December 2009 >> Lance Line, MD PAGE 3 PHYSICIAN SPOTLIGHT PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID FRANKLIN, TN PERMIT NO.357 ONLINE: MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL NEWS.COM ON ROUNDS PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER November 2013 >> $5 PROUDLY SERVING THE MAGNOLIA STATE Doubling Residency Slots USF Health Morsani COM hosts one of the nation’s largest distributive residency programs; maintains high retention rate of new doctors TAMPA, FLA. – While the gap between medical graduates and the number of residency slots nationwide continues to challenge industry leaders, the University of South Florida (USF) Health Morsani College of Medicine (COM) is bucking the trend. ... 4 A Blank Canvas Pontotoc doc takes reins at newly created Mississippi Office of Physician Workforce Family physician John R. Mitchell, MD, of Pontotoc has been named executive director of the Mississippi Office of Physician Workforce (MOPW), the newly created state organization tasked with putting more primary care doctors to work in medically needy areas ... 7 Backyard Success Oxford RN-turned-entrepreneur finds sweet niche with VMA technology for spine and neck imaging (CONTINUED ON PAGE 10) Coming Soon! Register online at MississippiMedicalNews.com to receive the new digital edition of Medical News optimized for your tablet or smartphone! (CONTINUED ON PAGE 8) Paradigm Shift New gero-psychiatric unit, approach broadens reach for St. Dominic’s Behavioral Health Services BY LYNNE JETER In July, St. Dominic’s Behavioral Health Services unveiled its new high-tech gero-psychiatric unit designed specifically to meet the needs of patients 65 years of age or older. The move allowed the Dominican Sisters-established healthcare organization to address all health needs of aging Mississippians – physical, men- tal, emotional and spiritual – in a highly effective manner. “We can do good work with patients in our unique, structured program, which involves families and caregivers in the treatment process,” said psychia- trist J. David Richardson, MD, who leads the program. His longer-term vision involves two program phases geared to active intervention in the 26-bed unit. BY LYNNE JETER OXFORD—Paul Gunnoe and Ortho Kinematics Inc. (OKI) receive calls daily from spine and imaging companies in the United States and abroad wanting to know where to access the new Vertebral Motion Analysis (VMA) technology. Demand for the new technology, which combines a patented Motion Normalizer™, standard fluoro- scopic imaging, and automated image recognition software to capture and analyze spine motion, was al- ready rising after the North American Spine Society’s 28 th annual convention last month in New Orleans, La., where Gunnoe and OKI presented validation re- search. In January, OKI will commercially launch the VMA technology. “It’s one of those great things that happen in your life where you wake up in the morning and say, ‘thank you, God!’ Then you add ”please help me not screw
Transcript
December 2009 >>
Lance Line, MD
PAGE 3
PHYSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
PRSRT STDU.S.POSTAGE
PAIDFRANKLIN, TN
PERMIT NO.357
ONLINE:MISSISSIPPIMEDICALNEWS.COM
ON ROUNDS
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
November 2013 >> $5
PROUDLY SERVING THE MAGNOLIA STATE
Doubling Residency Slots USF Health Morsani COM hosts one of the nation’s largest distributive residency programs; maintains high retention rate of new doctors
TAMPA, FLA. – While the gap between medical graduates and the number of residency slots nationwide continues to challenge industry leaders, the University of South Florida (USF) Health Morsani College of Medicine (COM) is bucking the trend. ... 4
A Blank CanvasPontotoc doc takes reins at newly created Mississippi Offi ce of Physician Workforce
Family physician John R. Mitchell, MD, of Pontotoc has been named executive director of the Mississippi Offi ce of Physician Workforce (MOPW), the newly created state organization tasked with putting more primary care doctors to work in medically needy areas ... 7
Backyard SuccessOxford RN-turned-entrepreneur fi nds sweet niche with VMA technology for spine and neck imaging
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 10)
Coming Soon!Register online at
MississippiMedicalNews.com to receive the new digital edition of Medical News optimized for
your tablet or smartphone!
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 8)
Paradigm Shift New gero-psychiatric unit, approach broadens reach for St. Dominic’s Behavioral Health Services
By LyNNE JETER
In July, St. Dominic’s Behavioral Health Services unveiled its new high-tech gero-psychiatric unit designed specifi cally to meet the needs of patients 65 years of age or older. The move allowed the Dominican Sisters-established healthcare organization to address all health needs of aging Mississippians – physical, men-tal, emotional and spiritual – in a highly effective manner.
“We can do good work with patients in our unique, structured program, which involves families and caregivers in the treatment process,” said psychia-trist J. David Richardson, MD, who leads the program. His longer-term vision involves two program phases geared to active intervention in the 26-bed unit.
By LyNNE JETER
OXFORD—Paul Gunnoe and Ortho Kinematics Inc. (OKI) receive calls daily from spine and imaging companies in the United States and abroad wanting to know where to access the new Vertebral Motion Analysis (VMA) technology.
Demand for the new technology, which combines a patented Motion Normalizer™, standard fl uoro-scopic imaging, and automated image recognition software to capture and analyze spine motion, was al-ready rising after the North American Spine Society’s 28th annual convention last month in New Orleans, La., where Gunnoe and OKI presented validation re-search. In January, OKI will commercially launch the VMA technology.
“It’s one of those great things that happen in your life where you wake up in the morning and say, ‘thank you, God!’ Then you add ”please help me not screw
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Lance Line, MDPhysicianSpotlight
By LUCy SCHULTZE
Ice hockey. Bobsledding. Freestyle skiing. Not exactly the kinds of sports a south Mississippi orthopedist has much opportunity to connect with.
But for Lance Line, MD, serving as a volunteer Olympic team physician gave him the chance to treat those winter-sport athletes during his first assignment this past August in Lake Placid, N.Y.
“It was interesting, since I was treat-ing different kinds of injury patterns which you don’t normally see down here,” said Line, who served as team physician for the U.S. men’s national junior ice hockey team.
“I always wanted to be involved in higher-level sports, and also to see some different things beyond the typical SEC sports,” he said. “It was a great way to broaden my horizons.”
A founding partner of Southern Bone & Joint Specialists in Hattiesburg, Line had dreamed for many years of applying to serve as an Olympic team physician. He was turned on to the idea early in his practice by an athletic trainer and physical therapist who had taken part in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
“I always wanted to do it, but couldn’t until I had enough experience and had the time to devote,” Line said. “Now that my kids are in college and I’ve got some help with my practice, I thought I’d go ahead and apply.”
Once he’d been accepted into the program, Line was offered the Lake Placid assignment as his first preliminary event.
He spent 10 days in Lake Placid at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, one of three such centers provided to teams and athletes by the U.S. Olympic Commit-tee. While his primary role was treating players competing for a spot on the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team, he was the only physician on duty at the center. That
meant he was also on call to serve mem-bers of the bobsledding, luge and freestyle skiing teams who came through during his time there.
“We had four or five of the winter-sport teams there continuing to train, and everybody’s on a different training sched-ule,” Line said.
Hockey teams from Finland, Swe-den and Canada were also on hand to compete as the U.S. Hockey Committee whittled down its team from a total of 44 players to 31.
“It was pretty intense and pretty quick,” Line said. “All the kids were on the chopping block as far as who makes it and who doesn’t.”
In the treatment room, the athletes got a kick out of knowing the physician as-signed to the hockey team was from Mis-sissippi. But for Line, the notion wasn’t as much of a stretch.
A native of Ohio, he grew up play-
ing street hockey and was always a fan of the sport. He helped put together a street-hockey league in Hattiesburg that was active for a dozen years. That said, he’d always steered clear of blades.
“You really don’t want to see me on the ice,” he laughed.
Line’s family moved from Kent, Ohio, to Cleveland, Miss., when he was 15 years old for his father to take over a family business on his mother’s side. When Line enrolled at the University of Mississippi, a career in medicine wasn’t even on his radar.
“I wanted to be a pilot and fly,” he said. “But it was pretty clear early on that my eyes weren’t good enough, so I looked into other things. I’d always been good in the sciences, so I started the pre-med track and just kept going.”
Line pursued a medical degree at the UM Medical Center. The summer after his first year in medical school, he had the opportunity to work at Methodist Reha-bilitation Center with three orthopedic surgeons in the specialties of sports medi-cine, joint replacement and hand surgery.
“That was back in the day when you could really scrub in and get your hands dirty early,” he said. “I spent an invalu-able summer with them and got to see three different specialties. That turned me on to orthopedics.”
It was a natural fit for Line, who’d played sports during high school and college. After a residency at UMMC, he completed a fellowship in sports medicine and arthroscopy in Richmond, Va., which included an internship with the Pittsburgh Steelers professional football program.
In 1995, Line joined Doug Rouse, MD, and Ricky Conn, MD, at Southern Bone and Joint Specialists, which has since grown to 14 members covering all ortho-
pedic specialties.Line serves as a team physician for
the University of Southern Mississippi, William Carey University and Pearl River Community College, as well as many area high schools.
While the athletes he treats locally work hard to get better, Line witnessed at the Olympic training center another level of motivation entirely.
“They are very aware of their bodies, and they know when it’s right and when it’s wrong,” he said. “They have a very one-on-one relationship with the therapist or chiropractor who works on them, and they’re using very specific training tech-niques you just don’t see in a college or pro-football training room.
“With football players, they don’t know what’s hurting, they just hurt, and sometimes you have to drag them in. But these athletes are about doing whatever it takes to make it right.”
Today, Line is looking forward to the next time he’s called upon by the Olympic Committee. As opportunities come along, he’ll have the chance to accept or decline an assignment.
“Eventually, you may get assigned to a team, and you become that team’s regular physician for that sport,” he said. “Then you just basically cover them two or three times a year.”
Olympic team physicians are not paid for their work and are responsible for their own travel expenses. The volunteer aspect gave it a different feeling for Line.
“It’s more fun than if you were just going to work somewhere else,” he said. “You’re going to serve. You just feel that everybody is pushing for the same goal.”
Outside of his practice, Line and his wife, Marcia, enjoy traveling. They have two children, Hayes and Haley.
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Editor’s note: The Solutions series is a new feature of Medical News, focusing on innovative answers to the growing chasm between the number of medical graduates and residency slots.
TAMPA, FLA. – While the gap be-tween medical graduates and the number of residency slots nationwide continues to challenge industry leaders, the University of South Florida (USF) Health Morsani College of Medicine (COM) is bucking the trend. Within the next couple of years, the number of residency slots will nearly double to 1,400.
“We have one of the nation’s largest distributive residency programs, with 730 USF residents at seven sites, and a pro-posal to add another 700 residents,” for-mer USF Health CEO Stephen Klasko, MD, also former dean of the Morsani COM, said before he left the school in Au-gust to become the first executive selected to head both Thomas Jefferson University and the TJUH System in his home state of Pennsylvania. Klasko significantly contrib-uted to the medical school infrastructure expansion, allowing meaningful strategic growth of the residency program.
The ambitious plan fits the distribu-tive model, allowing USF Health Morsani COM the ability to sponsor or participate in residency programs as “civilians,” ex-plained Charles Paidas, MD, vice dean for clinical affairs and GME for the USF Health Morsani COM.
“We’re offering a shopping list of educational and research initiatives that are required for GME certification,” said Paidas, noting that Naples Community Hospital in Naples, located more than 150 miles away, represents the school’s most recent affiliate addition, and that a pact for other affiliations is in the works.
When Paidas, the plan’s architect, be-came associate dean for GME in 2009 after five years with the school, the residency program faced governance and operation issues that required improved oversight. He assembled a strategic committee that allowed the school to garner impeccable institutional review commendations from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). In 2011, he was promoted to his current post.
At the suggestion of USF medical students, Paidas also brought together As-sociation of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) executives, GME leaders and medical school deans to the USF Health
GME Summit last year. The well attended event “begs the
issue of a replay this year,” he said. “Our goal was to characterize the state of GME in Florida. For example, the average num-ber of residents per 100,000 population in the U.S. is 35.9. Florida’s at 17.5. That’s a raw data point that tells you we need to double the workforce. That translates to 2,900 residency slots in the state.”
Boosting the number of residency slots also improves the chances of keeping new doctors in Florida.
“Florida had nearly a 59.6 percent retention rate of residents who com-plete their training and stay here,” noted Paidas. “The mantra around the country is: wherever you do your residency – not where you attended medical school – is likely where you’ll practice. USF pushes that to 68 percent.”
Of 128 total first-year resident slots, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine placed medical graduates in the following specialties, according to the National Resi-dent Match Program:
Dermatology: 4
Emergency Medicine: 10
Family Medicine: 8
Internal Medicine: 29
Medical-Preliminary/Ophthalmology: 1
Neurological Surgery: 2
Neurology: 5
Obstetrics-Gynecology: 5
Orthopedic Surgery: 4
Otolaryngology: 3
Pathology: 4
Pediatrics: 15
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: 2
Plastic Surgery (integrated) 3
Psychiatry: 8
Radiology-Diagnostic: 8
Radiation Oncology: 1
General Surgery: 6
Surgery-Preliminary: 2
Surgery-Preliminary/Urology: 3
Vascular Surgery: 2
Medicine-Pediatrics: 3
“This past year, we matched all 128 first-year slots in the first round of Match,” said Paidas. “We haven’t done that in 20 years!”
Doubling Residency Slots USF Health Morsani COM hosts one of the nation’s largest distributive residency programs; maintains high retention rate of new doctors
m i s s i s s i p p i m e d i c a l n e w s . c o m NOVEMBER 2013 > 5
By JENNIFER PATEL
With rising healthcare costs companies are search-ing for ways to not only re-duce costs, but also create healthier employees. Stats highlighting a decrease in used sick days and reduc-tions in overall healthcare costs have many employers looking into health and well-ness initiatives to encourage employees to live healthier lives. As more companies begin to incorporate well-ness programs, the time for healthcare providers to be-come directly involved is now.
While today’s employers are begin-ning to see the benefits of wellness pro-grams and preventive care, they didn’t always. In the past, employees have been left to worry that taking time off for doc-tors appointments or tending to other preventative care issues will result in a negative reaction from management. Because of this, employers have to find ways to encourage employee participa-tion in wellness programs. One successful method of encouragement that employers
have discovered is to have direct participa-tion from healthcare professionals.
The following are ways healthcare professionals can, and are beginning get involved with health and wellness plans.
Encourage Preventive CareThe Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) estimate that 68 per-cent of adults and 33 percent of youth are currently overweight or obese. Chronic obesity-related conditions, including heart disease and diabetes, have a big impact on health and wellness. In addition, chronic
diseases reduce the over-all quality of life with half of all chronic disease-related deaths occurring in people under the age of 70.
Healthcare profes-sionals are in an ideal position to offer tools for employees to be healthy. In an effort to combat employees’ reluctance to leave work for such care, employers are beginning to bring in healthcare professionals to offer bio-metric and preventative screenings in the work-
place. This is beneficial for both parties as less time is spent away from work.
Offer ExpertiseGenerally speaking, most employers
are not healthcare experts, which gives physicians extra advantages. When put-ting together a wellness program, employ-ers look at screenings, physical activity and incentives for positive results. But what constitutes positive results and what is the best way to get there?
Not only can the healthcare industry
provide valuable insight when designing these programs, but it can assist in edu-cating employees on what they should be doing, why it’s important, and then moni-toring to ensure that no issues arise. Invit-ing additional healthcare professionals to implement a wellness program will pro-vide extra validation to the importance of a healthy workplace.
Build RelationshipsOne of the biggest obstacles that em-
ployers face when encouraging employees to take part in health and wellness pro-grams is a desire to not be the squeaky wheel. Whether or not it is admitted, em-ployees still feel that taking time off work is seen as something that can affect their growth within the company.
The way businesses address this issue is by building positive relationships with their employees and letting them know it’s more beneficial for the entire team if one employee is too sick and needs to stay home and get well. By encouraging preventative care, as well as offering educational opportunities, employees build positive relationships with both their bosses and the healthcare profes-sionals. Through relationships with employ-ers, healthcare professionals are given access
Wellness Programs’ Impact on the Medical Field
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 7)
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What if a simple blood test could pro-vide information that your patient had a significantly elevated risk of developing diabetes within the next decade? What might that mean from the standpoint of early intervention and prevention? While it’s much too soon for this type of clinical application, researchers at the Vander-bilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI) and Massachusetts General Hospital have identified a novel biomarker that lends it-self to such intriguing questions.
Led by Thomas J. Wang, MD, di-rector of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Vanderbilt and physician-in-chief for VHVI, the team re-cently published results of their discovery of el-evated 2-aminoadipic acid (2-AAA) as a pre-cursor to diabetes in The Journal of Clinical Inves-tigation. Tapping into the rich data source of the Framingham Heart Study, which is now following its third generation of participants, the Wang research team studied blood samples gath-ered more than a decade ago from 188 individuals who ultimately developed type 2 diabetes and 188 who did not develop diabetes.
Using these blood samples, the in-vestigators were able to compare levels of metabolites to see if there were any differ-ences between the group that went on to develop diabetes and the group who did not. Wang noted newer technology now makes it possible to profile hundreds of metabolites at one time.
“One of the things that really lit up when we looked at the people who devel-oped diabetes was 2-aminoadipic acid,” he said. “Having elevated levels of 2-AAA predicted risk above and beyond their blood sugar at baseline, their body weight, or other characteristics that put them at risk.” Wang added there doesn’t appear to be a specific threshold of risk at this point … the higher the levels of 2-AAA, the higher the risk of developing diabetes. In fact, those in the top quartile of 2-AAA concentrations had up to a fourfold risk of developing diabetes during the 12-year follow-up period compared to those in the lowest quartile.
Interestingly, the researchers found 2-AAA might not be just a passive marker. As part of the same study, the team con-ducted mouse model testing and discov-ered giving 2-AAA to the mice actually altered the way the animals metabolized glucose.
“It suggests the molecules might be playing a direct role in how the body pro-cesses glucose rather than being an inno-cent bystander in the process,” Wang said. He added that elevated levels of 2-AAA don’t necessarily mean the molecule is bad for the body. Instead, it could be a defense mechanism where the body is producing higher levels to fight risk from another, as yet unknown, source.
Figuring out the metabolite’s exact role in the functioning of pancreatic cells is one area for future research. If, indeed, 2-AAA turns out to be a defense mecha-nism to stave off diabetes, the good news is that the metabolite could be given to humans in the form of nutritional supple-ments. On the other hand, if 2-AAA turns out to be harmful to the body’s glucose regulation system, further research could reveal methods to lower the metabolite’s presence.
Wang was quick to say the next step is to conduct additional research to mea-sure 2-AAA in other human populations outside of the Framingham study through both retrospective and prospective stud-ies. More in depth animal model studies are also in the pipeline. “A lot of the effort will be focused on trying to understand the biologic effect of 2-AAA in developing dia-betes,” he said of the work going forward.
However, Wang said the current re-search results at least raise the possibility that somewhere in the future knowing how high a person’s circulating 2-AAA levels are could impact clinical practice by allowing providers to adopt a more ag-gressive intervention posture among those at highest risk, whether that be through exercise, weight loss or pharmacologic measures. It is conceivable that 2-AAA might be the type of red flag for diabetes that high cholesterol is for heart disease.
“Understanding why diabetes occurs and how it might be prevented is a very intense area of investigation because of the serious consequences of having the disease,” Wang said. “Down the road, this might be one part of the armamen-tarium of tests that could be considered. If this were proven useful in further studies and could be used clinically, it would be an easy test to administer.”
As for the impact of the findings right now, Wang added, “In 2013, it highlights a specific pathway that might be related to diabetes risk that we previously didn’t know about.”
Considering the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and growing obesity epidemic in the United States, that is an important lead for researchers working to develop strategies to interrupt the disease progres-sion and stop risk from becoming a reality.
Early Warning System: Researchers Identify Diabetes Risk Biomarker
Dr. Thomas J. Wang
m i s s i s s i p p i m e d i c a l n e w s . c o m NOVEMBER 2013 > 7
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Family physician John R. Mitchell, MD, of Pontotoc has been named executive director of the Mississippi Office of Physician Work-force (MOPW), the newly created state organization tasked with putting more primary care doctors to work in medically needy areas.
Mitchell, a hospital-ist with North Mississippi Medical Center in Pontotoc and faculty member with the center’s Family Medicine Residency Program, takes over from work-force interim director Diane Beebe, MD, professor and chair of the University of Mis-sissippi Medical Center (UMMC) Depart-ment of Family Medicine.
A veteran of the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army and the Mississippi Army Na-tional Guard, Mitchell is a board-certified specialist and recently served as chair of the physician workforce’s advisory board.
A graduate of the University of Missis-sippi and the UMMC School of Medicine, he began his medical career as a pharmacist before practicing medicine in his hometown.
“Dr. Mitchell brings to this office pas-sion and vision for improving healthcare ac-
cess in Mississippi,” Beebe said. “From his years practicing as a rural family physician, from teaching students and residents, and from his involvement in state and national medical organizations, he understands the needs of this state. I’m delighted he’s will-ing to take this challenge with us and look forward to great things.”
State lawmakers created the MOPW last year to reduce the shortage of primary care doctors in a state with the nation’s low-est per capita supply. The office oversees the state’s physician workforce development needs by nurturing the creation of family medicine residency programs, fostering the development of a physician workforce in all specialties as needed, evaluating the existing workforce, and establishing the state’s work-force requirements.
To reach the national average, Missis-sippi would have to add more than 1,300 primary care physicians, whose specialties include family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology.
“I know it’s a daunting task, but desper-ate times are sometimes great motivators,” said Mitchell, who completed his family medicine residency in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and a primary care faculty development fellow-ship at Michigan State University.
His ideas for bringing change to the state include adding at least three medical residency training programs around Missis-sippi over the next several years, developing partnerships that would expand medical training opportunities in rural areas, and building a strong relationship with the Mis-sissippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Pro-gram, which cultivates rural college students desiring to return to their roots to practice medicine.
“Where you come from, your past, probably more than anything else, has a lot to do with whether you go into primary care,” Mitchell said. “It’s called ‘the mis-sionary zeal.’ My idea of a physician when I was growing up was our family physician. When I became interested in family medi-cine, I always wanted to practice back at home.”
A member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Mitchell serves as an alternate delegate to the organization’s Congress of Delegates. His numerous posts have included president and board member of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physi-cians, president of the Northeast Mississippi Medical Society, and past president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Medi-cal Directors Association.
A Blank CanvasPontotoc doc takes reins at newly created Mississippi Office of Physician Workforce
Dr. John R. Mitchell
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this up,” joked Gunnoe, RN, CEO of the imaging informatics company that special-izes in the diagnostic side of spinal insta-bility.
This year, VMA prototypes were strategically placed in seven spine and imaging practices across the country, in-cluding two locations in Mississippi – New South Neuro Spine (NS2) in Flowood and Southern Neurologic & Spinal Institute in Hattiesburg. Its visibility got a boost when investor and retired NFL quarter-back Brett Favre called it quite “impres-sive.”
“Everyone that sees it wants it,” said Gunnoe. “The real trick has been hand-selecting the practices to beta launch the units in.”
VMA technology, developed by OKI and approved by the FDA for lumbar and cervical imaging, uses fl uoroscopy to pro-vide previously unavailable views of the spine in motion, allowing neurosurgeons to pinpoint spinal irregularities more ac-curately.
“We’re offering a diagnostic test that simply wasn’t available before,” said Gun-noe. “Comparing the spine and heart, the spine is the second largest problem area of the body, yet there’s almost nothing along the lines of accurate diagnostic tools. For example, for the heart, there are x-ray and CT diagnostic options. For the back, there’s x-ray and MRI. From there, where do you go? There’s a functional stress test for the heart, but nothing for the spine. Finally, we can provide the functional test
the spine’s been lacking.”With the VMA, surgical success rates
should surge through better patient selec-tion, Gunnoe emphasized.
“Because of the gap in diagnostic ca-pability, the surgical success rate in the spine is somewhere around 74 percent when it comes to relieving pain,” he said. “Most device makers are concentrating on how to create a better device for surgery, but they don’t address the 17 percent gap that’s due to misdiagnosis. It’s not the fault of the surgeon; it’s the lack of technology to develop a better diagnostic tool. By comparison, with the EKG of the heart and other functional tests as diagnostic tools, the surgical success rate of the heart is around 95 percent. One could assume that the gap between the two is due to the lack of a similar diagnostic capability in
Backyard Success, continued from page 1
Track RecordOXFORD – Paul Gunnoe considered medical school after earning a biology
degree from Ole Miss. Instead, he chose to earn an RN degree from Pearl River Community College, and had plans to pursue certifi cation as a registered nurse anesthesiologist (CRNA).
“Once I got into the fi eld and did a year of clinical work and had started CRNA school, I was introduced to travel nursing, which led to entrepreneurial opportunities,” said Gunnoe, then a critical care nurse for a hospital in Dallas, Texas. “I always had a niche for business, and … when the opportunity presented itself, God blessed me and it’s worked out pretty good.”
While working as a travel nurse, Gunnoe listened to concerns voiced by medical practitioners about staffi ng and other issues. After drilling down a bit, Gunnoe started several healthcare staffi ng companies, including one of the industry’s largest and fastest-growing nurse staffi ng fi rms. While developing the businesses, he noted improvements needed for the industry’s staffi ng solution software, so he designed, developed and implemented a version that staffi ng companies and hospitals could use to manage their supplemental staffi ng needs as well as their own internal staff. When a client was involved in a labor dispute, he formed a labor action division to handle hospital staffi ng and operations.
“I learned early on, that if you’re going to start a company, you’d better ask yourself one question: what problem are you fi xing? And if you can’t answer that, you don’t need to be starting that company,” he said.
Gunnoe also developed a talent for raising capital and driving revenue growth for early-stage companies. He formed Gunnoe Investment Group LP in 2006, which focuses on healthcare company turnarounds and startups.
Last summer, Gunnoe partnered with Ortho Kinematics Inc. (OKI) to bring the VMA technology to market. Even though Gunnoe runs operations from Oxford, where he lives with his wife, Martie, and their two children, Garrett and Tanner, the company remains Texas-based due to special funding from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Since the fund was created in 2005, state lawmakers have allocated nearly $200 million to 133 early-stage Texas-based companies and $177 million in grant matching and research money to Texas universities. Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature approved replenishing the fund with $50 million for two years.
“(Texas) Gov. Rick Perry has focused heavily on funding emerging technology in the healthcare sector,” explained Gunnoe, who Gov. Phil Bryant recently appointed to the state’s Medical Care Advisory Committee. “I hope Mississippi adopts something similar.”
Paul Gunnoe
the spine.”Importantly, VMA technology emits
29 percent less radiation to the patient than traditional x-rays. The use of fl uo-roscopy provides specialists with video consisting of hundreds of individual still images versus three to six still images of fl exion, extension and center from the standard x-ray procedure to evaluate the cervical and lower spine. Image recogni-tion software locates the vertebrae on each frame and plots angulations and transla-tions at each level. A set of biomechani-cal measurements is overlaid on the video
images to provide neurosurgeons with ex-pansive data at a glance.
“We provide results that are 68 per-cent more accurate, and 79 percent more precise,” said Gunnoe.
The ultimate goal for the VMA tech-nology: to become the diagnostic standard of care in accessing cervical and lumbar pain, said Gunnoe.
“Insurance companies see it as a much more effective, accurate and cost-effi cient tool to diagnose the patient,” he noted. “It’s designed to be the fi rst line of diagnostics.”
m i s s i s s i p p i m e d i c a l n e w s . c o m NOVEMBER 2013 > 9
To see something in a different light often requires a shift in perspective. David A. Williams, CPA, MPH, FHFMA, leader of healthcare reimburse-ment and advisory ser-vices for HORNE LLP, believes this certainly holds true for practices and facilities facing ever-increasing budget pres-sures.
Glass Half EmptyWilliams, a partner in HORNE’s
Ridgeland, Miss. office, noted for many healthcare providers, any incremental increase in revenue is eaten up by rising costs — from increased wages to higher prices for supplies to hikes in rent and utilities.
He pointed out that for hospitals, the largest revenue stream is for inpatient stays, and the largest single payer is Medi-care, which can represent from the low 40s to the high 60s in terms of percent-age of patients. “There has been a market basket update, but for the last couple of years, it’s been less than 2 percent,” he said.
Williams noted the government puts in the full market basket update but then begins reducing the rate by looking at adjustments tied to value-based pur-chasing, readmission rates and acquired conditions, in addition to other factors. “Normally you’re seeing very minimal increases. It’s caused a flattening of rev-enue per patient,” he said. Then, Wil-liams continued, after payment increases are netted out, “Medicare is subject to a 2 percent reduction to fulfill the sequestra-tion order.”
He added that Medicaid, which typi-cally covers anywhere from 5-15 percent of patients … or higher depending on lo-cation and a hospital’s safety net status, is not currently subjected to sequestra-tion. Yet, he said, hospitals are faced with mounting concerns about Medicaid ex-pansion, uncompensated care, and cuts to disproportionate share hospital payments.
For hospitals in states that didn’t opt to expand Medicaid rolls, administrators are worried about rising levels of uncom-pensated care for those that fall into the gap in the Affordable Care Act between traditional Medicaid eligibility and quali-fying for federal subsidies on the health-care exchange. Even for providers who are in states that did expand Medicaid,
Williams said uncertainty still exists about how reimbursement will actually net out.
Traditionally, Medicaid has reim-bursed providers at a set match rate for direct patient services and a 50 percent rate for the administrative portion of the episode of care. Although the ACA Med-icaid expansion plan covers 100 percent of patient services for three years and then rolls down incrementally to 90 percent over subsequent years, the administrative match remains at 50 percent so the state does incur additional cost by expanding rolls. Additionally, Williams said certain provisions of the ACA require mandatory changes for states regardless of expan-sion, including: welcome mat population or those who were eligible for Medicaid but had not enrolled previously, foster children expansion to age 26, expanded eligibility for children, primary care phy-sician fee increase, and health insurer fee. In Mississippi, a non-expansion state, the estimated amount of the mandatory changes is between a $272 - $436 million increase in spending. With this amount of growth, the state is not expected to in-crease the reimbursement rate for a full episode of care.
Medicare DSH payments also are causing administrators to lose sleep at night. Initially, the ACA plan called for a 75 percent reduction in Medicare DSH payments. However, Williams said part of the final regulation that went into effect Oct. 1 of this year moderated that number a bit by moving to an empirical DSH pay-ment for uncompensated costs … a com-plex, calculated cut that softens the blow some by looking at a hospital’s relative share of Medicaid inpatient utilization as a proxy for uncompensated patients.
Williams said that for one hospital in the Mississippi Delta, the original Medi-care DSH reduction would have meant a loss of $5.6 million. “But,” he continued, “because of the additional payment to fund the uncompensated cost, it was ac-tually a reduction of $2 million.” While that is still a significant loss, “It could have been worse,” Williams noted.
Still, he continued, “You’re faced with the fact your revenue isn’t growing as fast as your expenses. It’s very concern-ing to most every healthcare organization around.”
Glass Half FullSo if revenue isn’t going up, the logi-
cal place to increase margins is to decrease costs. Yet, healthcare providers want to
Gaining Perspective on the Reimbursement Landscape: Glass Half Empty … or Half Full
David A. Williams
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 10)
10 > NOVEMBER 2013 m i s s i s s i p p i m e d i c a l n e w s . c o m
Two hallways, visible from the nurse’s station at the front of the unit, house 13 units each. One phase involves patients who have been diagnosed with dementia or are showing symptoms that dementia may be the diagnosis.
“Perhaps these patients have always done well in a nursing home but suddenly become easily agitated or paranoid,” said Richardson. “After 85, sometimes it can be difficult to sort out what’s age-appropriate forgetfulness versus dementia. An evalua-tion workout will help us figure out what’s going on to cause the change and have an intervention with conservative medication and education to families of caregivers.”
The second level is established for pa-tients who continue to function well and have lived independently or with little su-pervision, but who have developed depres-sion or anxiety.
“I want that section to be one in which people feel they’re in an interactive therapy program,” said Richardson. “I’ve heard from potential patients who have visited other gero-psych wards and have mostly seen patients who couldn’t speak coherently. These potential patients clearly became anxious, wondering ‘is that what’s in store for me?’ Those thoughts bring a whole new level of paranoia.”
The inpatient program complements St. Dominic’s longstanding outpatient pro-gram.
“Years ago, the hospital looked long term at Behavioral Health Services and recognized a true community need for a gero-psych program,” explained Richard-son, who joined St. Dominic’s in January. “Many doctors’ patients are getting elderly and they want a place to refer their pa-tients for treatment, where they feel com-fortable.”
Even though many referrals come from primary care providers, family and self-referrals comprise a growing percent-age of new patients.
“The typical length of stay is 10 to 14 days,” said Richardson. “There’s a point when you can be in the hospital too long and regress.”
Statistically, the geriatric population has a higher level of dependency on pain medication and alcohol, said Richardson.
“We don’t like to think of grandma having a problem with drinking,” he said.
Richardson’s role at St. Dominic’s is a capstone to a career that began after resi-dency at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. While on staff at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Richardson was tapped for independent psychiatric consultations at the Mississippi State Hospital in Whitfield operated by the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.
“Most of the patients I saw were there for long-term care,” he said. “I fell in love with the population. The doctor-patient relationship is so important to them.”
Richardson’s affable personality makes it easy for patients to communicate. “I tell them my criteria with memory prob-lems,” he joked, “is that it has to be worse than mine!”
Paradigm Shiftcontinued from page 1
make sure they provide the best care pos-sible without sacrificing a patient’s well being simply to save a few dollars.
“A lot of people equate higher quality with higher cost, but that’s not necessar-ily true,” Williams pointed out. In fact, he said, doing the right thing in the right way is often significantly more cost efficient.
“A major cost in providing care to pa-tients is variation in the clinical process of care,” Williams said. He added it is easy to find real world examples of this type of variation where one hospital’s cost for an average hip replacement is $45,000, yet another one might have an average cost of $22,000. “What’s the disconnect?” he asked of the two cost scenarios. “A lack of standardization of using evidence-based protocols,” he answered.
By using data available through elec-tronic health records coupled with a part-nership with technology company Health Catalyst, Williams said HORNE is able to mine the available information to look at clinical pathways and search out deviation from standard protocols that adds to the cost of care. He was quick to add that the technology doesn’t seek to stop physicians from exercising their medical judgment but does highlight where there are outliers when it comes to following clinical proto-cols. “Best practices and evidence-based medicine say that these are the best proto-cols out there,” he pointed out.
Following those protocols not only saves money, but also should optimize quality. With increased transparency, pay-ers and patients will have access to infor-mation regarding those positive outcomes and lower costs, which could ultimately drive volume.
A Foot in Both BoatsAdministrators and chief financial
officers are caught between the fee-for-service and value-based payment worlds right now. Williams said they are trying to keep their heads above water in the current payment system … and now re-imbursement experts want them to shift their focus to population management. Although making the move is understand-ably frustrating, Williams believes it is also the best option to ultimately improve the bottom line.
“There has to be a change in cul-ture from what it’s been in the past,” he noted. “We tell them, ‘Let’s prepare for it by being the most efficient, effective deliv-erer of care and eliminating patient waste.’ That puts you in a competitive advantage over those providers that have a higher cost structure.”
It is a different mindset, Williams continued, to stop attacking reimburse-ment from the top and instead improve revenue by cutting costs. “If you deliver high quality at a lower cost, then your margins are going to be greater. We see opportunities,” he concluded.
Gaining Perspectivecontinued from page 9
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TAMPA, FLA. – Mimi Guarneri, MD, FACC, and fellow founding members of the American Board of Integrative Medi-cine (ABIOM) spent the lingering days of summer putting the final touches on a new board certification examination for a spe-cialty that’s garnering national attention.
“Creation of integrative medicine as a specialty by the American Board of Physi-cian Specialties (ABPS) guarantees excel-lence in the field and assures consumers of healthcare the practitioner they’re seeing has reached a high standard of practice,” said Guarneri, board-certified in cardiology, internal medicine, nuclear medicine and ho-listic medicine.
Tampa, Fla.-based ABPS, the first multi-specialty certifying body to offer phy-sician certification in integrative medicine, is the official certifying body of the American Association of Physician Specialists (AAPS) and one of three national certifying organi-zations of MDs and DOs. The ABPS has led industry response to trends in urgent care, disaster medicine, hospital medicine and family medicine obstetrics.
Andrew Weil, MD, said the forma-tion of ABOIM – one of 18 ABPS boards – marks an important milestone in the devel-opment in the field of integrative medicine.
“Finally, there’s a way for qualified physicians to present themselves as experts in offering competent integrative care to patients,” said Weil, who helped establish integrative medicine as a specialty.
Of the other two national certify-ing organizations, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) represents the largest national organization certifying MDs and DOs. The American Osteopathic As-sociation Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists (AOABOS) certifies DOs only.
“Integrative medicine focuses on get-ting to the underlying cause of disease and implementing personalized programs that help people achieve optimal health,” said Guarneri. “In conventional medicine, we’re taught to make a diagnosis and prescribe a treatment. In integrative medicine, we look for the underlying cause of the problem or health challenge. For example, in conven-tional medicine, we may diagnose diabetes and prescribe a medication. In integrative medicine, we look at what a person is eat-
ing (to determine if) they’re deficient in mi-cronutrients linked to diabetes. If they’re physically fit, are they exposed to toxins? Are they under stress? All of these can cause diabetes. We may prescribe medicine, but we also look to correct the underlying cause. We treat the whole person – body, mind and spirit – and we look at an individual’s rela-tionships to family, community and planet.”
ABOIM and the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integra-tive Medicine define integrative medicine as “the practice of medicine that reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals, and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing.”
Guarneri, founder of the Scripps Cen-ter for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla, Calif., and president of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM), pointed out that as a cardiologist, her goal is to also reverse the patient’s health chal-lenges.
“Integrative medicine provides me the tools that weren’t available in my conven-tional medical training,” she said. “As a cardiologist, I’m well versed in the role of medication, surgery and stenting for treat-ment of cardiovascular disease. But, it’s my training in integrative medicine that’s taught me the principles of nutrition, the evidenced-based use of natural supplements, and the role of the mind-body connection. Integrative medicine allows me to complete the circle of care.”
Eudene Harry, MD, medical director of Oasis Wellness & Rejuvenation Center in Orlando, Fla., was thrilled to learn about the new board certification in integrative medicine.
“It’s very good that integrative medi-cine is being acknowledged as a specialty,” said Harry. “The message is: let’s not be ex-clusive. Let’s be inclusive. Let’s look at all ev-idence-based material and treat it equally.”
Harry, who specializes in both holistic and emergency medicine, said integrative medicine allows “more focus on informa-tion-gathering.”
“That’s going to be helpful,” she said. “Medications don’t address the issue that’s driving the patient to the doctor’s office.”
Integrative Medicine Goes MainstreamABIOM finalizes board certification exam for emerging specialty
Integrative Medicine Board Certification 4-1-1 ABOIM certification is available to both allopathic and osteopathic
physicians in the United States and Canada who are practicing integrative medicine and have completed a residency training program approved by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), American Osteopathic Association (AOA), Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC), or College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC).
Complete eligibility requirements are available online.Qualified physicians interested in becoming board certified in integrative
medicine may submit an application by Dec. 1; the initial exam will take place next May. Applications are available online at www.aapsus.org and may be obtained by contacting the ABPS Certification Department at (813) 433-2277.
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By LyNNE JETER
As another dismal economic year draws to a close, addiction and substance abuse clinics are gearing up for an influx of patients.
“We say in our business that the drink-ing season begins at Thanksgiving and ends on Super Bowl Sunday,” said Percy Men-zies, M. Pharm., founder of Assisted Re-covery Centers of America (ARCA), based in St. Louis, Mo. “We opened in February and just recently had to turn away patients for the first time. It’s that busy. We’re also dealing with a huge iatrogenic epidemic of addiction to prescription pain drugs. For the first time, more people have died of drug overdose than automobile accidents. Her-oin has become the cheap ‘generic’ form of opioid pain killers.”
Despite the revolving door headlines about celebrities frequenting rehab clinics, addiction medicine remains one of the most underfunded diseases in the United States. According to a 2012 report published by The National Center on Addiction and Sub-stance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA Columbia), “Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap between Science and Practice,” 15.9 percent (40.3 million) of Americans have the disease of addiction. That’s more than heart conditions (27 million), diabetes (25.8 million) or cancer (19.4 million). Even though one in five deaths is attributable to tobacco, alcohol and other drug use, the U.S. spent $107 bil-lion to treat heart conditions, $86.6 billion to treat cancer, and $43.8 billion to treat diabe-tes in 2010. But only $28 billion was spent on addiction treatment.
Another eye-opening statistic: Of every
dollar spent by federal, state and local gov-ernments on risky substance use and addic-tion, 95.6 cents pay for consequences; only 1.9 cents go to prevention and treatment.
Genetic predisposition, structural/functional brain vulnerabilities, psychologi-cal and environmental influences are clear risk factors for addiction, as is the age of first use. Ninety-seven percent of addiction cases start with substance abuse before the age of 21, while the brain is still developing. As a result of all risk factors, one-third of the population over the age of 12 is susceptible to substance abuse.
“This clearly articulates the monu-mental challenge ahead of us,” said Men-zies, who left an executive role with DuPont Pharmaceuticals to open ARCA’s first inte-grated outpatient clinic in 2001, and in early 2013, a 25-bed residential substance abuse clinic. He’s on a campaign to move addic-tion into the mainstream of medicine.
“For too long,” he said, “we’ve been on the outside of the margins.”
Addiction Medicine Challenges
Various factors keep addiction and substance abuse programs in the shadows of medicine: the professional stigma that makes it difficult to recruit healthcare pro-viders, the social stigma that pervades so-ciety and the field of addiction medicine, misconceptions among other healthcare providers, and the often unbalanced mix of medications and treatment.
“When I give talks to medical school students, and ask who wants to specialize in addiction medicine, not one hand goes up,” said Menzies, noting that of 985,375 active
physicians nationwide, only 1,200 are prac-ticing addiction medicine specialists and 355 are practicing addiction psychiatrists. “They don’t see it as a very lucrative business.”
The report also noted a significant differential in requirements for addiction counselors by state. Only one state has a minimum requirement of a master’s degree, six states require an undergraduate degree, and 10 states require an associate’s degree. Fourteen states require only a high school degree or GED equivalent, six states have no minimum degree requirements, and 14 states don’t require any licensure or certifi-cation. Only 10 states mandate a physician as a medical director or staff member of residential treatment programs.
“The majority of people who work in addiction treatment are in recovery and lost everything to their addiction and want to give back to society,” he said. “Part of the challenge is that they come with their own baggage. Being in recovery doesn’t make them an expert. That’s one of the major ob-stacles we face in this field.”
Menzies, who is not in recovery, re-called how his relatives – many are health-care professionals – questioned his decision to move into addiction medicine.
“Others ask me if my practice failed, because they believe no self-respecting healthcare professional would go into this field voluntarily,” he said, with a chuckle.
The social stigma of the disease exacer-bates misconceptions of addiction.
“If you go to your physician and say, ‘doc, I’m drinking too much,’ he’s likely to say ‘stop drinking’ and maybe advise you to go to AA,” he said. “If you go to a psychia-trist and say, ‘I’m drinking too much,’ he’s
likely to say, ‘you’re depressed. Let me give you an anti-depressant.’ If you go to your pastor and say, ‘I’m into drugs and alcohol,’ he may say, ‘you should come to church more often.’ My goal is to treat addiction like any other chronic medical condition, such as diabetes or asthma, through the right com-bination of medications, counseling, behav-ioral therapies, and psychiatric care.”
Drug Intervention Challenges
Ironically, drug and alcohol treatment has a dark and checkered history, noted Menzies.
“Highly dangerous and addicting drugs were touted as ‘cures.’ This has resulted in a very unhealthy segmentation of treatment,” he explained. “Only a small percentage of alcoholics are treated with medications, but addiction to opioids is predominantly treated with addicting and abusable drugs like methadone and buprenorphine, which adds to the stigma and deters many physi-cians from getting into this field.”
Nearly 35 years ago, the federal gov-ernment developed naltrexone as the first non-addicting medication to prevent de-toxed heroin addicts from relapsing, added Menzies.
“DuPont introduced this medication in 1984; in 1994, the same medication was approved for the treatment of alcoholism,” he said. “Naltrexone faced opposition from many treatment providers and the practi-cal challenge of medication compliance.” Vivitrol, a monthly injection of naltrexone, was introduced in 2006 but has yet to gain significant use.
“It’s an amazing medication to prevent relapse to alcohol or opioid use, but there’s so much opposition to it,” he said. “It gives patients a fighting chance of not relapsing when they return home to the familiar envi-ronment of past drug and alcohol use. The true test of any treatment program is how well patients do when they return home. Vivitrol is a potent tool to keep patients en-gaged in long-term treatment.”
Improving the EnvironmentIn 1956, the American Medical As-
sociation (AMA) referred to alcoholism as an illness that should be treated within the medical profession. In 1989, the AMA ad-opted a policy naming addiction as a dis-ease. Yet less than 6 percent of referrals to publically-funded addiction treatment ema-nates from healthcare providers.
Addressing the education, training and accountability gap is paramount to moving addiction medicine into the mainstream. Among the report’s next-step recommen-dations, improved screening and assessment tools need to be developed, national accred-itation standards for all addiction treatment facilities and programs that reflect evidence-based care need to be established, addiction medicine workforce needs to be expanded, addiction treatment facilities should be licensed as healthcare providers, and re-search and data collection to improve and track progress and search for a cure needs a financial shot in the arm.
“The stigma of addiction,” said Men-zies, “can only be removed with better outcomes.”
Managing AddictionsAddiction medicine professionals prepare for ‘busy season’
m i s s i s s i p p i m e d i c a l n e w s . c o m NOVEMBER 2013 > 13
GrandRoundsSouthern Miss Professor Gould Named Associate Dean in College of Health
Dr. Trent Gould, who has served in a variety of roles during his 10 years at The University of South-ern Mississippi, has been named associate dean in the College of Health.
An associate profes-sor in the School of Hu-man Performance and Recreation, Gould has also served as the school’s interim direc-tor for the past year while splitting du-ties as the assistant school director for graduate studies.
A native of Warren, Ohio, Gould earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowl-ing Green State University (1998); his master’s degree from Ohio University (2000) and his doctorate from Ohio Uni-versity (2003). He joined the faculty at Southern Miss in the fall of 2003.
Gould points out that his duties as associate dean translate into 50 percent administration; 25 percent research and 25 percent teaching in the School of Hu-man Performance and Recreation.
He notes that the College of Health is positioned well in the University in terms of enrollment, accredited programs and research productivity, but emphasizes that areas of improvement do exist.
Baptist Health Systems Announces Chief of Medical Operations
Michael Dudley Maples, MD, has joined Baptist Health Systems as the Vice President and Chief of Medical Op-erations.
Dr. Maples comes to Baptist from Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi where he has served as medical direc-tor since 2003. From 2002 until 2007, he was medi-cal reviewer for the State of Mississippi’s Department of Disability Determination. From 1985 until 2002, Dr. Maples was a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon with The Cardiovascular Surgical Clinic of Jackson at Baptist.
Dr. Maples attended the University of Mississippi, Vanderbilt University, and graduated AOA from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He is active in several professional associations in-cluding American College of Physician
Executives (ACPE), American Medical Association (AMA), Mississippi State Medical Association (MSMA), American College of Healthcare Executives
(ACHE) and has previously served on Baptist’s credentials committee.
Delta Health Alliance receives $900,000 grant from USDA for health projects
Delta Health Alliance is one of fi fteen organizations throughout Mississippi to receive funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In a
town hall meeting in Jackson, USDA Sec-retary Tom Vilsack announced that DHA would receive $900,000 to strengthen electronic health systems among Delta providers and improve facilities at a certifi ed rural health center located in Washington County.
According to Karen Matthews, Del-ta Health Alliance CEO, the USDA grant will improve provider care for Mississippi Delta residents through expanded use of electronic health records and the use of an electronic medical record-based health management program. Matthews
went on to say that providers will have improved access to a patient’s medical information and can utilize tools to pro-vide quality care and improve health out-comes for patients with chronic diseases.
The USDA grant will also be used to expand the work of the Leland Medical Clinic, a new project of Delta Health Al-liance. The Leland Clinic is operating as a patient-centered medical home, which means it is addressing the needs of its pa-tients through a team approach focusing on patient’s health, using enhanced tech-nology and chronic disease management.
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Dr. Michael Dudley Maples
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14 > NOVEMBER 2013 m i s s i s s i p p i m e d i c a l n e w s . c o m
UMMC names new chair of emergency medicine
Dr. Alan Jones, UMMC professor of emergency medicine, has been named chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Jones earned his undergraduate degree with honors in molecular biol-ogy at Millsaps College and his medi-cal degree at UMMC. He completed his residency in emergency medicine and served as chief resident at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C.
Following residency training he completed a clinical trials research fel-lowship, and while serving on the emer-gency medicine teaching faculty at Car-olinas he completed coursework for a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
He returned to UMMC in 2011 as a full professor and vice chairman of emer-gency medicine. He also serves as the department’s director of research and its research fellowship program.
He succeeds Dr. Richard Summers as chair of the department.
Dr. Jones has authored numerous scientific publications and is currently either a principal investigator or co-in-vestigator on four National Institutes of Health R01 grants. He recently began a one-year term as president of the Soci-ety for Academic Emergency Medicine.
SRHS Welcomes Provider to the Neuroscience Center
The Board of Trustees of Singing River Health System has recently wel-comed a new member to the Pain Management team within the Neurosci-ence Center.
Dr. Michael Cos-grove, MD, received his medical degree from the Jefferson Medical Col-lege in Philadelphia. He performed a residency at Maine Medi-cal Center in Portland, Maine. He also performed a fellowship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. Cosgrove is board certified in An-esthesiology and board certified in Pain Management.
He will be practicing with the Neu-roscience Center in Ocean Springs.
Memorial Physician Clinics adds Nephrologist
Memorial Physician Clinics wel-comes Jedd Seigerman MD, in the practice of Nephrol-ogy. Dr. Seigerman joins Dr. Douglas Lanier, Dr. Amery Creighton, Dr. Jo-seph O’Gorman, Dr. Biju Marath, Dr. Edwin Qui-nones, and Dr. Erica Hop-kins.
Dr. Seigerman graduated Cum Laude with his undergraduate degree from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa. He earned his medical doctorate from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. Dr. Seigerman completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. He was fellowship trained in nephrology at UT Health Science Center Lackland Air Force Base Combined Pro-gram, San Antonio, Texas.
Dr. Seigerman is Board Certified in nephrology and internal medicine.
UMMC appoints new associate vice chancellor of research
Dr. Richard Summers has been ap-pointed UMMC associate vice chancel-lor for research. He previously served as professor and chair of UMMC’s Depart-ment of Emergency Medicine. He is also an accomplished physician-scientist with nearly 300 publications to his credit. He has established a national reputation for his work on quantitative models of human physiology on behalf of NASA’s Digital Astronaut Program, particularly in regard to measuring the effects of micro-gravity on space travelers.
An honors graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi in mathematics and chemistry, Dr. Summers completed medical school at UMMC.
In addition to his clinical training, he completed a post-doctoral research fel-lowship in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics under the mentorship of Dr. Arthur Guyton and Dr. Tom Coleman. He holds a secondary faculty appoint-ment as professor in that department.
He succeeds Dr. John Hall, profes-sor and chair of the Department of Physi-ology and Biophysics, as associate vice chancellor for research. Hall held the po-sition since 2005.
Reece named chairman of MHA Board of Governors
Chuck A. Reece, President of Rush Foundation Hospital and Executive Vice President and Chief Op-erating Officer of Rush Health Systems, was re-cently elected Chairman of the 2013-2014 Missis-sippi Hospital Association (MHA) Board of Gover-nors during MHA’s 82nd Annual Leadership Conference.
Mr. Reece has held numerous ad-ministrative positions within Rush Health Systems since 1997. He is a graduate of Mississippi State University and the Ex-ecutive MBA program at Vanderbilt Uni-versity.
He and his wife have two children and three grandchildren. He currently serves on the board of the East Missis-sippi Business Development Corpora-tion and is an Elder of First Presbyterian Church of Meridian.
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