MGMA Awards Spotlight Excellence In Medical Practice Management

MGMA will present its annual awards to medical practice executives, a physician executive and a healthcare organization that made outstanding contributions to the profession at the MGMA 2014 Annual Conference, Oct. 26-29 in Las Vegas. The awards will be presented to the following recipients:

Harry J. Harwick Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by The Hartford
Ron Menaker, EdD, FACMPE, administrator, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

The Harry J. Harwick Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest recognition bestowed by MGMA. It goes to an individual who has made nationally recognized contributions to healthcare administration, delivery and/or education in his or her career, advancing the field of medical practice management.

An MGMA member since 1985, Menaker has worked in medical practice management for three decades. He began work at the Mayo Clinic in 2004 and is responsible for managing staff and aligning strategic and organizational initiatives, with a focus on the needs of the patient as the primary value. Menaker also develops and presents education for medical practice administrators and executives on effective leadership in healthcare organizations. He has been a participating adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas Health Care MBA Program since 1993.

Menaker will present “Leadership Strategies for Achieving Personal and Professional Success” at the MGMA 2014 Annual Conference, Oct. 27 in Las Vegas, sharing insight on becoming more effective in addressing the personal and professional challenges of leadership, improving working relationships to optimize the performance of teams, and enhancing team performance to achieve excellence and organizational vision.

Fred Graham Award for Innovation in Improving Community Health
Mercy Hospice Pet Peace of Mind Program, Mercy Health System, Janesville, Wis.

MGMA bestows the Fred Graham Award on a healthcare organization that has developed activities and solutions to advance the effectiveness of healthcare delivery and improve community health.

The Mercy Hospice Pet Peace of Mind Program’s focus is to preserve the relationship between the patient and his or her pet in the midst of coping with a hospice diagnosis, and is the only program of its kind in Wisconsin and Illinois. The program allows volunteers, directed by the volunteer coordinator, to manage the pet’s care. This includes walking and bathing pets, as well as providing financial assistance with pet food or medication, boarding or pet sitting if a patient is hospitalized or transferred to a facility, and providing placement for pets after a patient’s death.

Two representatives from Mercy Hospice Pet Peace of Mind Program will present “How the Fred Graham Innovation Award Winner Did It!” at the MGMA 2014 Annual Conference, Oct. 29 in Las Vegas, and will discuss the project from development through implementation and share outcomes.

Medical Practice Executive of the Year Award
Ilene Gilbert-Droge, FACMPE, EFPM, MA, chief operations officer, First Physicians Group of Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System, Fla.

This award recognizes a medical group practice executive who has demonstrated a noteworthy achievement of exceptional leadership and management proficiency to enhance strategic and operational effectiveness of healthcare delivery in his or her practice and community within the last three years.

Since joining First Physicians Group of Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System in 2010, Gilbert-Droge has increased system revenue, opened three new primary care offices, strengthened the system’s medical hospitalist program, enhanced its cardiac service program, helped the system obtain NCQA Patient-Centered Home Level III recognition, and redesigned various physician compensation plans. She also implemented the system’s EHR and new practice management system, resulting in improved front-end processes and revenue capture.

Physician Executive of the Year Award
Toby Sadkin, MD, executive committee chair and Vermont managing partner, Primary Care Health Partners, Williston, Vt.

This award recognizes a physician executive in a medical group practice who has exhibited outstanding leadership to achieve exceptional medical group performance in the delivery of healthcare in his or her practice and community through personal example and collaborative team management.

Sadkin oversees the operations and finances of Primary Care Health Partners (PCHP), the largest physician-owned primary care group in Vermont with additional locations in New York. She was involved in the development of an organizational model that preserved local office ownership of primary care offices with shared ownership of critical management services organization (MSO) services. She has led innovation in information technology systems, such as the implementation of an EHR years before federal mandates, and prepared PCHP ahead of the Meaningful Use requirements, with the early adoption of a patient portal. Under Sadkin’s leadership, PCHP formed a sister company, Northeast Medical Practice Management, which provides consulting services to other independent practitioners and small group practices. Along with serving as physician manager, executive committee chair and managing partner of PCHPs’ Vermont offices, Sadkin has a full-time family medicine practice.

Legislative Liaison of the Year Award
LeAnn Paulsen, CMPE, manager, Mercy Clinics, Mercy Surgical Affiliates, Des Moines, Iowa

This award recognizes a medical practice professional who has provided outstanding leadership in advocacy.

Paulsen has worked diligently to help MGMA advance federal advocacy priorities such as reforming the Medicare payment system. Additionally, Paulsen has led Iowa MGMA’s (IMGMA’s) legislative efforts and spearheaded IMGMA Lobby Day at the Iowa State Capital. She has testified on behalf of IMGMA at House/Senate subcommittees, and helped lead the charge to reform Medicaid reimbursement for translation and interpretive services, which implemented an administrative rule setting a fee for translation and interpretation services.

Edward B. Stevens Article of the Year Award
Amy Poplin Dunatov, MPH, FACMPE, CCS-P, ICDCT-CM, director of coding services, Management Services On Call Inc. Raleigh, N.C.; Ana Benitez-Graham, MD, Central Carolina Skin & Dermatology Center, Mebane, N.C.; Eulices Lopez, director, Central Carolina Skin & Dermatology Center, Mebane, N.C.; and Jim Wagner, MBA, LSSBB

This award recognizes a medical practice professional or professionals who have made a substantial contribution to the body of published literature to foster more effective and efficient healthcare delivery in the field of medical practice management.

This year’s winners authored A Path to Success, which was published in the August 2013 issue of MGMA Connection magazine.

About MGMA
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) helps create successful medical practices that deliver the highest-quality patient care. As the leading association for medical practice administrators and executives since 1926, MGMA helps improve members’ practices through exclusive member benefits, education, resources, news, information, advocacy, and networking opportunities, and produces some of the most credible and robust medical practice economic data and data solutions in the industry. MGMA advances the profession of medical practice management with its industry-leading board certification and Fellowship programs through the American College of Medical Practice Executives.