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Karen Meyer, MD, named recipient of Young Physician Leadership Award

Madison (April 29)—The Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation honored Karen Meyer, MD, of Fond du Lac, with its Kenneth M. Viste, Jr., MD Young Physician Leadership Award, which was established in 2007 memory of the late Kenneth M. Viste, Jr., MD, of Oshkosh. She received the award during the Wisconsin Medical Society’s Annual Meeting April 11 in Madison.

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Other Foundation award recipients:
Wisconsin Rapids native awarded scholarship
Wausau native honored with Houghton Award
Marshfield native honored with Houghton Award

Central Wisconsin physician elected Society’s President-Elect

Madison (April 25)—Robert J. Jaeger, MD, FACOG, of Mosinee, was elected president-elect of the Wisconsin Medical Society during the Society’s Annual Meeting in Madison April 11-12.

Doctor Jaeger, a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology, is an assistant clinical professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Now retired from full-time practice, he has served on the Board of Directors of both Family Planning Health Services, Inc. and the Rice Clinic in Stevens Point and has held various leadership roles, including president of the medical staff, at St. Michael’s Hospital in Stevens Point.

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Savant Kim Peek charms, mesmerizes Wisconsin audiences

April 15 (Madison)—Anybody who was fortunate enough to witness the wondrousness of savant Kim Peek last week in Wisconsin likely will never forget the experience. The 55-year-old developmentally disabled Utah resident with extraordinary memory skills, not only displayed his remarkable feats, but reminded everybody of the value and uniqueness of each individual, disabled or not.

Kim, along with his father, Fran Peek, also spoke to grade school children in Madison, college students in Fond du Lac, students and faculty at UW Madison Medical School, in addition to highlighting the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation’s annual fundraising event April 10. For the latter, Kim drew a capacity crowd, wowing the audience with his ability to field questions that covered history, geography, movies and much more.

For more information about Kim Peek, click here. For media coverage of Peek's visit, click here.

Stevens Point’s Dr. Steven Bergin elected Wisconsin Medical Society President

Dr. Bergin urges colleagues to mount urgent campaign for health reform

Madison (April 12)—Steven Bergin, MD, of Stevens Point, was inaugurated the 155th president of the Wisconsin Medical Society Friday evening during the Society’s Annual Meeting at Madison’s Monona Terrace.

In his inaugural speech, Dr. Bergin urged his colleagues to get involved politically to make health insurance available for everybody.

“We must shed our professional cocoon and awaken from our political hibernation,” said Dr. Bergin, an OB/GYN. “We need to mount a vigorous sustained grass roots campaign engaging and dialoguing with local, state and national legislative representatives. We should not off-handedly dismiss proposals just because they depart from the status quo.”

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Wisconsin Division of Public Health issues measles alert

Madison (April 7)—The following alert was issued today by the Wisconsin Division of Public Health (DPH):

A positive case of measles has been reported in an unimmunized 23-month-old child from Milwaukee County. The symptom onset was on March 26, 2008 with rash onset on March 27, 2008. The Measles IgM was positive on a serology specimen drawn on April 3, 2008. No known source has been identified and there had been no out-of-state travel during the probable source period. Day care and other close contacts are being followed. There was no known travel of the case outside of Milwaukee County during the child's infectious period. The next generation of cases would be expected to occur in the period of April 7-April 13, 2008.

As this child has had no out-of-state travel, has no known source of infection and the fact that cases of measles are occurring in other parts of the United States, health care professionals are asked to maintain a high index of suspicion of measles in patients presenting with rash/fever illnesses. Patients that present with such symptoms should be taken immediately to negative pressure isolation rooms for diagnosis. If phone contact is made ahead of any visit, steps should be taken to isolate the patient upon arrival to the health care facility. On any suspect case seen please submit an acute blood specimen for confirmation. In addition, NP and throat swabs and a urine sample (in that order of importance) should be submitted to the State Laboratory of Hygiene for genotyping. The immunization status of any accompanying family member should be reviewed and MMR vaccine offered when applicable. Health care providers should inform the local health department immediately of any suspect cases, do not wait for laboratory confirmation.

DPH encourages health care professionals to take this opportunity to review the immunization/immune status for measles for all staff that may have patient contact (click here). A synopsis of the immunization recommendations for the general population will be detailed by DPH in a later communication.

If you have questions, please contact Immunization Program Manager Daniel Hopfensperger at 608.266.1339.

AHRQ ranks Wisconsin no. 2 in health care quality

Madison (March 27)—Wisconsin ranks second in the nation in overall health care quality, according to the 2007 “State Snapshots” released yesterday by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Minnesota claimed the number 1 spot with an overall score of 66.96, while Wisconsin, which held the top spot last year, scored 66.04 this year. North Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska round out the top five.

“Of course it’s a little disappointing that Wisconsin was edged out by Minnesota for the top spot, but it’s obvious from the results of these quality measures that health care professionals in Wisconsin have a lot to be proud of,” said Society President Clarence Chou, MD. “It takes a lot of effort to maintain high rankings. At the same time, this report points out some areas where we could improve, such as cancer care, home health care, and the fact that 63 percent of patients in Wisconsin are overweight or obese.”

AHRQ tracks roughly 200 measures of health care quality for different types of care, settings and clinical areas. The report includes information on more than 100 measures for Wisconsin. According to the results, the state’s strengths include preventive care, acute care and chronic care, along with hospital, ambulatory and nursing home care. Wisconsin also ranks very strong in respiratory care and strong in diabetes care.

More detailed information about Wisconsin’s results, including scores on specific measures is available on the AHRQ Web site. For Wisconsin’s “Dashboard on Health Care Quality” compared to other states, click here.

Click here for a statement from Society President Clarence Chou, MD.

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