MMA News Now
Scenes from the 2011 Annual Meeting
About 200 people attended the MMA’s 158th Annual Meeting, which was held in September at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. The meeting was a time for physicians to meet, have fun, attend CME sessions, and discuss important health policy issues. More than 100 physicians served as delegates, helping to set the MMA’s agenda for the coming year.
To view the Annual Meeting pictures, please visit our Facebook page www.facebook.com/mnmed (Photography by Steve Wewerka)
Physicians Make Policy Recommendations
Minnesota physicians considered about 30 resolutions at the Annual Meeting.During their deliberations, the House of Delegates resolved that the MMA should:
- Oppose any amendment to the Minnesota Professional Firms Act that would further reduce physician autonomy (R105);
- Recommend that employers in Minnesota encourage exercise breaks, discounted membership to fitness centers, health coaching, and other efforts to increase physical activity among employees where appropriate (R202);
- Support legislation that requires anyone who administers vaccines to patients to enter the data into the Minnesota Immunization Information Connection registry (R206);
- Support efforts to prohibit the need to obtain prior authorization for medications that cost less than $25 (R207);
- Support legislation that would prohibit those younger than 18 years of age from using tanning beds (R209);
- Work with the Minnesota Department of Commerce to ensure that physicians are involved in the development of Minnesota’s health insurance exchange and that the MMA study the issues relevant to physician practices associated with exchange implementation (R300);
- Support transparency in the Prepaid Medical Assistance Program and other state-supported medical plans to ensure efficient use of state dollars, quality care delivery, and access to care by patients (R301);
- Work with public and private payers to ensure at least one inhaled steroid and one short-acting beta adrenergic inhaler are included in their formularies with the lowest copay for that plan, and work with public and private payers to ensure coverage for at least one nebulizer and one asthma inhaler spacer and that any copays for those devices be at their lowest tier level (R306); and
- Work with the Minnesota Department of Health to evaluate the complexity and administrative burden of the health care home certification and recertification process and extend the time period between certification and recertification (R307).
Not Adopted
Among the resolutions not adopted by the House of Delegates was one that called for the MMA to support annual screening for Chlamydia among all males and females 15 to 25 years of age with follow-up screening at the discretion of the physician (R201). The committee that considered the resolution said there were concerns about the cost-effectiveness of screening men and noted that the screening recommendation went beyond that suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Physicians Honor their Peers
Each year, the MMA honors physicians who have served medicine or their communities in extraordinary ways. The MMA presented the following awards at the annual meeting this year:
Distinguished Service Award
The MMA’s highest award went to family physician Anthony Jaspers, M.D., for his years of service to organized medicine. Jaspers graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1973 and completed his residency at Hennepin County Medical Center in 1976. He joined the Mankato Clinic in Lake Crystal, Minnesota, that same year and practiced there until 2009.
During his career, Jaspers held the top offices of the Blue Earth County Medical Society and served on the MMA Board of Trustees for 12 years. He also chaired the MMA Committee on Medical Practice and Planning and the MEDPAC Board. Jaspers served as vice speaker of the MMA House of Delegates from 1994 to 1995 and speaker from 1995 to 1997. He also has been an active member of the MMIC board.
Jaspers was elected an AMA alternate delegate in 1998 and served six years in that office. He was elected an AMA delegate in 2003 and is stepping down this year. He also has been active in the American Academy of Family Physicians and was chosen Minnesota Family Physician of the Year by the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians in 1998.
President’s Award
Kenneth Crabb, M.D., an OB/GYN physician and founder of Advanced Specialty Care for Women in St. Paul, received the MMA president’s award for leadership. Crabb is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota and past president of the East Metro Medical Society. Crabb has been active in the MMA for 31 years. During that time, he has served as a member of the MEDPAC Board, an AMA delegate, and a member the following MMA committees—Legislation; Medical Practice and Planning; Administration and Finance; and Nominating. He is a previous recipient of the MMA Community Service Award.
Community Service Award
Kenneth Ripp, M.D., a family physician at Raiter Clinic in Cloquet received the MMA’s award for community service. After graduating from college, Ripp spent a year as a volunteer teacher in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1995, after medical school and residency in New York, he joined Raiter Clinic. His volunteer activities have included teaching English as a second language, acting as a medical liaison to the Hmong community, and encouraging youth participation in sports. Ripp helped create a Nordic ski program for youth in Cloquet and scours sales to buy skis for kids. The cross-country ski program has grown from six to 60 youngsters. In addition, he’s coached youth soccer and helped found a year-round adult soccer league.
Ripp also has served as chief of Cloquet Community Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Services and medical director of the city’s ambulance service. He is medical director for quality at Raiter Clinic and president and medical director of quality for Integrity Health Network, which represents 25 independent clinics and 250 physicians.
MMA Elects Officers
President
Lyle Swenson, M.D., an interventional cardiologist at East Metro Cardiology, St. Paul (see p. 28)
President-Elect
Dan Maddox, M.D., an internist and allergist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester
Secretary/Treasurer
David Westgard, M.D., a family physician and chief medical officer at Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester
Speaker of the House of Delegates
Mark Liebow, M.D., an internal medicine physician at Mayo Clinic, Rochester
Vice Speaker of the House
Robert Moravec, M.D., a family and emergency medicine physician at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul
AMA Delegation
Paul Matson, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon with Orthopedic and Fracture Clinic in Mankato, was elected to the AMA Delegation. Ray Christensen, M.D., a family physician at Gateway Family Health Clinic in Moose Lake, and Sally Trippel, M.D., an internist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, were re-elected to the delegation.
Steve Darrow, M.D., an internal medicine-pediatric nephrology fellow at the University of Minnesota, and Will Nicholson, M.D., a family physician at St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood, were elected alternate delegates. John Abenstein, M.D., an anesthesiologist at Mayo Clinic, and David Estrin, M.D., a pediatrician at South Lake Pediatrics in Plymouth, were re-elected as alternate delegates.
The MMA thanked Blanton Bessinger, M.D., and Anthony Jaspers, M.D., who are leaving the AMA Delegation, for their many years of service.
MMA Board of Trustees
The following physicians were elected to the MMA Board of Trustees: Macaran Baird, M.D. (at-large), Marilyn Peitso, M.D. (North Central District), Phillip Stoltenberg, M.D. (Twin Cities District), and Roy Yawn, M.D. (Southeast District). Re-elected were Beth Baker, M.D. (Twin Cities District), Michael Heck, M.D. (Northeast District), Donald Jacobs, M.D. (Twin Cities District), and Doug Wood, M.D. (Southeast District).
Lyle Swenson, M.D., Inaugurated MMA President
In his inaugural address, Lyle Swenson, M.D., said his goal for his year as MMA president is to fight the forces that drive physicians apart by supporting those principles of the profession that unify physicians. A specialist in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular diseases at East Metro Cardiology in St. Paul, Swenson noted that disagreements among specialty societies, the commercialization of health care, and the politicization of medicine threaten to drive physicians apart. He said he wants physicians to join together under the banner of the profession’s core principles: to do no harm and to keep patients’ health and well-being as the top priority.
Lyle Swenson, M.D., at a Glance
Medical degree: University of Minnesota
Residency: Hennepin County Medical Center
Fellowship: Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland
Practice: Swenson practices at East Metro Cardiology in St. Paul and is a clinical assistant professor in the department of family medicine and community health at the University of Minnesota.
Swenson has served on the MMA committees on Legislation and Medical Practice and Planning and as vice speaker and speaker of the House of Delegates. He also has served as president of the Ramsey Medical Society. Swenson is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention.
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During his speech at the annual meeting, Swenson reminded attendees of the origins of the medical profession. He talked about the contributions of the Greek physician Hippocrates, who established medicine’s most enduring principles by calling on physicians to hold the health, well-being, and best interests of their patients above all else. And he noted that the prayer of Maimonides expressed a petition that is still relevant today: “Inspire me with love for my art and for thy creatures. Do not allow thirst for profit, nor ambition for renown, to interfere with my profession.”
Swenson said that the current economic and political environment threatens to undermine the physician-patient relationship. “The conflict between economic survival and prosperity, on the one hand, and the best interest of our patients, on the other, is certainly not new; but our current conflict is unprecedented in its magnitude. How we as a profession respond to this conflict will have profound effects lasting many, many years,” he said.
He ended by calling on physicians to renew their commitment to the profession so they “will be free to practice the science and the art of medicine with knowledge, integrity, empathy, and compassion for the benefit of their patients.”