History - 1975

Groups - 111
Individuals - 111

New Minnesota clinics in 1975 included New Ulm Medical Center and Oakland Pediatric and Adolescent Consultants, Minneapolis.  Again, through the courtesy of Doug Ravnholdt, we have some good information on Minnesota activities for the year.  The 1975 Winter Meeting was held at Spirit Mountain in Duluth.  Doug and Kathy Ravnholdt took some action pictures of the skiing, and these have been converted into a VCR film for nostalgia reinforcement, if not for demonstrations in the art of Alpine skiing.

In Minnesota, the Annual Conference was held in Winona in June 1975, under the direction of President Douglas Ravnholdt.  Dr. Diesner of the Mayo Clinic gave an excellent presentation.  Membership of the Minnesota organization was then understood to be 111 members.  The registration fees for the conference were:  members $25, spouses $10, children $3 and nonmembers, $30.

Other Minnesota officers were Vice President Stanley Allen, Secretary James Vitali and Treasurer Dale Molesworth.  James Sullivan was Chairman of Legislative Liaison; Blue Shield Liaison Committee was headed by Neil Swartz, Chairman, along with Allyn Burmeister, Bill Gerber, Vivian Linquist and June Shaver, Membership Committee was Woodrow Glad and Lyman Anderson.  MSMA Legislative Committee was David Adams, Chairman, and Stanley Allen, J. Roger Asplin, Luther Boie, Richard Lehigh.  Dale Molesworth and Jan Kolbrek.  Third Party Billing Procedures Committee was composed of E. Thomas Lietzke, Chairman.  James Lawson, Ken Nelson, John Strehlow and James Sullivan.  Cash balances are reported on September 18, 1975, to be $2,106.

At the annual meeting on June 13, 1975, David Adams reporting for James Sullivan on Legislative Liaison, recommended:

• Insist that DPW use a standard form;
  
• MGMA survey its members about finance charges; and
  
• Dr. Roger Johnson, Medical Director of MDPW, urges all clinics to urge Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Medicare to go tape-to-tape on crossover with DPW.
  
  

Thanks to Douglas Ravnholdt, the MMGMA files now include a folder of materials which he salvaged from this era of the Association.

On June 13, 1975, the Association formally and gratefully presented an award to Ormond (Oz) Seavey upon his retirement and an award to Stan Allen upon the occasion of his move to Boulder, Colorado.

Eighty individual members represented Minnesota in the membership of MGMA in 1975.

The 48th Annual Conference of MGMA was held on November 2-6, 1975, in Honolulu, under the leadership of President Raymond A. Howe of the Palo Alto Clinic of Palo Alto, California.  Significant association administrative activities during the year included:

• Approved participation in the Accreditation Council for ambulatory health care within the JCAH;
  
• The College--reorganized as a Colorado corporation with new articles and bylaws and a new name--American College of Medical Group Administrators; and
  
• CRAHCA -- a new grant from Kellogg Foundation in the amount of $590,803 over a three-year period for educational activities.
  
  

College President in this year was James A. Bakken of the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Houston.

The MGMA Midwest Section Conference was held on July 16-18, 1975, at Mount Telemark in Cable, Wis., under the leadership of Section President James Vitali, Tom Lietzke has provided us with a well-preserved copy of the 28th Annual Conference program and with it some interesting insights into contemporary people and issues.

The invocation was delivered by Ormond (Oz) Seavey and the program presents a very nice tribute to Mr. Seavey as follows:

"Mr. Seavey, who plans to retire in October, was born in Minneapolis and attended public schools there.  He gained his B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota and went on to attain a Bachelor and Masters from Minnesota's School of Library Science.  For a time he was employed by the Minneapolis Public Library and the Minnesota State Historical Society.  During World War II, he served on active duty with the Naval Reserve and reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander.  He also was commanding officer of the U.S.S. Silica.  In April 1946, he joined the Adams Clinic s Administrator and has been there ever since -- a term of over 29 years.  During that time he was instrumental in starting the Minnesota MGMA organization and served as President.  His wife, Elizabeth, who accompanied him to many MGMA  activities, passed away in March 1975.  He has four children and three grandchildren."

another morning session was "update superbill and other projects" by John r. Strehlow who was at that time with the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and chairman of the MGMA Procedures Committee.  There followed a problem clinic moderated by Kenneth Peterson with participation by Vivian Linquist, S. Allen Trotter of Skokie, Ill., Russ Roskens of Fort Dodge, Iowa and J. Roger Asplin.  Before noon we also had addressed "The future of malpractice insurance and St. Paul Insurance Company's ‘claims made concept" by Tom Uehlen of the St. Paul Insurance Companies.

The second morning's sessions were started by Russ Roskens, Second Vice President of the Midwest Section, who introduced "A session on the law" by Jule Hannaford.  This presents a very fine opportunity to recognize Mr. Hannaford, who served for many years as the legal advisor to MGMA as well as to the MMGMA.  The following is from Mr. Rosken's introduction of Mr. Hannaford:

"Jule Hannaford is considered to be one of the foremost authorities in the country on clinic organization types.  He is an active practicing attorney in Minneapolis where he is a senior partner in the firm of Dorsey, Marquart, Windhorst, West and Halladay.  he has been associated with that firm since 1938 except for four years during World War II.  During that time, he was employed by the Lend-Lease Administration and the State Department in Washington, serving as Secretary of the United States delegation which negotiated the British loan and Lend-Lease settlement.  Just before returning to the law firm, he served as Assistant General Counsel to the Joint Congressional Committee to investigate the Pearl harbor disaster.  Jule graduated from Yale College and Yale Law  School.  He has held positions on the committee on pension and profit sharing trusts of the American Bar Association's section on real property, probate and trust law; the American Bar Association's Committee on Professional Corporations; and the Committee on Corporation, Business, and Banking Law of the Minnesota State Bar Association."

A memorable moment was noted by friends when the MGMA leadership delegation from Denver was about to depart from the conference to move to the Duluth overnight and then to Winnipeg for a meeting with Canadian MGMA officials.  President Raymond A. Howe gathered his group of six people together and went to the doorman for the keys to his car which had been rented in Duluth two or three days earlier.  The doorman came back and reported that the parking attendant who parked the car had, for some unknown reason, mailed the keys back to the rental company.  The conference hotel management moved most of heaven and earth and within a couple of hours a new set of keys was delivered.  Needless to say, the group of Ray and Dorothy Howe, Robert and Mary Wright and Richard and Josie Grant sped off into the darkness of the night of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota.

In due course, the group arrived at Spirit Mountain Resort near Duluth and were pretty much giving up any thought of finding food and sustenance for the evening.  When they entered their chalet, however, they found  table set with fine foods and several bottles of Mumm's champagne in the refrigerator.  It was years before they were to learn who their benefactor was though many had long suspected that it was Stan and Diane Salzman, as indeed it was.

The bad news continued, however, in that the morning was to find that for some reason the door on the Wright's room had become unalterably locked and they were unable to get out until help arrived several hours later and removed the door.  In the meantime the couple's distress was lessened considerably when Dick Grant gallantly climbed a tree and handed another bottle of champagne through the window.

Minnesota registrants and their spouses at the Telemark Conference included Lyman V. Anderson and Jean, J. Roger Asplin and Evelyn, Luther E. Boie and Ruth, Bertram J. Boss and Agnes, Michael and  Delores, William E. Costello and Dorothy, Dr. Andy Edin and Becky, Charles Gooder and Sharleen, Donald W. Landis and Ella, E. Thomas Lietzke and Lois, Bradley J. Lund and Peggy, Vivian Linquist, Kenneth O. Nelson and Majorie, Douglas F. Ravnholdt and Kathy, Stan E. Salzman and Diane, Charles J. Schelin and Shirley, Ormond A. Seavey, Gerald D. Tollakson and Barbara, John W. Tomlin and Sharon, James J. Vitali and Louis, Donald R. Walden and Margaret, Roy E. Walters and Betty, Lowell L. Wendel and Jan.  Minnesota's registration by members therefore represented about 26 people out of a total member registration of 100.

Minnesota's only new Fellow in 1975 was William E. Costello.

Committees

* Douglas Ravnholdt - President - Secretary Stan Allen - Vice-President Dale Molesworth - Treasurer	Government Affairs * James Sullivan
Third Party Liaison * E. Thomas Lietzke