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In this Issue:
- From Your Governor
- Going for Gold
- Keep your finger on ACP's Pulse….
- “The Best Meeting of the Year”
- 2018 Poster Winners
- Health & Public Policy Update
- A Student's Perspective
- A Special Thank You
- Chapter Excellence Award 2018
- SD ACP 2019 Calendar of Events
- New Members
- New Fellows
From Your Governor
– Matt N. Bien, MD FACP FAAP
Greetings ACP Colleagues,
This newsletter shares the latest on your chapter's activities and accomplishments. Please take a few minutes to review. From scientific meeting updates to advocacy efforts, national policy to educational opportunities, there is much to share.
As I complete my final months as Governor of the South Dakota Chapter, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to the many members and dedicated players who make this organization great. Kris Rahm, our Executive Director for almost 20 years. I can't thank her enough for her commitment to the ACP and her guidance and patience during my tenure. Rob Allison, former Chair of Health and Public Policy and now Governor-elect. His passion for medicine and keen interest in advocacy has been an asset. I leave the Governorship in capable hands. The SD ACP Governor's Advisory Council. Their diverse perspectives and input of time and talent have created sound policy and moved this organization forward. And finally, to you, Members of the SD ACP. It is your ACP and you have been willing to serve as mentors, speakers, teachers, moderators, and volunteers. Thank you all.
In the year ahead, I challenge you to stay engaged. Maintain your membership in the ACP, invite colleagues to join, volunteer for a position, present at a chapter workshop or conference, advocate when called upon, and share your time and wisdom with students and residents.
It has truly been an honor and privilege to serve as Governor. I look forward to continued involvement in the chapter and expect great things from our organization in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Going for Gold
– Rob Allison, MD MACP, Governor-Elect
Despite being active in the ACP for over 20 years I continue to be surprised by all the work involved in keeping a chapter running. I have a new appreciation for the brilliant work Governor Matt Bien and our Executive Director Kris Rahm have done over the last 4 years to maintain and actually grow our chapter. I have been sitting in on meetings during my Governor-Elect year and have learned a lot. Our National representative, Jason, sends us updates on our progress and relays the outstanding work we have done to grow membership in a small rural state.
We continue to craft a well-balanced annual meeting, despite our broad membership interests and issues with budget. Historically we have found ways to educate ourselves at the highest level with our annual meeting, this year inviting our Nebraska brethren to join us in Deadwood in October of 2019.
Our community of “Gladiators” has continued to be willing to advocate for our patients and fellow physicians when called upon for state or national advocacy issues. We have continued to achieve national honors and place our physicians in places of prestige and distinction. And we have become a more diverse and integrated community, strengthening our connection with outpatient clinicians, inpatient hospitalists, and our academic partners. We truly are a blessed group of internists.
So, what is my first request as Governor to our members when I take over in April 2018? I want our chapter to go for the Gold!
ACP National has created standardized criteria for Chapter Excellence in an attempt to bring out the best in all our members. National uses these criteria to pay back funds to the chapters that perform the best and this makes a huge difference in our small chapter budget. Matt, Kris and I have been reviewing all the things we do currently and have documented the work that our members do as well. The answer: we easily qualify for Bronze and with little effort can make Silver status.
So, what will it take for the South Dakota Chapter of the ACP to “Go for the GOLD?” Kris, Matt and I think, not much, but be ready for us to ask for help. We need state-wide member engagement to be successful. We can only ask so much of our small executive committee and also want to get more people involved who have the energy and skill sets to bring our small chapter to the top of the ACP chapter performers. If you have the time and energy to help out give Kris Rahm or me a call.
Keep your finger on ACP's Pulse….
- Follow SD ACP on Twitter - @SD_ACP
- South Dakota Chapter Website
- National ACP Website
- Bob Doherty's Advocacy Blog
“The Best Meeting of the Year”
– Josh Henderson, DO, Program Chair
South Dakota ACP will join with our southern neighbors in Nebraska for our annual chapter meetings at The Lodge in Deadwood in the beautiful Black Hills on October 2-4, 2019.
SD ACP Chapter Governor Matt Bien, Governor-Elect Rob Allison, Josh Henderson and Fatima Kidwai are working with our Nebraska colleagues to organize a meeting that is sure to be highly educational plus a great chance to share collegiality with our NE counterparts.
The two state chapters have met together in the past and anticipate a variety of topics (15) including expert presentations, Small Feedings of the Mind formats, and case presentations. There will also be a Doctor's Dilemma medical trivia game with Jeopardy-style format that has shown to be both educational and fun.
The Black Hills will serve as the destination to this year's meeting with beautiful fall foliage showing off its brilliant yellows of turning aspens against the backdrop of lush green forests. The meetings will take place at The Lodge in Deadwood, SD which is a popular vacation destination with numerous popular attractions in the region.
Deadwood is a historical town that offers entertainment with many popular musical artists performing there regularly. Make a weekend of the trip and see Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, or take a hike to the summit of the highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains. Nearby Lead is home to the former Homestake Gold Mine and now Sanford Laboratory that offers impressive tours explaining the areas rich mining history and its current contributions to the field of physics.
We have enjoyed working with our NE counterparts to put together what is sure to be “The Best Meeting of the Year” and hope to see you there in October.
Ultrasound Workshop
Doctor's Dilemma
Awards Banquet
2018 Poster Winners
The South Dakota ACP is proud to recognize these Poster Competition Winners. First place winners will represent South Dakota at the IM2019 Poster Competition in Philadelphia in April.
L/R: Dr. Matt Bien, SD ACP Governorwith resident winners Dr. Radowan Elnair (First Place Winner), Dr. Elliott Lawrence (Second Place Winner), and Dr. Khalid Mohamed Ahmed (Third Place Winner).
Congratulations to student winner Cory Hewitt. Cory is a 3rd year medical student training at the Rapid City campus.
Health & Public Policy Update
– Kelly Evans-Hullinger, MD FACP, Chair of HPPC
Greetings, internists! As I write this the wind-chill outside my window is -38 degrees F, and I hope everyone is psychologically surviving this cruel time of year in South Dakota. In my first year as Chair of our chapter's Health and Public Policy Committee, I am enjoying getting to know our members and look forward to another year of collaborating with you all.
The American College of Physicians continues to have a strong voice in advocacy at the national level, having worked to achieve on-going legislative attention to the opioid epidemic, reducing physician administrative burden, and Medicare payment reform in 2018. The College continues to strive to translate evidence-based medicine and public health interventions into policy, publishing five policy papers last year. You can read those papers and stay up-to-date on national efforts via the ACP website; here is a link to an infographic of 2018 advocacy efforts.
I encourage you all to consider joining the Advocates in Internal Medicine Network, (AIMn), which can help you stay in-the-know on national advocacy efforts and how you can help. Learn more about AIMn and sign up here.
At the state level, we continue to follow along with the South Dakota State Medical Association during the legislative session. Recently introduced legislation includes MOST form legislation (SB 118) and legislation regarding reimbursement of telehealth services. You can see the full SDSMA Bill Tracker and Legislative Agenda here.
The issue of Medicaid reimbursement rates to nursing homes and small community nursing home closures in our state has been well publicized recently. I encourage you to contact your state representatives, senators, and/or Governor Noem, with your personal experiences and stories on how your patients and communities have been affected by this.
Finally, ACP Leadership Day in Washington DC is scheduled for May 14th and 15th this year. If you have interest in joining our new Governor Rob Allison and me in going to learn about national advocacy efforts and meeting with our lawmakers to advocate on behalf of the ACP, please contact Kris Rahm or myself for details on how you can get involved. You can get more information on Leadership Day here.
Wishing you all a healthy and fulfilling 2019!
A Student's Perspective
– Matthew Bell, MS
The newly-formed University of South Dakota Internal Medicine Interest Group (IMIG) is excited to hit the ground running this spring with some fun and educational events for students. The IMIG now consists of over 40 student members with representation from all four medical school classes. We had a very successful EKG skills night led by the Cardiovascular fellows from Sanford Health, and we are in the process of planning our spring events.
Our first event of the spring will be an informal meeting with the incoming Pillar 2 (clinical year) medical students during their orientation week. The IMIG is a great resource for all Pillar 2 students, serving as a way to introduce students to the field but also connect them with future shadowing opportunities or mentors. During this meeting, hope to survey the Pillar 2 students for areas of interest and mold our future events off of their desires.
Also, in the works for this spring is the hope to begin hosting board review nights for each respective internal medicine subspecialty. Our board reviews will be hosted by USD upperclassman who have specific interest and experience in the respective fields. These review nights will be a combination of lecture, question and answer, as well as practice board questions that will facilitate in an active learning environment. These review nights will be designed to be broad enough so that students of all levels (Pillar 1-Pillar 3) can attend, participate, and learn.
The student leaders of the IMIG are so excited to see where this first year of existence will take us. We hope to grow the group in size and continue put on fun and educational events. If anyone has ideas or advice as to how we could better serve our members, please do not hesitate to reach out to our leadership team. Lastly, we are so thankful for the assistance and support of the South Dakota ACP; without them, this interest group would have never made it off the ground.
A Special Thank You
– Kris Rahm, Executive Director
As May 1, 2019 marks my 20th Anniversary as Executive Director for the South Dakota American College of Physicians, I wanted to thank the membership for the opportunity to work with the chapter. Not only did I have the privilege of supporting the South Dakota Chapter all those years, but during that time I also served as Executive Director for Alaska (5 yrs), Wyoming (5 yrs), Kansas (5 yrs) and Nebraska (11yrs), all the while working closely with 17 Governors, their councils and their members.
This means that at the 2019 Regional South Dakota and Nebraska Annual Chapter Scientific Meeting this coming October, I've been honored to have played a small part in helping to educate many physicians by coordinating 46 individual educational meetings. In 1999, after the SD chapter experienced quite a turn-over in staff, I recall Dr. Tom Braithwaite saying at my first council meeting “let's hope Kris stays around for a while”. Little did he know what the future would hold!
Mark Twain said, “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I say, “Find people to work with who are dedicated to excellence in their field, and time will fly by.” A special thank you to everyone in my ACP Family!
I look forward to remaining a strong advocate for ACP and it's mission!
Chapter Excellence Award 2018
ACP Regent Dr. Heather Gantzer presents 2018 Chapter Excellence Award to Dr. Matt Bien and Kris Rahm.
We are pleased to announce that the South Dakota received the 2018 Chapter Excellence Award! The award recognizes chapters which successfully meet the standards for managing a chapter. In order to achieve the Chapter Excellence Award, chapters must meet all basic criteria and ten optional criteria. Criteria include such activities as formulating an effective Governor's Council and committees, communicating frequently with membership, providing educational opportunities, recruiting and advancing members and celebrating membership through local awards. We would like to extend a special thanks to those chapter members who assisted us in all of these endeavors! For their hard work and dedication, we received this award.
SD ACP 2019 Calendar of Events
2019
| March 29 – 30 | SD ACP Council's Strategic Planning and Council Meeting | Sioux Falls, SD |
| April 8-10 | ACP Board of Governors Meeting | Philadelphia, PA |
| April 11-13 | IM2019 Meeting For registration and hotel information check, see here. | Philadelphia, PA |
| April 30 5:30 pm |
A Day In The Life of an Internist Student Meeting | Sanford Imagenetics 1321 W. 22nd St. Sioux Falls, SD |
| September 26-28 | ACP Board of Governors Meeting | Tucson, AZ |
| October 2-4 | SD ACP Scientific Meeting | Deadwood, SD |
New Members
Mohammed S S Alzoubaidi, MBBS
Asma Syed, MD,MBBS
Michael Shirley, MD
Guy Vin Chang, MD
Hadi Al-Hasnawi, MBBchB MD
Derek Kindelspire, MD
Peter J Reynen, MD
New Fellows
Willard C Hurley, MD FACP
Randall B Lamfers, MD FACP
Nate J Miller, MD FACP
Matthew D Jahraus, DO FACP
Kelly Evans Hullinger, MD FACP
Kwabena Adomako Kwakye, MD FACP
Jennifer Williamson, MBBS FACP