VOLUME 22, NO. 2 MARCH/APRIL 2020

The Faces of Primary Care

The evidence is clear: Vaping kills; and vaping nicotine maims the adolescent brain. So, when Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that Minnesota was suing JUUL, I needed an interview. Not only did I learn that the AG is passionate about protecting Minnesota youth from vaping when the Federal Government is unwilling, I also learned that he has medical roots: AG Ellison’s father is a retired psychiatrist and his brother practices internal medicine in Detroit. Read the interview and then let me know if you agree that Minnesota physicians need to join the fight to protect our youth from the predatory practices of the individuals and companies that make vaping devices. Primary care has many faces —OB/Gyn, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics. Not only are their services a panoply, they tend to be high value. Dr. Shailey Prasad presents the evidence in our opening series on primary care. This issue’s Colleague Interview, Dr. Renee Crichlow, is a community treasure. Dr. Crichlow will be known to many metro physicians either because she trained them in Family Medicine through the North Memorial residency program or through the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, where she serves as president. I was particularly inspired by The Ladder, an organization she founded to mentor individuals at all levels to help them achieve their professional and social goals. Did you know that 62% of Minnesota counties qualify as primary care shortage areas? We asked Zora Radosevich, Director of the MDH Office of Rural Health and Primary Care to describe the epidemiology of care disparities and the agency’s programs that have been developed to address them. One, in particular, is the Rural Family Medicine Residency Grant Program that supports new and existing residency programs in rural Minnesota. The approaches that primary care providers take to deliver services are as myriad as the problems their patients face. Drs. Cora Walsh and Andrea Westby describe how family physicians

provide high quality obstetrical services. In three articles, Dr. Jerry Potts at Hennepin Health and Dr. Sue Inoue at the United Family Practice Residency program describe how they train physicians in urban settings; and, Dr. Kelly Frisch writes about a residency program at HealthPartners designed to prepare physicians for practice in rural settings. While communication between primary care and hospitalists can be challenging for many physician groups, this is not the case for Abbott Northwestern General Medical Associates (ANGMA). As described by Drs. Tod Worner and Michael Cummings, ANGMA maintains communication by rotating their general internists through hospital duty. To give us a patient’s perspective on the value of primary care, Carol White describes how her primary care physician saved her life by guiding her care over the decades. Three North Memorial pharmacists —Taylor Hill, Mary Sauer, and Kyle Walburg—tell the readers how fostering strong, trusting, working relationships through Medication Therapy Management improves outcomes. The penultimate articles are two updates to help our readers stay informed: Annie Krapek describes how the TCMS Physician Advocacy Network is helping mental health and substance use disorder patients end nicotine dependence, and we published the comments and recommendations of the Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate to The US House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

I am particularly pleased that this issue’s Luminary is Dr. Leif I. Solberg. I met Leif nearly 40 years ago when he came up to me during a blizzard and suggested that “we might collaborate on a bit of research.” Little did I know that I had just met a life-long inspiration and the energizer bunny of primary care practice and research. Among his other honors is election to the National Academy of Medicine. We hope you enjoy reading this issue of MetroDoctors.