2017 163rd HOUSE OF DELEGATES PROCEEDINGS A SUPPLEMENT TO THE JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA PROCEEDINGS OF THE 163rd ANNUAL HOUSE OF DELEGATES OCTOBER 21-22, 2017 HYATT REGENCY SAVANNAH Editorial Note: These Minutes will be published as a supplement to the Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia. Attendance: (A detailed attendance is recorded in JMAG, 2017, Vol. 106, Issue 4) FIRST SESSION Speaker of the House of Delegates Edmund R. Donoghue, M.D., called the first session of the 163rd House of Delegates to order at 8:25 a.m. Dr. Donoghue gave instructions to the delegates on seating and internet access procedures. He reminded members to download the MAG App which contained key information for the meeting including a schedule of events, the Policy Compendium, and reports and resolutions. Dr. Donoghue introduced Father Michael Kavanaugh, pastor of Saint Peter the Apostle Church in Savannah. Father Kavanaugh gave the invocation. The Chatham County Sheriff’s Department presented the colors while Ms. Camille Russo sang the National Anthem. The assembly stood for the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag and for the pledge of the Georgia flag. The assembly paid tribute to Georgia’s first responders and to the men and women who serve in the armed forces. Introduction and Recognition Dr. Donoghue introduced those on the Dias that included: Frank McDonald, M.D., President- elect, Steve Walsh, M.D., President, Mr. Donald Palmisano, CEO, Jim Barber, M.D., Vice Speaker of the House of Delegates, Joy Maxey, M.D., Parliamentarian, Andrew Reisman, M.D., Secretary and Donna Glass, Executive Assistant. Dr. Donoghue recognized the following sponsors: MAG Mutual Insurance Company, ACG Wealth, Angel Flight Soars, Appriss Health, Caresource, Compass P.T.N., CopernicusMD, GAMPAC, Georgia Drug Card, The Georgia Health Information Network, Hanger Clinic, HealtheParadigm, Legal Shield, MAG Alliance, MAG Foundation, MAG Medical Reserve Corps, Medical College of Georgia Alumni Association, PeachState Health Plan, Privia Medical Group and SunTrust Medical Specialty Group. The assembly joined the speaker in a round of applause for the SunTrust Medical Specialty Group for sponsoring the reception on Friday evening. CopernicusMD was recognized for sponsoring the morning breakfast. The assembly joined the speaker in a warm welcome for CopernicusMD executive managing director Don O’Neill who gave a few remarks on the mission and goals of CopernicusMD. Dr. Donoghue thanked Mr. O’Neill for his remarks and for CopernicusMD’s general sponsorship. Several special guests were recognized including Stephen Imbeau, M.D., a member of AMPAC’s Board of Directors, John Reynolds, M.D., President of the North Carolina Medical Society and Richard Osman, M.D., President of the South Carolina Medical Association, Patrice Harris, M.D., Immediate Past Chairman of the AMA Board of Trustees, Georgia Representatives 2017 MAG House of Delegates October 21-22, 2017 Hyatt Regency Savannah Page 2 Stacey Abrams, Sharon Cooper, Mark Newton, M.D., Betty Price, M.D., and Bob Trammell, Georgia Senators, Kay Kirkpatrick, M.D., and Chuck Hufstetler, former HHS Secretary Tom Price, M.D., and U.S. Representatives Buddy Carter and Drew Ferguson from Georgia, Representative Neal Dunn, M.D., from Florida and Representative Roger Marshall, M.D., from Kansas. Speaker Donoghue recognized the executives and staff from county medical societies and state specialty societies. The following members were recognized to receive certificates of appreciations, they include: Steven Walsh, M.D., Frank McDonald, M.D., John A. Harvey, M.D., M.D., Steven M. Huffman, M.D., Lisa Perry-Gilkes, M.D., Rutledge Forney, M.D., Frederick C. Flandry, M.D., Evan S. Monson, Luv D. Makadia, Michael E. Greene, M.D., Thomas E. Price, M.D., Barry Straus, M.D., Michael Sharkey, M.D., John A .Goldman, M.D., Mohammed Abubaker, M.D., Joel L. Fine, M.D., Magdi Hanafi, M.D., Albert F. Johary, M.D., J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, M.D., Daniel T. McDevitt, M.D., Steven A. Muller, M.D., Alvin Sermons, M.D., Richard Wherry, M.D., Patten Smith, M.D., James Barber, M.D., Snehal Dalah, M.D., Carlos Giron, M.D., Robert Howell, M.D., Lee A. Kelley, M.D., Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, M.D., Stephen McCollam, M.D., Randy Rizor, M.D., Sudhir Athni, M.D., Anne Cowan, M.D., Ammar Divan, M.D., Richard Elliott, M.D., Sandra Fryhofer, M.D., Ray Gaskin, M.D., Carlos Giron, M.D., Brady Rumph, M.D., Margaret D. Schaufler, M.D., C. Alan Scott, M.D., Stacy Seikel, M.D., Tennent Slack, M.D., Winfred Soufi, M.D., Richard Stappenbeck, M.D., Pamela Vick-Bope, M.D., Marc Wall, M.D., Larry Bartel, M.D., Kimberly Bates, M.D., Adam Berman, M.D., James A. Daly, M.D., Jeff Gallups, M.D., Jeff Harris, M.D., Dirk Huttenback, M.D., Brian Kornblatt, M.D., Florence LeCraw, M.D., David Mason, M.D., Mitchell Nudelman, M.D., Diamondis Papadopoulos, M.D., Barry Roseman, M.D. Anurag Sahu, M.D., Manan Shah, M.D., John Shih, M.D., John Trevor Woodhams, M.D., Kelly DeGraffenreid, M.D., Peasha Houston, M.D., Mark Jester, M.D., Barbara J. Jones, M.D., Daniel Lee Miller, M.D., Adrienne Mims, M.D., Quentin Pirkle, M.D., Joseph W. Stubbs, M.D., Robert Bashuk, M.D., Gary Botstein, M.D., Jack Chapman, M.D., Madalyn Davidoff, M.D., Swati Gaur, M.D., Matt Gwynn, M.D., Drazen Jukic, M.D., Joash Lazarus, M.D., Dominic Mack, M.D., Howard Mazier, M.D., Randy Ruark, M.D., Larry Sanders, M.D., Thekkepat Sekhar, M.D., Lillian Schapiro, M.D., Stephen Sudler, M.D., Sudhir Athni, M.D., Adam Berman, M.D., David Bosshardt, M.D., Amanda Brown, M.D., Donald Cote, M.D., Aaron Davidson, M.D., Lionel Meadows, M.D., Carolyn Meltzer, M.D., Sid Moore, M.D., John Neeld, M.D., Amin Yehya, M.D., Quyen Luu, M.D., Walker L. Ray, M.D., Alan L. Plummer, M.D., John S. Antalis, M.D., John Rogers, M.D., Richard Simmons, M.D., Dallas Gay, Jeffrey R. Black, M.D., Rafael Pasqual, M.D., Ricky Rich, David Barnes, D.O., Timothy Beals, D.O. Raymond Bedgood, M.D., Michael Canaan, D.O., Benjamin Cheek, M.D., Kathryn Cheek, M.D., Patrick Fernicola, M.D., Justin Harrell, M.D., Jason Hatcher, M.D., Gregory Hopkins, M.D., Billie Luke Jackson, M.D., Jason Kubik, M.D., Ryan Mahoney, D.O., Fayette McElhannon, M.D., Charles Miller, M.D., Linda Jill Moore, M.D., Samuel Pitts, D.O. Mohammad Shamim, P.A., Samuel Thomas, D.O., Stella Tsai, M.D., Paul Turk, M.D., Ahmed Zulfiqar, M.D., Pritika Bhatia, M.D., Margaret Boltja, M.D., Kenneth Braunstein, M.D., O.T. Cassity, Jr., M.D., Gwendolyn Delaney, M.D., Yomiyu Gammada, M.D., Maurice Gilbert, M.D., Thoams Haltom, M.D., Adel Haque, M.D., Luz Heaton, M.D., Mark Manocha, M.D., Katarina 2017 MAG House of Delegates October 21-22, 2017 Hyatt Regency Savannah Page 3 Nalovic, M.D., Coti Phillips, M.D., Issam Shaker, M.D., Nancy Stead, M.D., Barbara Schuster, M.D., Nazario Villasenor, M.D., W. Hayes Wilson, M.D., Justin Yoon, M.D., Arianna Afshari, Paul Hildreth, Susan Moore, Donald Palmisano, Jr. Members of the House of Delegates honored in silent prayer the following members who passed away during 2017: Fred D. Bass, M.D., Kelvin K. Belcher, M.D., Alonzo J. Bentley, M.D., Spencer S. Brewer, M.D, Samuel A. Brewton, M.D., Orlan V. Masters., M.D., Anthony E. Musarra, M.D., and Robert A. Wynn, M.D., Special honor was given to two MAG Presidents, Milton I. Johnson, M.D., (President 1977-1978) and Joe L. Nettles, M.D., (President 1989-1990). Life members were recognized. Life membership is awarded to physicians who are 70 years or older and who have been an active, dues-paying member in a state medical society or in a branch of the armed services for at least 25 consecutive years, including at least two years with MAG. (A list of these members is published in JMAG, 2017, Vol 106, Issue 4) Georgia Physicians Leadership Academy Class X members were recognized. These were: Bhavin Adhyaru, M.D., Ahmed Ali, M.D., Keisha Callins, M.D., Brett Cannon, M.D., Chip Cowart, M.D., Brandy Cross, M.D., Syamala Erramilli, M.D., Masoumeh Ghaffari, M.D., Kelly Homlar, M.D., Nikki Hughes, M.D., John Johnson, M.D., Joash Lazarus, M.D., Zachary Lopater, M.D., Sultan Simms, M.D., Anna Skold, M.D., Sudha Tata, M.D., and Margaret Wong, M.D. BUSINESS SESSION Dr. Donoghue reported that the House of Delegates is authorized by the MAG Constitution and Bylaws with three primary roles including: the election of officers, reviewing MAG’s policy manual and creating new policy by way of reference committees. He announced that the House of Delegates would use the American Institute of Parliamentarians Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure and that a ruling from the speaker was final unless immediately overruled by the House. Padgett Communications was engaged to record votes electronically from handheld keypads provided. Dr. Donoghue announced the following reference committee assignments this year: REFERENCE COMMITTEE A – HEALTH CARE POLICY Regency Ballroom Chair Nikki Hughes, M.D. Gwinnett-Forsyth MS Vice Chair Masoumeh Ghaffari, M.D. MAA Robert C. Jones, M.D. Bibb CMS Gary Robert Botstein, M.D. DeKalb MS Neha Sharma, M.D. MAA 2017 MAG House of Delegates October 21-22, 2017 Hyatt Regency Savannah Page 4 REFERENCE COMMITTEE C – LEGISLATION Scarbrough 3 Chair Karl Daniel Schultz Jr., M.D.