Annual meeting highlights

Saturday, November 01, 2014 12:38 PM

CMS sets policy, elects new leaders and presents awards

by Kate Alfano, CMS contributing writer

Every year the Colorado Medical Society convenes its House of Delegates to validate and set policy for the upcoming year, elect new leaders, attend educational sessions and honor those individuals both in and out of the society deserving of praise.

Although too lengthy to publish here, all CMS members are encouraged to visit the CMS website at www.cms.org to review the policy decisions made at the annual meeting. What follows is a summary of the rest of the meeting.

Michael Volz, MD, addresses the House of Delegates after being elected 2014-2015 president-elect. He will assume the office of president in September 2015.

CMS election results: Members select, install new leaders
First and foremost, Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD, was installed as the 2014-2015 Colorado Medical Society president during the 2014 Annual Meeting in Vail on Saturday, Sept. 20. At age 37, he is the youngest president in the organization’s history as well as the organization’s first black president.

Osbourne-Roberts is a board-certified family medicine physician who lives in Denver. He is a founding member of the hospitalist service at Mount San Rafael Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Trinidad, Colo., through Innova Emergency Medical Associates.

He serves as a board member of CMS, the Denver Medical Society, the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians and the Colorado Hospital Association. He is also a member of the Physician Advisory Committee on LGBT Health Disparities and an inaugural member of the CMS Health Disparities Committee/Diversified Physicians Section. He served as chair of the CMS Membership, Unity and Relevance Task Force and as chair and founder of the CMS Residents and Fellows Section.

On the national level, Osbourne-Roberts is an alternate delegate to the American Medical Association House of Delegates representing CMS. He also served as alternate delegate and delegate to the American Academy of Family Physicians Congress of Delegates representing CAFP, as co-convener and delegate to the AAFP’s National Conference of Special Constituencies, and as member and chair of the AAFP-NCSC Reference Committee on Health of the Public and Science.

On Sunday, the House of Delegates convened for other elections. Michael Volz, MD, was elected president-elect. Volz is board certified in allergy/immunology and a native of Wisconsin. He is currently a solo-practice physician with two offices in Denver and coverage in Colby, Kan., twice per month.

He has served as the president of the Colorado Allergy and Asthma Society and the Clear Creek Valley Medical Society, the medical director for the American Association of Colorado asthma camp, and as a board member of the CCVMS Board of Trustees, the CMS Board of Directors and the Lung Association of Colorado Board of Directors.

Delegates also approved component society and section directors to the CMS Board of Directors and approved members of the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Robert Yakely, MD, was re-elected as Speaker of the House of Delegates and Brigitta Robinson, MD, was re-elected as Vice Speaker of the House. One delegate to the AMA was elected – Lee Morgan, MD, and one alternate delegate to the AMA was elected – Katie Lozano, MD. W. Gerald Rainer, MD, was re-elected to the office of CMS historian.

Congratulations to the new officers and leaders of the Colorado Medical Society.

CMS Immediate Past President John L. Bender, MD, presents the Tip of the Spear Award to Elisabeth Arenales, director of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy’s Health Care Program.

Elisabeth Arenales given Tip of the Spear Award
CMS honored Elisabeth Arenales with the Tip of the Spear Award at the 2014 Annual Meeting in Vail on Sept. 21. Elisabeth is the director of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy’s Health Care Program.

The Tip of the Spear Award is one of CMS’s special recognition awards. CMS uses these awards to recognize deserving stakeholders for their significant contributions to the medical profession and the patients of Colorado. “Tip of the spear” is a phrase coined by the special operations community. It can also refer to a person on the cutting edge or a leader in engagement. These latter meanings apply to the Colorado Medical Society’s 2014 Tip of the Spear Award winner.

Arenales carries a law degree with specialization in health care and government programs and a passion for serving the uninsured with a well-earned reputation of respect and humility. She is a tireless advocate for access to quality, affordable health care and envisions a health care system with much more transparency in pricing. She conceived the idea to create a commission to study health care costs that would have the authority to recommend solutions and not become mired in politics. She gave great thought to the structure and composition of this commission, and she and her organization conducted the policy research and drafted a bill to present to the Legislature.

Arenales approached Sen. Irene Aguilar, a Democrat, and Sen. Ellen Roberts, a Republican, with the idea for a health care cost commission and helped the senators pull together former members of the 208 commission – formally known as the Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Healthcare Reform – and legislators from both sides of the aisle to address this issue of finding bipartisan solutions to the problem. Using her knowledge of health care policy, her attention to detail and her high standing among health care experts with respected legislators, she successfully drafted SB14-187. The bill passed in the 2014 General Assembly and created the groundbreaking Commission on Affordable Health Care. She did this while also overseeing several important efforts in the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to address Medicaid coverage issues and spearheading the overall health care legislative agenda for the Colorado Center on Law and Policy.

“CMS applauds Elisabeth’s efforts to consolidate support across nearly the entire spectrum of stakeholders, led by leaders from both political parties, for the creation of this commission,” said CMS Immediate Past President John L. Bender, MD, FAAFP. “Because of her actions, Colorado will have a chance to control its own destiny; there is arguably not a more important undertaking to assure the public and economic health of Colorado than getting health care costs under control.”

The Colorado Medical Society strongly supported SB14-187 and has pledged to work in collaboration with the commission to influence how Colorado’s health care system can reduce cost and improve quality.

CMS leaders Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD, and John L. Bender, MD, center, present 50-year pins to Perry Bach, MD, left, and Herbert Jacobs, MD, right.

CMS presents 50-year pins to physicians celebrating 50th anniversary of medical school
One of the time-honored traditions of the gala is to present 50-year pins to CMS members celebrating their 50th anniversary of graduating medical school. This year’s honorees were Herbert Jacobs, MD, and Perry Bach, MD.

Outgoing CMS president and past president honored before the House of Delegates
Outgoing president John Bender, MD, FAAFP, was presented with CMS’s highest certificate of service award for his outstanding year as president and outgoing immediate past president Jan Kief, MD, was honored during the Board of Directors meeting for her many years of dedicated service to the Society including stints as Vice-speaker and Speaker of the House of Delegates, COMPAC board member, and ongoing service on the AMA delegation to name just a few.

CMS Past President Brent Keeler, MD, presents Madison Werschky with an award for her state science fair project.

Youth science fair winners recognized at annual meeting
Two Colorado State Science Fair winners were honored with cash prizes and certificates in recognition of their achievements before the House of Delegates on Sunday, Sept. 21. Each year the CMS Education Foundation presents the Colorado Medical Society Award for Excellence in the Health and Behavioral Sciences to one student from the junior high division of the science fair and one student from the senior high division. CMS invites the students and their families to the annual meeting to display their projects and receive their awards.

The junior division winner, Madison Werschky, was honored for her project, “Got Gluten?” The purpose of her project was to test meals labeled as “gluten free” at various restaurants to see if they were truly gluten free. She hypothesized that some gluten-free meals actually contain traceable amounts of gluten and found this to be true in her blinded study.

CMS board member Cory Carroll, MD, presents Jonathan Snedecker with an award for his state science fair project.

The senior division winner, Jonathan Snedecker, was honored for his project, “Are Food Additives Health Subtractives? The Drosophila in the Coal Mine.” Jonathan studied the effects of the anthropogenic food additives saccharin, aspartame, FD&C Red 40, and FD&C Yellow 5 on the health of fruit flies by tracking longevity and reproduction over three generations.

He found that Yellow 5 caused developmental issues of both the reproductive system and other systems in male fruit flies. Red 40 was toxic to both sexes of flies and caused physiological developmental issues, but not reproductive developmental issues, in male fruit flies. Saccharin was highly toxic to the fruit flies, as it acted as a hepatotoxin and as a microflora inhibitor. Aspartame was toxic to fruit flies, but it also acted as a microflora promoter.

Congratulations to these outstanding students.

Social events big hit at meeting
Besides setting and validating CMS policy and electing new officers, one of the main purposes of the annual meeting is to bring CMS members of all ages together for fun and fellowship. Medical students represented both Colorado medical schools well at the Annual Meeting, breaking records for attendance. Their participation brought a youthful vibe to the social events while also giving them an opportunity to weigh in on CMS policy and to meet possible mentors in the practicing physician community.

CMS President Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD, shows off his moves and raises money for COMPAC in a creative way at the exhibitor reception.

Friday, Sept. 19, members gathered for a Carnival-themed reception hosted by the 2014 Exhibitors. Attendees enjoyed food and drinks, live music, a photo booth and giveaways. CMS incoming president Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD, raised money for COMPAC by limbo dancing, going lower and lower the higher the donations became.

The Presidential Gala on Saturday, Sept. 21, honored Osbourne-Roberts. Keeping with the Carnival theme, stilt walkers welcomed guests to the event and traditional dancers in costume livened the dance floor.

Osbourne-Roberts took his oath of office administered by outgoing president John Bender, MD, FAAFP. Immediately following his oath of office, Osbourne-Roberts made honoring outgoing president Bender his first official act of duty. Following that, he delivered his inaugural address that focused on his inspiration to pursue medicine – his parents – while giving attendees a personal perspective on his Trinidadian heritage.

Finally, a capoeira group – a form of Brazilian martial arts that combines elements of dance, acrobatics and music – performed and taught willing participants some moves. After enjoying dinner, attendees feasted on the traditional dessert bar sponsored by COPIC and danced into the night.