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CMA HOD Review
from Q3/Q4 Bulletin: Partners in Health - Focus on Santa Clara County Public Health Department
by SCCMA
CMA ELECTS NEW OFFICERS AND ESTABLISHES POLICY ON MAJOR HEALTH CARE ISSUES
The California Medical Association (CMA)
recently convened its 151st annual House of Delegates (HOD) meeting in Los Angeles. During the first in-person meeting of the HOD since the pandemic, more than 500 California physicians gathered to debate and establish broad policy on current major issues that have been determined to be the most important issues affecting members, the association and the practice of medicine.
The association also installed its new officers, including new CMA President Donaldo Hernandez, M.D., an internist who is one of the longest-serving hospitalists in Santa Cruz County.
The major issues the delegates focused on this year were:
Physician Workforce: Our state is facing a physician shortage that has reached crisis proportions, and the COVID pandemic has placed additional pressure on an already strained system. And, as California continues to grapple with longstanding workforce challenges, the Dobbs decision is creating new ones, particularly for medical students and residents in states that restrict or ban abortion services. The delegates discussed policies to expand and strengthen the physician workforce so that every patient has timely access to affordable, quality care. Health Care Reform: In 2019, the Healthy California for All Commission was formed and charged with developing a plan to move our state toward a unified financing system for health care delivery. CMA’s commitment to universal access remains steadfast, but CMA strongly believes that the health care system must be funded in a way that is sustainable, so that health care coverage is not simply an empty promise and that all patients have equal access to quality care. The delegates discussed and debated a set of principles to ensure that any health care reforms will delivery highquality, affordable and evidence-based care to all.
Mental Health: Over the last five years, California has committed to investing billions of new dollars into improving mental health services for all Californians across all delivery systems. The scope of these investments is sweeping, and implementation of many of the initiatives, along with growing the state’s mental health workforce, will take years to accomplish. Delegates heard from Diana Ramos, M.D., the newly appointed California Surgeon General and longtime CMA member and delegate about California’s efforts to improve and expand mental health care.
Elections
Santa Cruz Internist Donaldo Hernandez, M.D., Takes Office as CMA’s 154th President
Santa Cruz internist and hospitalist Donaldo M. Hernandez M.D., FACP, was installed as CMA’s 154th president.
Dr. Hernandez has long been a tenacious agent for change, and as president his goal is to position CMA at the forefront of change and innovation.
“I believe that an energized and engaged physician community is the best path toward a reimagined and integrated care delivery system, insulated from political gamesmanship and special interests,” said Dr. Hernandez. “A system that focuses on relationships – particularly the core relationship between patient and physician – is the solution for affordable and equitable care delivery.”
“Physicians are the only segment of the care delivery infrastructure that swore a sacred oath to uphold a values-based construct as we care for our fellow humans. Adherence to that oath positions us to truly lead the necessary transformation of health care. The path forward must be physician-led and patient-focused.” Born in Southern California, Dr. Hernandez received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley; his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego; and completed his internal medicine residency, and a fellowship in general internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance.
Dr. Hernandez is one of the longest-serving hospitalists in Santa Cruz County and is currently a shareholder in the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, considered one of the highest quality hospital medicine programs in Central and Northern California.
Dr. Hernandez has been a member of CMA and the Santa Cruz County Medical Society (SCCMS) since 2003.
Prior to joining the CMA Executive Committee as President-Elect, he was elected to two terms as SCCMS president, then served on the CMA Board of Trustees for 10 years, representing the geographically and ethnically diverse District 7, which includes Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. He has also served since 2016 as chair of CMA’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Donaldo Hernandez, M.D., CMA President
Redwood City ob-gyn Tanya W. Spirtos, M.D., was named CMA president-elect. She will serve on the CMA Executive Committee in that role for one year before being installed as president at the conclusion of next year’s annual meeting.
Dr. Spirtos is a board-certified obstetriciangynecologist in full-time practice in a group of six physicians, now part of foundation model Packard Medical Group/Stanford Medicine. She is also on the active medical staff of El Camino Hospital and Sequoia Hospital.
Dr. Spirtos earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago and her medical degree at Northwestern University Medical Center. She completed her residency at Los Angeles County Medical Center/University of Southern California and is a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
She was a member of the Board of Trustees of Sequoia Hospital Systems from 2003-07 and served on the Community Board of Directors of Sequoia Hospital from 2007-15. She has also been an adjunct clinical faculty of Stanford University Medical School since 1995, with an academic appointment as adjunct clinical assistant professor from 2006-14.
Since 2010 she has served at the Arbor Free Clinic with Stanford medical students and has been recognized for exemplary contributions in teaching. Despite this—and her participation on various health boards—she receives 100% of her compensation from patient care.
Dr. Spirtos has been a member of the CMA and American Medical Association (AMA) since 1985, and is a member of both the San Mateo County Medical Society and Santa Clara County Medical Association—the latter of which she served as president from 2005-06. She was elected to the CMA Board of Trustees in 2009 and continues to serve on the CMA delegation to the AMA. Since 2016, she has served on the CMA Executive Committee, first as vice speaker of the House of Delegates, then as speaker.
She lives with her husband, Elias Eleftheriades, in Redwood City, where they are both active in the Greek community and culture. Her children, Michael and Alexandra, born in 1989, have grown up surrounded by the practice and profession of medicine.
Alex is currently an ob-gyn resident at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas; Mike is a practicing lawyer with Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton in New York City in the division of mergers and acquisitions.
Los Angeles Family Medicine Physician Jack Chou, M.D., Elected CMA Speaker of the House
Los Angeles family physician Jack Chou, M.D., was elected the new speaker of the CMA House of Delegates. He previously served three years as vice speaker.
Dr. Chou has split his clinical time between primary care, urgent care and hospitalist duties at Kaiser Baldwin Park Medical Center since 1999. He has been the physician-in-charge for the Family Medicine Department at Kaiser Baldwin Park Medical Center, Family Medicine Medical Office Building since 2006. Dr. Chou became the Chief of Service of the Family Medicine Department in July 2018, overseeing five medical office locations.
Dr. Chou is a partner of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) and is the Regional Chair for Health Information Management and Regional Co-Chair for Scanning Oversight Committee at SCPMG.
Since medical school, Dr. Chou has embraced leadership at all levels – local, state and national. Dr. Chou has been a member of CMA and the Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA) since 1992 and he has been an AMA member since 1996.
Dr. Chou has served as a member of the CMA House of Delegates since 2001. He was elected to represent LACMA on the CMA Board of Trustees in 2010 and served on the CMA Council on Ethical Affairs from 2011 to 2016. Dr. Chou is also active in his local, state and national specialty societies, including serving as president and speaker of the California Academy of Family Physicians Congress of Delegates. Dr. Chou was raised in a small rural town in Taiwan and later earned his Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Miami, Florida, and his medical degree from the University of Southern California. He completed his family medicine residency at Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills.
Dr. Chou and his wife, Kathy, are proud parents of twin daughters, Sarah and Samantha, and son, Nathan. He spends most of his free time dedicated to traveling with his family as part of his children’s education.
San Francisco Dermatologist Lawrence Cheung, M.D., Elected CMA Vice-Speaker
San Francisco physician Lawrence Cheung, M.D., was elected the new vice-speaker of the CMA House of Delegates.
Dr. Cheung has been a dermatologist in solo private practice for 17 years. As a part of his practice, Dr. Cheung conducts and serves as principal investigator for clinical trials. He also serves as a volunteer dermatology preceptor at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco.
Dr. Cheung has been a member of the CMA Board of Trustees since 2020, after having previously served as chair of the CMA House of Delegates District VIII Delegation and as a member of the CMA Council on Science and Public Health. He also previously served on the Board of Directors for San Francisco Health Plan as a mayoral-appointed San Francisco County Commissioner.
Dr. Cheung has been a member of CMA and the San Francisco Marin Medical Society since 2006. He is also a member of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Society for Dermatological Surgery.
Donaldo Hernandez, M.D.
President
Tanya Spirtos, M.D.
President-Elect
Shannon Udovic-Constant, M.D.
Chair, Board of Trustees
Sergio R. Flores, M.D.
Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees
Jack Chou, M.D.
Speaker of the House
Lawrence Cheung, M.D.
Vice-Speaker of the House
Robert E. Wailes, M.D.
Immediate Past President
Awards and Honors
Ferndale Physician Donald Baird, M.D., Receives CMA’s Plessner Award
Ferndale family physician Donald Baird, M.D., received CMA’s most prestigious award, the Frederick K.M. Plessner Memorial Award. The award honors the California physician who best exemplifies the ethics and practice of a rural country practitioner.
Dr. Baird has served indigent and underserved patients in Humboldt and Del Norte counties for 46 years. He has enjoyed a full-time practice in primary care, which once included OB and pediatrics, but is now primarily focused on adults with subspecialty interest in psychiatry including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism.
“During multiple attempts at retirement I've done some volunteer work in the third world, which has been very rewarding, but I also realized we have our own needs right here in this community,” said Dr. Baird.
Dr. Baird also serves as medical director of hospitalist services at a critical access rural hospital in the far north coastal California community of Fortuna (near Eureka), surrounded by the natural beauty of 1,000-yearold redwood forests.
“In a community like we have right here, so many patients actually still don’t even have physicians, so the willingness of a person who could easily have retired long ago to not only continue practicing but enjoy doing it (staying late, going in on his days off, covering for physicians who are ill, demonstrating a type of genuine regard for humanity) means more to a community like this than I think most people could ever know,” said colleague (and patient) Galen W. Pettey, P.T. “Because without people like him there are so many people who are underserved or unserved.”
Dr. Baird also became Humboldt County Public Health Officer in 2012. In that role, he worked closely with Humboldt County Public Health Department staff to obtain accreditation by the National Public Health Accreditation Board in 2016, making Humboldt the first California county of its size to achieve this status. Dr. Baird has a reputation not only as a gifted clinician, but also as a team player and someone who truly cares about the health of his community.
“The way he talks about the community and the way we discuss things about our concerns for the community have always really shown me that he really does love where he lives and he really cares about this community,” said Katie Hanson from the Humboldt County Public Health Department. He worked tirelessly alongside the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services staff and community partners and took an active role in disaster preparations for the county, including providing mutual aid to other counties during devastating fires. Most recently, he triaged patients to determine who couldn’t go without power during the countywide PG&E planned power outages.
Dr. Baird is a native of Portland, Maine, and a graduate of Dartmouth University and The Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University. He served his medical residency in family practice and community health at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, where he also received a master's degree in health care education.
Learn more about Dr. Baird in our video profile: youtu.be/pBB5csfKoVg
Chico Family Physician Dannielle Harwood, M.D., Receives CMA’s Physician Health and Well-Being Award
Butte County family physician Dannielle Harwood, M.D., has received the Gary S. Nye Award for Physician Health and Well-Being. The award honors a CMA member who has made significant contributions toward improving physician health and wellness.
Dr. Harwood was recognized for her commitment to and passion for helping fellow and future physicians find success, fulfillment, happiness and well-being in pursuit of their noble profession. Most notably, she has gone above and beyond to uplift a community devastated by the Camp Fire tragedy and the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the devastation of the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history, and the most expensive natural disaster in the world displacing more than 45,000 people, Dr. Harwood became increasingly more active in the Butte-Glenn Medical Society (BGMS).
BGMS sponsored Dr. Harwood's enrollment in the UC Davis Physician Wellness fellowship in 2020, ultimately being named BGMS’s first Chief Wellness Officer. In that role, she has stepped up to lead programs that are essential for the wellness of BGMS members and staff, as well as the medical community at large. “[These programs are] the backbone of Butte-Glenn Medical Society's efforts to heal our community and sustain us through the pandemic and even more devastating fires that continue to plague Butte-Glenn areas,” said Kristy Bird MaKieve, BGMS executive director.
Dr. Harwood’s initiative and passion are admirable as she mentors female physicians and is committed to improving the wellness of her physician colleagues and bringing back the joy of medicine.
Glenn County pediatrician Joanne Reid, M.D., received the Compassionate Service Award, created in 2015 to honor CMA member physicians who best illustrate the association’s commitment to community and charity care.
Dr. Reid runs the only rural health clinic in Glenn County. As the only access to care for Glenn County parents with sick babies, children and adolescents, she often has 40-60 patient visits in a day. Although she lives 30 minutes away in Chico, Dr. Reid knew that a rural health clinic was much more needed in Willows. She has served the community of Willows and all of Glenn County since 2002.
“Dr. Reid is deeply committed to and embraces the importance of human welfare and human dignity in her rural community of Willows,” said Kristy Bird MaKieve, executive director of the Butte-Glenn Medical Society and CEO of Healthy Rural California. “Although she could practice anywhere, she is steadfast to the needs of the most vulnerable and broken in a small rural town with few resources and endless hardship, many who are frequently unable to pay for medical care.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Reid’s clinic rose to the needs of the community to become a COVID-19 vaccination clinic when there were few, if any, options. She also helped distribute PPE across Glenn County and to neighboring medical practices as well. “Dr. Reid is a critical member of our community’s fight to make a difference, to turn the tide, and to be the bright light for youth to have a healthier and higher quality of life,” said MaKieve.
Dr. Reid was also one of the first members on the board of Rural Healthy California and served as an advisor to the Chico Community Prevention Coalition as it formed in the wake of the Camp Fire.
Dr. Reid attended the University of Michigan where she earned a Bachelor of Science of Chemical Engineering, graduating Cum Laude in 1981. She earned her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, 1985. Dr. Reid completed her pediatric residency at University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan in 1989.
Sacramento Senator and Pediatrician Richard Pan, M.D., Receives CMA Speaker’s Recognition Award
California Senator and pediatrician Richard Pan, M.D., received the 2022 Gary Krieger Speaker’s Recognition Award. The recipient of this award is hand-selected by the CMA Speaker of the House for remarkable contributions to CMA and its House of Delegates.
Dr. Pan has been a member of CMA and the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society since 1999. In addition to serving organized medicine as a CMA trustee and delegate, in 2010 Dr. Pan was elected to serve in the California legislature and has spent the past 12 years working tirelessly to improve the lives of Californians.
Dr. Pan has been a catalyst for positive change in the community, creating innovative educational programs, expanding access to health care for children and bringing people together to address community priorities.
TIME magazine called Dr. Pan a “hero” when he authored landmark legislation to abolish non-medical exemptions to legally required vaccines for school students, thereby restoring community immunity from preventable contagions. Dr. Pan also authored one of the most expansive state laws regulating health plans, eliminating denials for pre-existing conditions and prohibiting discrimination by health status and medical history. He demands transparency and accountability in state health programs; holding hearings on reducing fraud, investigating poor access to dental care, and ensuring children with cancer and other serious conditions have access to pediatric specialty care. Dr. Pan provided leadership in enrolling families for health coverage, resulting in halving the number of uninsured in California. He also sponsored numerous health fairs providing resources including free glasses, dental screenings and vaccines.
Dr. Pan was also honored by his peers as he terms out of the California legislature. Watch their video tributes at youtu.be/2nxsj1T5KGg
Los Angeles Psychiatrist C. Freeman, M.D., Receives YPS Young at Heart Award
The CMA Young Physicians Section (YPS) named Los Angeles psychiatrist C. Freeman, M.D., the 2022 recipient of the YPS Young at Heart Award for her commitment to helping young physicians become tomorrow’s leaders. “Dr. Freeman is a champion for medicine, young physicians and medical students,” said CMA trustee and YPS member Jerry Abraham, M.D., when announcing the award. “She is a valiant steward advancing our agenda of protecting patients and the profession of medicine; advancing public health including being a CMA climate health champion – a stalwart defender of physician health and wellness.”
Dr. Freeman is in solo private practice as an adult and geriatric psychiatrist and provides services in a community clinic affiliated with Barbour and Floyd Medical Associates and the primary care practice of William King Health Care Group via an integrated behavioral health model that she created. Dr. Freeman has been a member of CMA, the Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA), and the American Medical Association since 2007, and has been a delegate to the CMA House of Delegates since 2009. Since 2015, she has represented the CMA Ethnic Medical Organization Section on the association’s Board of Trustees. She has also served on the CMA Council on Ethical Affairs, the CMA Diversity Technical Advisory Committee and the CMA Nominations Committee.
“As a woman physician of color, she continues to fight for small and solo physicians across the state of California, as well for ethnic and minority physicians,” said Dr. Abraham. “She continues to serve as a role model for us early career physicians and exemplifies our values to the utmost. We look forward to ongoing leadership and mentorship from Dr. C. Freeman in the many years to come.”
The CMA Solo and Small Group Practice Forum (SSGPF) gave San Francisco radiologist Roger Eng, M.D., its Doctor of the Year Award. This award is bestowed upon an individual who has gone above and beyond in efforts to represent the independent physicians of California. “Dr. Eng's tireless efforts in championing causes to support the sustainability of solo and small group practices in California made him an ideal choice for being nominated for this year's award,” said SSGPF Chair Join Luh, M.D. “Over the years, I have marveled at how Dr. Eng keeps his hand on the pulse of what goes on in the California State Legislature, bringing relevant issues to the attention of state medical organizations, like the CMA. His leadership skills are an asset to both CMA and its Solo and Small Group Practice Forum.” Dr. Eng has been a member of CMA for 31 years, serving as a trustee and delegate, and is a past president of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society and the California Radiological Society. He earned his medical degree from George Washington University's School of Medicine & Health Sciences and earned a Master of Public Health from George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health
Other News
CMA House of Delegates Approves New Community Health Centers Forum
The CMA House of Delegates approved the creation of a new Community Health Centers Mode of Practice Forum. The new delegation participated in its first meeting at this year’s House of Delegates in Los Angeles.
California’s 1,300 community health centers provide care for more than 5 million patients every year, and are a critical piece of our state’s health care safety net. They provide comprehensive, quality health care services, particularly for low-income, uninsured and underserved Californians, who might otherwise not have access to health care.
“As a member of CMA and a board member of the California Primary Care Association, I am excited that the community health center physician perspective will have its own forum within CMA’s governance structure,” said Rakesh Patel, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Neighborhood Healthcare. “This forum will empower community health center physicians to partner with the broader house of medicine to advocate for policies that support the health center model of care and expand access to care to our state’s most diverse communities.”
CMA’s other mode of practice forums include the Solo and Small Group Practice Forum, the Medium Group Practice Forum, the Large Group Practice Forum, the Very Large Group Practice Forum, the Academic Practice Forum, the Administrative Medicine Forum, the Government Employed Physicians Forum and the Hospital-Based Physicians Forum.
Membership in these forums is determined by each member’s self-selected mode of practice. Delegates for each forum represent their modes of practice by attending and actively participating in delegation caucus meetings and in the annual CMA House of Delegates.
CALPAC Sets New All-Time Fundraising Record
CMA’s Political Action Committee (CALPAC) shattered all previous fundraising records in its history for the third year in a row, raising $232,855 at CMA’s 151st House of Delegates. Donations to CALPAC are used to support candidates for office who share medicine’s priorities.
Join CALPAC Today!
Please join your colleagues in supporting CALPAC and help strengthen our political voice. Please visit calpac.org/donate to contribute to CALPAC. Different levels of support are available along with monthly options that make supporting the house of medicine easier than ever.
To pay via check, please make payable to CALPAC and send to: CALPAC, 1201 K Street, Suite 800, Sacramento, CA 95814.
For more information about CALPAC, visit calpac.org. #CMAVoices: What are the biggest issues facing health care?
At the 2022 CMA House of Delegates, physicians were asked: What’s the biggest issue facing health care today? See the Twitter thread using #CMAvoices to hear what your colleagues had to say.
What's your take? Tell us what you think the biggest issue facing health care today is and we will share your thoughts in our #CMAvoices video series.
Submit your video comments at bit.ly/cmavoices.
Staying Involved
Already have ideas for next year’s House of Delegates or want to continue the fight to support CMA? Even though HOD might be over, there are plenty of ways to stay involved and dedicated to CMA.
Grassroots Action Center
CMA boasts some of the best advocates and lawyers in the capital—but YOU are the most powerful advocate. As someone who serves on the front lines of health care delivery, elected officials and policymakers need to hear your voice to make informed policy, legislation and regulations. Visit cmadocs.org/grassroots to see how you can get involved.
Submit a Resolution
CMA is proud of its resolutions process because it preserves the value of each member's perspectives and experiences, and empowers physicians to shape the ever-changing health care landscape and ensure that CMA is speaking with its members’ voices in its advocacy.
From internal governance to ambitious statewide advocacy, every policy is crafted, reviewed and approved by the dedicated team of physician leaders that make up CMA's organizational structure. Visit cmadocs.org/ resolutions to submit a resolution.
Nominate Yourself or a Colleague
Members of CMA councils and subcommittees play crucial roles in shaping health care policy. You can find out more about available opportunities and awards at cmadocs.org/ nominations.
