D.O.s Serving on the State and Federal Levels-Part III

The follow list is from AOA source

 

 

 

New Hampshire

• Board of Medicine – Vacant

New Jersey

• Task Force on Child Abuse & Neglect - Martin A. Finkel, DO
• Advisory Committee on Alternatively Accredited Medical School Clinical Clerkships – Shari Robin Fine, DO
• Board of Medical Examiners – Kathryn Lambert, DO, George Scott, DO, DPM

New Mexico

• Opthalmological Society – Kristin Reidy, DO
• Governor’s Advisory Panel on Pain – Randle Adair, DO, Tom Lindsey DO
• Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners – Gary Jackson, DO, Tom Lindsey, DO

New York

• State Board of Medicine Licensing Board – Jerry Baletine, DO, Brenda Connolly, DO, Robert Corona, DO, Steven Sherman, DO, Donald Teplitz, DO, Paul Twist, Jr, DO
• Board for Professional Medical Conduct – Ralph Levy, DO, Paul F.Twist, DO, Cindy Hoffman, DO, Donald H. Teplitz, DO, Robert J. Corona, Jr, DO,  Theodore A. Spevack, DO, Thomas A. Scandalis, DO, Steven I. Sherman, DO
• New York City Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee – Allen Cherson, DO
• Nassau Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee - Allen Cherson, DO
• Carrier Advisory Committee – Robert B. Goldberg, DO

North Carolina

• Medical Board – Donald Jablonski, DO

North Dakota

• State Board of Medical Examiners – Gordon Leingang, DO

Ohio

• Governor’s State Health Coverage and Quality Council, Richard J. Snow, DO
• State Medical Board – Anita M. Steinbergh, DO
• Student Loan Commission – David Bitonte, DO
• Nursing Board’s APN Prescriptive Governance Committee – Deborah Cole Sedivy, DO
• Medical Board’s PA Policy Committee – John M. Jonesco, DO
• Pharmacy Board Rule Review Committee – Katherine A. Clark, DO
• Department of Health Public Health Council – David A. Bitonte, DO
• Medical Quality Foundation- John F. Uslick, DO, Richard J. Snow, DO
• Stroke Council – Albert Salomon, DO
• Bureau of Workers Compensation Quality Committee – John Dunne, DO
• Department of Health’s Compassionate Care Committee – Cleanne Cass, DO
• ODJFS Pharmaceutical/Therapeutics Committee – Robert L. Hunter, DO, Ioanna Z. Giatis, DO
• Medicaid DUR Committee – Lenard Presutti, DO
• Higher Education Study Committee – John F. Brose, DO
• Department of Health Medical Surge Committee – Brian A. Kessler, DO
• Paulding County Health Department – Larry Fishbaugh, DO
• Lawrence County Health Department – Kurt Hofmann, DO
• Tuscarawas County Health Department – James Hubert, DO
• Warren City Health Department – James Lazor, DO
• Findlay City Health Department – Stephen Mills, DO
• Medina County Health Department – Daniel Raub, DO
• Gurernsy County Health Department – Janice Schram-Wayne, DO
• Preble County Health Department – Mark Vosler, DO
• Department of Insurance Real Time Claim Adjudication Advisory Committee – Martha Simpson, DO
• Department of Insurance Most Favored Nation Clauses Study Committee, Stuart Chesky, DO, JD

D.O.s Serving on the State and Federal Levels-Part II

 The following list is from AOA source.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

§  National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality–  Silvia M. Ferretti, DO (March 25, 2010- November 30, 2012)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

§  Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices – Stanley E. Grogg, DO (September 2006- indefinite term) Dr. Grogg represents the AOA as a Liaison Representative to this advisory panel.   

§  Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee – Dale W. Bratzler, DO (January 7, 2010 – June 30, 2013)

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

§  Practicing Physicians Advisory Council – Joseph A. Giaimo, DO (February 28, 2008-February 28, 2012) *Disbanded*

Department of Defense (DOD)

§  Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences – Ronald R. Blanck, DO (Chair)

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

§  National Vaccine Advisory Committee – Christine Nevin-Woods, DO, MPH (October 1, 2007-October 1, 2011)

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

§  Anesthesiology and Respiratory Therapy Devices Panel – George Mychaskiw II, DO (July 8, 2007 – July 7, 2011) Dr. Mychaskiw is a consultant to this advisory panel.

§  Anesthesiology and Respiratory Therapy Devices Panel – Kenneth J. Steier, DO (July 8, 2007 – July 7, 2011) Dr. Steier is a consultant to this advisory panel.

§  Anesthesiology and Respiratory Therapy Devices Panel – Sandra Willsie, DO

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

§  National Practitioners Data Bank (NPDB), Executive Committee – Edward Loniewski, DO (December 1, 1999 – indefinite term)

§  Primary Care Residency Grant Peer Review Committee – Kenneth J. Steier, DO (April 1998 – indefinite term)

§  Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry – Eugene Mochan, DO, PhD (indefinite term)

§  Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry –  Stephen C. Shannon, DO, MPH (indefinite term)

§  Council on Graduate Medical Education – Kendall Reed, DO (term ending September 30, 2010)

§  National Advisory Council on the National Health Service Corps  –  John Everett, DO (December 31, 2008- December 31, 2011)

§  Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry – Anne Jones, DO (term ending 2013)

§  Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary Community Based Linkages -   Jay H. Shubrook, DO  (term ending 2013)

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

§  National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Advisory Council – Boyd W. Bowden II, DO (term ending 2010)

§  National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Education and Training Review Committee – Murray Goldstein, DO, MPH (2007-2011)

AOA PARTNERSHIPS WITH FEDERAL AGENCIES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

§  U.S. Preventive Service Task Force – Robert S. Juhasz, DO - represents the AOA as an AHRQ Primary Care Partner.  Partners are outside experts who provide peer review of draft reports, contribute expertise to the evaluation process, and help disseminate the work of the task force to their members.

Supporting the osteopathic identity of UNTHSC

The following is a guest post by Donald Phillips, DO, FACEP, FACOEP.

I would like to add my comments to those regarding the proposal to add an allopathic training program at the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center (UNTHSC) in Fort Worth.  I will start with the fact that I am a 1991 graduate of the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM).  When I entered the school, I knew relatively little about what a DO was and how it differed from an MD.  With maturity and experience, I have come to realize that I agree more now with the basic philosophy and roots of osteopathic medicine, than I did then.  I will also readily admit that I have known good and bad doctors with both sets of initials behind their names. I have worked in Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and Alaska while in medical school. I served a traditional rotating internship in a rural hospital in Rolla, Missouri.  I completed a three year residency in emergency medicine in an osteopathic program in Columbus, Ohio.  Out of my residency, I entered active duty in the USAF at Scott AFB, Illinois, then practiced at a catholic hospital in St. Charles, Missouri and finally back to Texas where I worked for four years at JPS Health Network.  I am currently the ED medical director in a rural hospital northwest of Fort Worth.  My point?

D.O.s Serving on Medical Societies and Organizations-Part I

Osteopathic Medicine is a minority branch of medicine, which is separate but equal. It has accreditation powers for osteopathic medical schools, osteopathic graduate medical education, board certifications, hospitals and health organizations. About 14 states in the USA still maintain state osteopathic medical boards, while other states and territories have composite medical boards. As the U.S. is a democracy, it respects the majority rule while protecting and preserving the minority rights. Therefore, D.O.s have better opportunity to serve in the public arena even though D.O.s represent only 7% of physician workforce. For instance, there are 4,000 D.O.s out of 57,000 licensed physicians in TX, 3 D.O.s and 9 M.D.s serve on the Texas Medical Boards.

The following list of D.O.s serving in organized medicine from AOA source.

 

AOA Representatives to AMA/Allopathic Associations

American Academy of Family Physicians

·         Accreditation Subcommittee of the Commission on Continuing Medical Education (COCME)

o   Suzanne Kelley, DO

·         Commission of Education

o   Joseph P. McNerney, DO

American Association of Medical Colleges

·         Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research Funding

o   Scott Thomas Stoll, DO, PhD

·         Council of Academic Societies

o   Jed Magen, DO

American College of Sports Medicine

·         Conjoint Board in Sports Medicine

o   Larry Prokop, DO

American Diabetes Association

o   Royce Keilers, DO

American Medical Association

·         Relative Value Update Committee (RUC)

o   David Hitzeman, DO, Delegate

o   Robert Stomel, DO, Alternate Delegate

o   Joseph Schlecht, DO, Advisor

·         Commission to End Health Care Disparities

o   Hector Lopez, DO

·         Correct Coding Initiative Advisor

o   Boyd Buser, DO

·         CPT Editorial Panel

o   Boyd Buser, DO

·         CPT Advisory Panel

o   Judith A. O’Connell, DO

·         Medical Home Workgroup

o   David Hitzeman, DO

·         National Task Force for CME Provider/Industry Collaboration

o   Diane Burkhart, PhD

·         Physician Consortium for Performance Evaluation

o   Richard J. Snow, DO, MPH

American Society of Nephrology

·         Chronic Kidney Disease Committee

o   Nelson P. Kopyt, DO

Why are there oppositions to the proposed MD school at UNTHSC?

1)      The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is where the greatest number of Texas’ first-year students come from, according to the Texas Health Care Policy Council.[1] (p. 19)

                                I.      UT Southwestern and TCOM are increasing their classes to 230 students per year. The total of first-year and thus future medical graduates will be 460 per year. There are only two institutions in Fort Worth, Medical Plaza Center and John Peter Smith Hospital, which offer residency programs (only about 70 first-year slots), while UT-Southwestern Medical Center Dallas at Dallas Methodist supports about 350 entry-level residency positions. There is still a deficit of 40 entry-level residency slots.

                             II.      It seems obvious that, to address Tarrant County’s future needs for physicians, priority should be given to developing new residency opportunities, not to increasing medical school graduates. UNT’s push for another 100 medical students per class on its Fort Worth campus is not only poor planning and misplaced effort, but it will divert taxpayer monies from areas of real need in the state.

                           III.      UNT’s second medical school, with its 100 additional medical students, would create the largest medical school conglomerate in Texas in a region of Texas that has the least need. Fort Worth would be graduating a combined 330 students annually in a city with grossly inadequate residencies and therefore nominal opportunity for those graduates.

2) The UNTMD business plan estimates the start-up cost is only $21.5 million and it has garnered $25 million in pledges from the community to sustain the school free of charge to the state for the first five years (2011-2015).

              I.      History has shown that studies’ cost projections are always wrong or overly optimistic.  Therefore, it is wise to err on the side of the real facts and costs of recently established medical schools in Texas and across the nation.

• The Foster School of Medicine in El Paso cost $100 million to the state in addition to a donation of $50 million.
• Seton Health System and UT Southwestern plan to invest $1.5 billion to establish a medical school and center in Austin.
• UT South Texas Medical School, approved by the legislature in 2009, won’t receive funding from the legislature until 2015.  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) estimates the cost to be $98 million.
• THECB estimated in 2008 that the start-up cost (e.g., administrative and faculty costs) for a new medical school of 60 students per class is $92.6 million, without including the cost of a 160,000 square-foot building.
• Across the nation, the average cost of a new medical school is $100-150 million.[2]

           II.      UNTMD plans to admit the first class in 2013 and plans, during its first five years, to waive the formula funding that is typically provided by the state. This means that the UNTMD plan calls for waiving $30 million from the state, while the pledges only amount to $25 million.

3) The majority of DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) physicians in Texas and across the nation are opposed to the current proposed MD school on the UNTHSC campus because it is financially unfeasible and will destroy the one of the best osteopathic institutions in the nation.

• The Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM) obtained its founding charter in 1966 and started as a private institution.  From its humble beginning in 1970, it graduated its first class in 1974 and became a state-sponsored medical school in 1975. TCOM has grown into the present-day UNTHSC by legislative act in 2001.  TCOM’s status is reflected in the Texas Education Code, Sec. 105.402., which recognizes and protects the osteopathic heritage and identity of the institution by specifically prohibiting the UNT Board of Regents from awarding an MD degree.  In addition, the president of the UNTHSC has to be a DO.

• TCOM has been the cornerstone of UNTHSC by providing its resources to starting up the new colleges: the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the School of Public Health, and the School of Health Professions.

4) DO physicians are opposed to the establishment of an MD program at UNTHSC in part because the integrity, the process and the real motives of the MD initiative study group, which was set up at the end of 2008, are questionable.

• In 2006, Dr. Scott Ransom was hired to take over the reins of UNTHSC upon the retirement of the president, Ronald Blanck, a former 3-star general and Surgeon General of the Army. Dr. Ransom has been offered the most generous salary ($904,562 per year) that a medical educator/president receives relative to the size of each institution’s operating budget. In a recent letter, Dr. Ransom recognized that the MD School initiative started around 2006 and not in 2008.

• The most accomplished Dean Hahn was forced to resign, administrative leadership positions were replaced and inflated from 29 to 42 positions, and the institution experienced an unprecedented exodus of its most experienced and senior faculty members.

• The composition of the MD study group was biased and the outcome of the study was predetermined.

5) Dr. Ransom, a DO himself, keeps arguing that TCOM has been effective in producing primary-care physicians and that an MD school is needed to produce more specialists and researchers. This condition of bias and prejudice against DOs is unfounded and groundless as TCOM graduates have been going into any specialty and subspecialty that existed in medicine. Certainly that DO brand name is less well-known as DOs represent only 7 percent of the physician workforce. However, the osteopathic profession has experienced exponential growth over the past three decades, and today 20% of US medical students are DO students.

• What is a DO? In simplistic words, DO= MD + DC (Doctor of Chiropractic).  Osteopathic medicine includes the rigorous medical curriculum and the manual medicine component that inspired the chiropractic profession.

6) The claim that an MD school at UNTHSC campus provides unique opportunity for DO and MD students to be trained side by side.

• DO and MD students/graduates have already been training side by side for years. Two-thirds of DO graduates are doing “MD” residencies/ ACGME accredited residencies.
• TCOM students are being taught by some MDs and doing core clerkships along with UT Southwestern medical students at John Peter Smith Hospital, Texas A&M medical students at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Driscoll Hospital and Spohn Memorial in Corpus Christi, and UT Health Science Center in Tyler.

Texas is facing a $27 billion budget shortfall—the worst in its history.  Investing taxpayers’ money to produce more medical students and then exporting them to other states is not sound public policy. Currently, the medical student enrollment increases are on track with the recommendations offered by AAMC; this is expected to continue until 2017. Medical student enrollment has already outpaced the residency slots (graduate medical education/GME).

The THECB will make a thorough review of the projected physician need in 2015 and determine whether additional enrollment increases are necessary.

Therefore, it is unconscionable for Texas to approve another medical school in Fort Worth when there is such dire need in South Texas. The priority of addressing the physician shortage is to increase GME opportunity. In 2010, Texas GME is already deficient by 154 entry-level residency slots compared to the recommendation offered by the THECB, which advises keeping GME levels 10% above the medical student graduation levels. It is projected that Texas medical school first-year enrollments will reach about 1,700 by 2012 and 1,800 by 2015.[3] (p. 26); an addition of 590 entry-level residency slots is needed to close the GME gap by 2015.

Perhaps the best use of the $25 million in pledges created by this fervor to establish another medical school in Fort Worth would be to develop 125 additional residency slots in Fort Worth- area hospitals. That seems a more sensible and cost-effective strategy for responding to the rumored physician shortages in Tarrant County. If the local community wants an MD school, let’s encourage them to start a private medical school and invest the real money, like $1.5 billion in Austin. On a side note, Tarrant County, the county in which Fort Worth is located, has 1.7 million residents, 3 times the population size of El Paso, and has only pledged $25 million for a new school in contrast to a single philanthropic donation of $50 million in El Paso.

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[1] Ibid.

[2] O’Reilly, Kevin.  “New medical schools open, but physician shortage concerns persist.”  American Medical News, March 29, 2010.  Accessed December 26, 2010.  URL: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/03/29/prl20329.htm.

[3] Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.  “Projecting the Need for Medical Education in Texas:  A Report to the Texas Legislature (October 2008).  Accessed December 26, 2010.  URL:  http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1643.PDF?CFID=10928778&CFTOKEN=21179050.