The National Medical Association Opens Annual Meeting in Honolulu

Market Wire, August, 2007

The National Medical Association (NMA), the nation's premier membership organization for African American physicians, opened its Annual Convention and Scientific Assembly in Honolulu on Saturday, August 4, 2007. The theme of this year's convention, Collaboration of Health Professionals at the Point of Practice, emphasizes the collaborative roles of physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners. NMA expects over four thousand members and guests to attend this year's event.

One of the main topics for discussion on the opening day was Pay for Performance (P4P), the emerging movement in health insurance in which providers are rewarded for quality of healthcare services. Under P4P, physicians who consistently follow evidence-based guidelines for clinical care can receive bonus payments through self reporting of their compliance with quality of care standards.

In the Edward C. Mazique Symposium, physicians discussed how they can influence the development of nationally accepted quality measures under P4P. Key issues addressed included who should determine what the guidelines are and how performance against the guidelines should be measured. Dr. Sandra Gadson, a practicing nephrologist from Gary, Indiana and Immediate Past President of the NMA, informed the symposium audience that the NMA is interested in developing a demonstration project to collect data on minority patients that could later lead to quality measures that are more reflective of minority patients. Dr. Gadson chairs an NMA Task Force on P4P that will take the lead in designing the project.

The second key event for the convention's opening day was the awards ceremony that honored among others, Dr. LaSalle D. Laffall, Jr., the world-renowned cancer expert, with the NMA's highest honor, the Scroll of Merit Award and Dr. Edith Irby Jones for her lifetime achievement in breaking down color barriers in education and medicine.

The convention continues through August 9th with continuing medical education sessions in various tracks. On Monday, Dr. Chiyome Leinaala Fukino, the Director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, will participate in a panel discussion of public health lessons learned from the Hawaii earthquake. On Wednesday, General Carla Hawley-Bowland, M.D., will be the guest speaker at the Aerospace and Military Medicine Section Annual Leonard Johnson, M.D. Memorial Luncheon and Lecture. Gen. Hawley-Bowland will address women's health in the combat zone. Another seminar will be Breast Cancer Distinctions in Incidence and Outcome for Minority Women conducted by Mark Clanton, M.D., M.P.H.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO ARRANGE INTERVIEWS CONTACT:

Alisa Mosley at 240-350-7531 or Margo Williams at 313-618-3168

For further information contact: Alisa Mosley 240-350-7531 Margo Williams 313-618-3168