was chosen president-elect, is a board-certified family physician with a certificate of added qualifications in geriatrics. He practices at CentraCare Clinic in St. Cloud. He has been a member of the MMA and the Stearns Benton County Medical Society since 1982 and has been a delegate to the MMA House of Delegates for about 10 years. He served as a North Central trustee from 2000 to 2003, and chaired the MMA Committee on Medical Practice and Planning from 2003 to 2006 and the MMA Membership Task Force in 2007. He has also served on committees and work groups considering such issues as end-of-life, elder care, and health care reform.
Carolyn J. McKay, M.D., who was re-elected secretary-treasurer, is a pediatrician practicing in Minneapolis and Eagan. McKay is the current chair of the MMA Committee on Administration and Finance. She was a member of the MMA’s delegation to the AMA for nine years. She has served as MMA treasurer for two years.
Lyle J. Swenson, M.D., is the new speaker of the MMA House of Delegates. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and interventional cardiology and practices at St. Paul Cardiology. Swenson has served as president of the Joint Services Organization for the MMA and Hennepin and Ramsey medical societies and has been a member of the MMA Committee on Legislation and the Committee on Medical Practice and Planning.
Karen K. Dickson, M.D., who was elected vice speaker of the MMA House of Delegates, is a psychiatrist in private practice at Nystrom and Associates, a mental health clinic in New Brighton. Dickson has been a member of the MMA and a Hennepin Medical Society delegate to the House of Delegates since 1996. Dickson has been a trustee on the MMA Board of Trustees since 1997.
American Medical Association Delegation
The following delegates were re-elected:
Raymond G. Christensen, M.D., past president of the MMA and a board-certified family physician who practices at the Gateway Family Health Clinic in Moose Lake;
Anthony C. Jaspers, M.D., a board-certified family physician in practice at the Mankato Clinic and an MMA board member representing the Southwest District for 12 years; and
Sally J. Trippel, M.D., a staff consultant in the Mayo Clinic department of internal medicine, division of preventive, occupational, and aerospace medicine, who is board-certified in internal medicine, as well as in public health and general preventive medicine. She has served as chair of the MMA Committee on Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
The following alternate delegates were re-elected:
John Abenstein, M.D., M.S.E.E., a board-certified anesthesiologist and
associate professor of anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic, who also is an MMA delegate and former member of the MMA’s legislative committee;
Paul C. Matson, M.D., a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who practices at the Orthopaedic and Fracture Clinic in Mankato, and is an MMA past president and past chair of the MMA Board of Trustees;
David L. Estrin, M.D., a board-certified pediatrician at South Lake Pediatrics in Minnetonka, adjunct associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, and former secretary of the MMA; and
Gail E. Baldwin, M.D., a board-certified family physician, who practices in Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin, and is a former member of the MMA Communications Committee.
MMA Board of Trustees
Michael B. Ainslie, M.D., was re-elected chair by the MMA Board of Trustees.
Ainslie is a pediatrician and pediatric endocrinologist who practices at Park Nicollet Medical Center.
The following trustees were re-elected:
Patricia J. Lindholm, M.D., North Central District, a family physician at the Fergus Falls Medical Group;
Cindy Firkins Smith, M.D., Southwest District, a board-certified dermatologist at Affiliated Community Medical Centers in Willmar; and
David C. Agerter, M.D., Southeast District, an associate professor in the department of family medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester.
In addition, the following new trustees were elected:
Robert A. Koshnick M.D., Northwest District, who is board-certified in family medicine and geriatrics and practices at Detroit Lakes Dakota Clinic;
James A. Young, M.D., West Metro District, a family physician in the Twin Cities; and
Juan M. Bowen, M.D., at-large trustee, a board-certified internist and geriatrician who practices at Mayo Clinic.
James J. Dehen At A Glance
Career
A board-certified general surgeon, Dehen has been in private practice at Brainerd Medical Center since July 1988. He also has served as chief of surgery, chief of staff, and a member of the board of directors at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd.
MMA Involvement
Dehen joined the MMA and the Upper Mississippi Medical Society in 1988 and became a delegate in 1989. Starting in 1991, he served for three terms as a North Central trustee. He was elected speaker of the House of Delegates in 2003. He chaired the Young Physicians Section for two years and the MMA Committee on Medical Practice and Planning from 1995 to 1998. He also serves on the MEDPAC Board.
Education
1983, M.D., University of North Dakota; 1983-1988, intern and resident, University of North Dakota Affiliated Hospitals Program, department of surgery.
Family
Married to Shannon. Children: Christopher, pursuing a Ph.D. in chemistry at Purdue University; Michael, a third-year undergraduate studying computer programming and gaming at the DeVry Institute in Whittier, California; and Nicole, a fourth-year nursing student at the University of North Dakota.
Off Hours
Dehen served on the Brainerd City Council from 1992 to 2004 and was council president the last two years of his tenure. He enjoys skiing, softball, and inline skating, and he loves to ride his Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
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Brainerd Surgeon Inaugurated President
New MMA president James J. Dehen Jr., M.D., wants to attract young doctors to the MMA, promote unity among physicians in order to tackle issues of concern at the federal and state level, and address the physician shortage in greater Minnesota.
Dehen laid out this agenda during his address at the inaugural dinner held during the MMA’s 154th annual meeting in Mankato last month. As president, Dehen will speak for the MMA and participate in setting policy.
Dehen, who got involved in the MMA and the AMA through the MMA’s Young Physicians Section, said he believes that if the MMA gets young doctors through the door, they’ll stay with the organization. “If you are not willing to get involved,” he told young physicians, “you’d better be comfortable being governed by those who do.”
Dehen also encouraged MMA members to mentor younger doctors by assisting them and guiding them in day-to-day practice. He said that if younger doctors have a mentor who is an MMA member, they’ll be more likely to join.
Dehen said he wants to identify and alleviate physician shortages in communities such as Brainerd, which is in need of internal medicine doctors.
He also expressed concern about payers relying too heavily on simplistic quotas to judge physicians, although he supports evidence-based medicine and quality measures. “As we have seen in the past with coronary artery bypass and now with bariatric surgery—with the payers, when the rubber meets the road or when the rubber stamp hits the paper—they default to simple quotas. If you have done this many, you’re OK; if you’ve done less than that, you’re not,” Dehen told the audience. He believes such oversimplification may create access problems for patients and cause physicians to be unfairly black-listed.
A former president of the Brainerd City Council, Dehen is no stranger to politics. He would like to use that background to bring physicians together around issues related to payment and access to care at the state and national levels. “When you look at the outside pressures coming from payer sources, governmental entities, and patient and employer demands, etc., if they hurt one of us, they likely hurt all of us,” he said. Then he quoted Benjamin Franklin: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we will all hang separately.”