( November 20, 2009 ) From the Interim Dean In my last E-News, I discussed the “Massachusetts Experiment”, a major expansion in health insurance coverage, and the attendant funding difficulties that led the major safety net hospitals to sue the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for more reimbursement. At last week’s annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in Boston, I learned more about the Massachusetts experience. The status might be characterized as “the good, the bad, and the ugly”. The good is that more than 97 percent of eligible citizens in Massachusetts now have health insurance coverage, and that a remarkable coalition of providers, advocates, insurers, business, and government continues to work together in a remarkably collaborative way. The bad is that the enhanced enrollment of patients has strained the medical system—about 40 percent of family medicine physicians and about half of general internists no longer have room for new patients! Remarkably, there has been no appreciable decrease in emergency department visits throughout the Commonwealth since the institution of health insurance reform!  Such a decrease was widely anticipated, since enhanced access to non-emergency practice settings should have been improved with increased insurance coverage. The ugly is the apparent inability of Massachusetts to control medical costs, and the resulting law suit by the safety net hospitals. This week’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine has a response of sorts from the Commonwealth regarding the costs of its near-universal coverage (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/361/21/2012 ). While the article indicates that funding “…for the safety net must be addressed head-on”, the authors then proceed to side-step the issue and fail to mention the ongoing law suit! Suffice it to say that the Massachusetts Experiment remains an ongoing one, with the final results still pending! On another note, the AAMC meeting gave us an opportunity to meet with our counterparts from the University of South Dakota. Dean Rodney Parry and his colleagues joined my UND colleagues and me for an hour of informal discussions. As you know, the University of South Dakota and the SMHS are similar in several aspects, and we explored possible synergies. Finally, I was impressed with the multiple discussions that took place at the AAMC meeting regarding health care workforce needs, especially in primary care. One aspect that struck us was the lack of an established AAMC group that is focused on primary care issues. Accordingly, Dr. Gwen Halaas, associate dean of academic and faculty affairs, and I have written to the President of the AAMC (Dr. Darrell Kirsh) and have recommended the formation of a Group on Primary Care. I’ll let you know what develops.   Faculty Assembly Holiday Luncheon Doctoral examination set for David Lo Anatomy and Cell Biology Seminar Series Library of the Health Sciences hours for the Thanksgiving week end North Dakota Medicine is Going Green University Letter Faculty Assembly Event Date(s): November 24, 2009 Event Time: 4:00 - 6:00 pm Event Location: United Hospital Auditorium Please come join us at the 2009 Annual Faculty Assembly meeting.  We will be discussing the following agenda items: The State of the School Fiscal Year 09 Financial Report Faculty Recruitment Policy on Policy Posting of Minutes Discussion of posted Departmental Reports (reports can be found at: http://www.med.und.nodak.edu/facultyaffairs/meetings.cfm) This will be broadcast live via video conference to outlying sites as well as a live webcast at: http://www.med.und.nodak.edu/webcasts/ Hope to see you there.     [ top ] Holiday Luncheon Event Date(s): Tuesday, December 1, 2009 Event Time: 11:30 - 1:00 Event Location: Vennes Atrium The Office of the Dean will sponsor a holiday luncheon for the faculty, staff and students of the School of Medicine & Health Sciences on Tuesday, December 1, from 11:30-1:00 in the Vennes Atrium.  Please join the festivities and enjoy a special meal! [ top ] Doctoral examination set for David Lo The final examination for David Lo, a candidate for the Ph.D. degree with a major in Anatomy and Cell Biology, is set for 1 p.m., November 24, in room B710, School of Medicine & Health Sciences. The dissertation title is "Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor and its Signal Transduction in the Rat Hypothalamo-Neurohypophysial System." John A. Watt, Ph.D. is the committee chair. The public is invited to attend. [ top ] Anatomy and Cell Biology Seminar Series Edward Sauter, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research at UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, will present a seminar on Monday, November 23, 2009, at 12:00 p.m., in the School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Room 5510. The seminar is entitled “Prevention and Early Detection Breast Cancer Research.” All are welcome to attend. [ top ] Library of the Health Sciences hours for the Thanksgiving week end The Library of the Health Sciences hours over the Thanksgiving week end are as follows: Thursday, November 26 - Closed; Friday, November 27 - 8:00 am - 5:00 pm; Saturday, November 28 - 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Sunday, November 29 - 1:00 pm - 12:00 am (midnight).  [ top ] North Dakota Medicine is Going Green If you would like to receive the North Dakota Medicine by email please visit www.ndmedicine.org/subscribe.cfm. Once registered you will start receiving each new issue electronically. Submitted by the Office of Public Affaris [ top ] University Letter University Letter, published on Tuesdays, is distributed electronically to the University community and is always available online. For more information, contact Jan Orvik, editor, janorvik@mail.und.edu, (701) 777-3621. [ top ]