History - 1979

A new state association in this year was the Maine Medical Practice Management Association.

The Central Minnesota Group Health Plan in St. Cloud, Minn., was founded in 1979.

C. Warner Litten retired as Administrator of the Fargo Clinic and was succeeded by John Q. Paulsen.  Also, Russell F. Roskens succeeded Dale Molesworth as Business Manager of the Mankato Clinic.

MMGMA leadership included:  President David R. Adams,  Vice President E. Thomas Lietzke, Secretary Joseph J. Dillenburg, Treasurer Stan Salzman, Immediate Past President Vivian M. Hoese.  Ken Boyum was the Chairman of the Legislative Liaison Committee; Terry Rawstern headed up the Third Party Liaison until he moved to South Dakota at which time Jan Kolbrek took over.  The Education Committee was headed by Jerry Wollner of the Mayo Clinic with support from James Stolhanske and Vivian Hoese.  Dave Adams started with Coon Rapids Clinic in the summer of 1972 and joined the St. Paul Radiology Group in August 1976.

The Winter Conference in Minnesota was held on February 12, 1979, at the Sunwood Inn in St. Cloud, co-chaired by Jerry Mockenhaupt and Jim Lawson.  The Summer Meeting was held August 23-24, at Grand View Lodge on Gull Lake with Vivian Hoese serving as the Chairwoman.  At the time of the Summer Meeting, the membership is shown to be 150 from 128 clinics representing 2,636 physicians.  The financial balance for December 31, 1978, was $6,393.

Some major items in the Board agenda during the year included:

• Organizational: Vice President to head up winter and summer meetings; established/confirmed MMGMA as a 501c(6) organization;
  
• Letters of determination received from IRS and Minnesota; all past tax returns have been filed; Stan Salzman handled details with attorney Greener; raised dues from $20 to $25; discussed opinion on exhibitors' fees;
  
• Education:  adopted Committee's plan, including five programs;
  
• 1980 national conference moved from Minneapolis to Houston because the hotel situation in Minneapolis will not properly accommodate the growing needs of MGMA; ("and we were glad as hell" -- Dave Adams);
  
• Newsletter:  President to appoint a non-officer member as editor; approved Jeannine Schlottman's proposal to accept one sponsor at $200 per newsletter;
  
• Membership:  agreed to use MGMA's definitions and requirements; and
  
• Third Party Liaison:  resolved to urge a nationally mandated uniform claim form, except for DPW; "HEW's reimbursement policy for lab charges is looming on the horizon."
  
  

On September 21, 1979, Jerry Wollner, Education Committee Chairman, published a notice and invitation to the MMGMA workshop on "federal and state regulations affecting the physicians office laboratory practice" to be held September 21, 1979, at the Nicollet Clinic in Minneapolis.  Registration fee was $20.  The announcement also noted that another institute on the subject of intra-clinic communication skills would be held in Mankato October 23, 1979.

The 53rd Annual Conference of MGMA was held on October 2-6, 1979, in San Francisco, under the leadership of President John J. McKay from Toronto.  The official registration was 847 members plus 347 spouses and guests for a total of 1,194.

Among the special guests and nonmembers were these names familiar to Minnesota members; John E. Affeldt, M.D., President of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals in Chicago; and Ronald Moen, director of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care I n Skokie, Ill.

The Minnesota registration at MGMA's Annual Conference numbered 44 members this year.

The American College of Medical Group Administrators was headed by John W. Montgomery of the Springfield Clinic, Springfield, Ill.

The 15th Annual Conference of the Midwest Section was held June 24-27, 1979, at Boyne Mountain, Mich., under the leadership of Robert J. Fisher of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

New College Fellows for 1979 included Lyman V. Anderson and Frank J. Wilkus.