Federal Government Increases Loan Repayment Program for Physicians
As part of health care reform, the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) is increasing its number of loan repayment awards in return for service in an underserved community. Primary care professionals who have completed their training are eligible to receive up to $145,000 in loan repayment for completing a five-year service committment, whith an initial reward of $50,000 for two years of service.
Application deadline is July 20. For more information, click here
6/29 Conference Call: Health Care Home Contracting with Health Plans
Minnesota state law provides for health care home contracting with primary care clinics beginning July 1, 2010. Here are the preliminary plans from select health plans working with government programs as to how they will implement contracting.
Legislators Address Pediatricians at MN-AAP's Annual Meeting
About 140 members, pediatricians and health care professionals attended MN-AAP's annual dinner on Friday, June 4, 2010 to hear Senator Amy Klobuchar and three of the major candidates for governor speak about health care reform and its impact on children, teens and young adults.
Senator Amy Klobuchar and Gubernatorial Candidates to Speak at
June 4 Annual Meeting!
It's not too late! If you haven't already registered, please do so now and reserve your seat to hear from Minnesota's senator and next governor!
Senator Amy Klobuchar is planning to speak about health care reform and how it will impact children, teens and young adults. Afterward, Minnesota's major gubernatorial candidates Tom Emmer, Tom Horner, Matt Entenza and Margaret Anderson Kelliher will be discussing their views on health care and how the policies they support would affect children, teenagers and young adults.
All four candidates for governor have confirmed their participation on the panel and will accept pre-submitted questions from MN-AAP members as well as questions from attendees. The panel will be one hour long and moderated by Sara Noznesky, lobbyist for Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota. In addition, MN-AAP will be presenting the Distinguished Service Award to Blanton Bessinger, MD and the Child Advocacy Award to John Hurley of the Minnesota Department of Health.
Finally, MN-AAP will be receiving the award for 2010 Outstanding Large Chapter of the Year from AAP and will conclude the evening by voting in our newest board members.
Plan to network with fellow members and friends. It will be an evening you won't want to miss!
Friday, June 4th, 2010
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Hilton in Bloomington (Mpls/St. Paul Airport)
3800 American Boulevard East
Bloomington, MN 55425 Directions
$60 per member or guest
$15 per resident or guest
6:00 - 7:15 p.m. Reception, Exhibits and Networking
7:15 - 7:45 p.m. Dinner and Speech from Senator Amy Klobuchar
7:45 - 9:00 p.m. Panel of 2010 Minnesota Gubernatorial Candidates, Vote Results, Presentation of awards
May 2010:
MN-AAP Selected as Outstanding Large Chapter of the Year!
The Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
(MN-AAP) is pleased to announce that it has been selected as Outstanding Large Chapter of the Year by AAP.
MN-AAP is recognized for taking a visible leadership role in health care reform by supporting the adoption of health care homes for children in Minnesota, promoting newborn screening, improving pediatric oral health and raising awareness of autism, particularly within the Somali community. In addition, the Chapter partnered to advance state legislation of mandatory booster seats last year.
This is the first time the MN-AAP been selected by national AAP as Outstanding Large Chapter.
Featuring updates on oral health, pediatric obesity, rural health, etc.
Legislative Update
Click here to read the latest information from the Capitol (updated 5/21/10)
MN-AAP President Anne Edwards, MD, Receives Award from Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians
Anne Edwards, M.D., a pediatrician at Park Nicollet-Brookdale in Brooklyn Center, was presented with the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians’ (MAFP) President’s Award at the MAFP All-Member Celebration on April 15, 2010.
The President’s Award is given by the MAFP president to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the specialty of family medicine and the Academy.
Dr. Edwards is the 2009-2010 president of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She was selected because of her accomplishments that have affected family physicians and their patients including providing leadership in a dentist/physician working group to address oral health and her work on a jointly funded Health Care Home Capacity Assessment research project.
Every vote counts! The ballots are in the mail to vote in new board members and change the bylaws. Thanks in advance for your input. Not a fan of snail mail? Click here to vote online!
After meeting with her legislators on March 3 for Peds Day at the Capitol, Dr. Emily Borman-Shoap was invited to appear on her Senator's cable show to discuss children's health care coverage, access to mental health services for kids, healthy lifestyle choices, general parenting tips and other topics.
Dr. Borman-Shoap is a pediatrician at Fairview Children's Clinic and associate program director of the pediatric residency program at the University of Minnesota.
The show played on Saturday, April 10 at 4:30 p.m. on Suburban Community Channels 15 & 16 (North Saint Paul and surrounding areas).
Call for Nominees: 2010 AAP News Editorial Board
Due 4-2-10
MN DHS Request for Proposal for Pediatric Primary Care Depression Screening
The Minnesota Department of Human Services-Children’s Mental Health Division is seeking proposals from primary care clinics to develop an integrated system of pediatric depression care management between primary care and mental health providers. It wll focus on patients 6-17 years of age.
The AAP Board of Directors is soliciting nominations to fill 28 AAP National Committee member vacancies for terms beginning July 1, 2010. For more information, please visit the AAP Member Center at: http://www.aap.org/moc/commnoms.htm
Deadline for nominations is March 1, 2010.
Please contact cairns@mnaap.org with any questions.
AAP has joined the White House to Address Childhood Obesity
This link has a number of resources, including the template Rx for healthy living in English and Spanish.
Changes in School Immunization Law Related to Varicella Disease
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is asking for your help in implementing a change in how varicella disease history is reported under the school immunization law. More information
Many of the children in Haiti have been separated from their families and caregivers. As a result, they are at increased risks for malnutrition and disease, trafficking, sexual exploitation and emotional trauma.
You can help by making a donation. Below are some suggestions.
Midwest Dairy and the Minnesota Vikings have teamed up to tackle childhood obesity in Minnesota with this program by inspiring kids to eat healthy and play for 60 minutes a day. If you are interested in partnering with a local school on this project, please contact cairns@mnaap.org for more information.
The Annual Meeting and Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the MN AAP was Awesome!!
On June 11th, 2009, the MN AAP Celebrated its 75th Anniversary at the University Club of St. Paul. There were updates from our esteemed President, Dr. Anne Edwards, and our witty District Representative, Dr. Michael Severson. Dr. Megan Jennings, the Chair of the Advocacy Committee, delivered the emotional highpoint of the evening when she awarded Brynn Duncan and her family with the Child Advocacy Award for their work in the passage of the Minnesota Booster Seat legislation. Our guest speaker Senator David Durenberger then discussed "The Future of Health Care." The highest honor from the MN AAP – the Distinguished Service Award - was presented to Dr. Ted Thompson for his outstanding career! Finally, I was surprised and honored when Dr. Edwards presented me with the Special Achievement Award from the national AAP for my work with this website. – Gordy
Annual Meeting was Huge Success
The Minnesota Chapter's Annual Meeting was held Friday June 13th at the Depot in Minneapolis. Amos Dienard was awarded the chapter's most prestigious award, The Distinguished Service Award. Mary Pat Lee and Carla Ellis accepted the Child Advocacy Award on behalf of The Minneapolis Crisis Nursery. Art Rolnick gave the Keynote address on the high financial return for investment in early childhood education and what's being done about this in Minnesota. Laura Hoyt was very kind. Check out the evening.
Healthy Development through Primary Care - January 15, 2009
"Healthy Development through Primary Care," says Meredith Martinez from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, "is an initiative to help providers implement standardized screening tools to assess for child development and maternal depression." The initial learning collaborative for the project was November of 2007. Those involved in the collaborative regrouped on 1/15/09 to review their success. The involved clinics - pediatricians, nurses, administrators, as well as representatives from MDHS and the state AAP - discussed the surprises and barriers to initiating developmental screening, issues regarding referrals, and issues involving billing and reimbursement for screening. Susan Castellano, also from MDHS, was proud to state that this was the first project from the Minnesota Child Health Improvement Partnership (MCHIP). She also presented the data on referral rates and parental response surveys. The teams present also discussed ways to expand developmental screening throughout the state of Minnesota. Meredith also mentioned that it will soon be possible to bill for maternal depression screening during the infant well child visit. Of note, teams from Park Nicollet Creekside and Duluth Children's were recognized for their thorough data collection. Anne Edwards stated that this was the first of hopefully many such quality improvement projects.
Don't forget to check out the photos from the event!
Medical Home Learning Collaborative meeting January 15-16, 2009
The 21 teams from through Minnesota (with one from North Dakota!) met in Plymouth to share ideas and discuss patient and family centered care. Guest speakers included Bev Johnson, President and CEO of the Institute of Family Centered Care in Bethesda, Maryland (www.familycenteredcare.org); she reviewed the history of patient and family centered care as well as what was currently happening throughout the country in patient and family centered care. Also speaking was Dr. Bill Schwab, who discussed the powerful tool of Medical Home as a standard of care for patients and families. He entertainingly taught us how to best collaborate with patients and families in clinical practice. On Thursday evening, the teams had a chance to share their ideas by reviewing each other's storyboards. In discussing the format of the Learning Collaborative, guest observer, Dr. David Hutchinson, President of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians noted, "I'm hearing that the whole package is essential: the national experts as speakers, the involvement of parent/patient partners, the emphasis on Care Coordination and Care Coordinators, the networking and sharing of ideas, the committed time for the physician to be away from practice and focus on Medical Home, the teaching of Jane Taylor on quality improvement…It's all necessary!"
Be sure to check out John Hurley's charming smile and Carolyn Allshouse's bashfulness in our photos from the event.
Medical Home Learning Collaborative meeting May 7-8, 2009
May 7 & 8th was the last Medical Home Learning Collaborative in its current form. The afternoon of May 7th was spent with Ross Owen, Muree Larson-Bright and Marie Maes-Voreis from the MN Dept of Human Services and the Dept of Health. They discussed the requirements for reimbursement for care coordination. That evening Sarah Thorson and Carolyn Allshouse were recognized for their pivotal roles in making the learning collaborative a reality. The evening was topped by a surprise visit from Marylin Monroe!
The morning of May 8th we discussed the issues facing Medical Home teams in Minnesota, and later we presented what we've done as individual teams thus far. We spent the afternoon planning for the future - how to maintain momentum and spread Medical Home. A very special thanks to John Hurley, Jane Taylor, Jeff Schiff, Sarah Thorson, and, of course, Carolyn Allshouse for all that they've done for Medical Home in the state of Minnesota!!
Dr. Jenkins and Ms. Peet also appeared in a news segment about vaccines on Good Morning America Aug. 5. See the video here.
Are you up to date on your vaccines? While the majority of immunizations target infants and children under age 6, getting immunized is a lifelong effort and an important part of staying healthy and protecting yourself from life-threatening infections. Particular vaccines and booster shots are recommended for children, adolescents, adults and seniors.
August, National Immunization Awareness Month, is a perfect time to check your family’s immunization status.
September 4, 2008
AAP Statement on ECGs in ADHD/Stimulants
The American Academy of Pediatrics has responded to the American Heart Association's recent recommendation that children taking stimulant medications for ADHD receive an ECG. The Academy does not recommend screening ECGs unless the patient's history, family history or the physical examination raises concerns. The full statement can be read on the AAP Web site along with background material.
Senator Amy Klobuchar and Gubernatorial Candidates to Speak at
June 4 Annual Meeting!
MN-AAP Selected as Outstanding Large Chapter of the Year!
MN-AAP is recognized for taking a visible leadership role in health care reform by supporting the adoption of health care homes for children in Minnesota, promoting newborn screening, improving pediatric oral health and raising awareness of autism, particularly within the Somali community. In addition, the Chapter partnered to advance state legislation of mandatory booster seats last year. 
Anne Edwards, M.D., a pediatrician at Park Nicollet-Brookdale in Brooklyn Center, was presented with the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians’ (MAFP) President’s Award at the MAFP All-Member Celebration on April 15, 2010.
After meeting with her legislators on March 3 for Peds Day at the Capitol, Dr. Emily Borman-Shoap was invited to appear on her Senator's cable show to discuss children's health care coverage, access to mental health services for kids, healthy lifestyle choices, general parenting tips and other topics.