Board Briefs

The Board:
Approved conveying its support to CMA of the Medicare Geographic Adjustment Factor Option #5, which minimizes payment reductions on every California physician and ensures no physician will experience a net payment decrease.

Approved the 2005 Budget, which includes increasing the dues for the Multiple Membership category (formerly Affiliate Membership) from $75 to $100, increasing the administrative fee for BloodSource from $500 to $1,000 and confirms the amount allocated from SSVMS dues to the Building Fund.

Approved the Membership Report:
For Active Membership — Alan K. Anzai, MD; Jose A. Arevalo, MD; Ranjit S. Bajwa, MD; Heather Beatty, MD; Dazhi Cen, MD; Anthony M. Fu, MD; Linlin Fu, MD; Yasu Fuke, MD; Benzion G. Goldwyn, MD; Kern H. Guppy, MD; Shawn E. Gurtcheff, MD; Ursula K. Hempstead, MD; Michael J.K. Huang, MD; Wendi A. Knapp, MD; Huong T. Le, MD; Vong M. Lee, MD; Jennifer Pawlowski, MD; Mark M. Pham, MD; Jan M. Rosnow, MD; Derrick G. Schmidt, MD; Mark A. Sherman, MD; Steve Y.H. Shih, MD; Jeffrey R. Stewart, MD; Camille M. Ziomek, DO.
For Annual Renewal of Special Leave of Absence — Derek J. Wong, MD.
For Return to Active Membership from Military Leave of Absence — Franklin D. Robinson, III, MD
For Resignation —Thomas J. Donnelly, MD (moved to Washington); Catherine B. Pham, MD (moved to Monterey); G. Edward Sebastian, MD; Michael P. Sherman, MD (moved to Missouri); Joe P. Tupin, MD.
For Termination of Membership — David P. Klemer, MD (moved to Wisconsin).
For Termination of Membership for Non-Payment of 2004 Dues — Jong L. Chen, MD; Aaryan N. Koura, MD.
For Certification of Retired Membership Status — Murthy S. Dasari, MD
For a Change in Status From Retired to Active with Full Dues Waiver — Benjamin Cutshall, MD; Robert Fagella, MD; J. Robert Griffin, MD; Forrest Junod, MD; Edwin Komisaruk, MD; Glenn Owens, MD; Harold Ray, MD; Mary Tasker, MD; Lee O. Welter, MD.

The Board:
Approved Third Quarter Financial Statements and Smith Barney Investment Reports. Approved these recommendations for 2004 SSVMS Awards from the Scholarship and Awards Committee: Erwin A. Eichhorn, MD, Golden Stethoscope Award; Lawrence J. Bass, MD, Medical Honor Award; Jennifer Kwan, Project Manager, Regional Children's Health Project, Medical Community Service Award.

Approved the Membership Report:
For Active Membership — Randy C. Arai, MD; Michael D. Arca, MD; John Belko, MD; Rohit Bhaskar, MD; MeeRa Chong, MD; Nidal A. Khalili, MD; Mark A. Lee, MD; Madeline E. Marcus, MD; Vance M. McCausland, MD; Craig W. Senders, MD; Jose V. Sumaquial, MD
For Reinstatement to Membership Following Payment of 2004 Dues — Jong L. Chen, MD
For Return to Active Membership from Special Leave of Absence — Shing Chung, MD
For a Change in Membership from Active to Multiple Membership — Robert S. Burger, MD
For Resignation — Meredith A. Bean, MD (moved to Denver, CO); Kenneth K.S. Chen, MD (transfer to Alameda-Contra Costa); Ching C. Chou, MD (retired); Jeffrey J. Heffernon, MD (moved to Wisconsin); Lisa Y. Law, MD (moved to Menlo Park, CA); Dolores Musco, MD (moved to Danville, CA); Mark Musco, MD (moved to Danville, CA); Cynthia A. Point, MD (transfer to San Francisco); Elliot J. Reichbach, MD (moved to Bakersfield); Lowell Renz, MD (retired-moved to Idaho).
For Changes in Retired Membership Status as a Result of CMA Bylaws Changes; From Retired to Active — Isaac B. Freeman, MD

Serving as the Administrative Board to the Sacramento Medical Foundation/BloodSource, ratified the election of these appointments and officers to the BloodSource Board of Trustees: Drew Houghton, CPA, and Jon Snyder to a first three-year term; Robyn Nelson, PhD, RN, and Sidney Crain, MD, for a second three-year term; Gerald Simon, MD, President; Michael G. Ueltzen, Immediate Past President; Frank Apgar, MD, Vice President; Mary Vedo, MT (ASCP), SBB, Secretary; Drew Houghton, CPA, Treasurer; Thomas Slagle, Member-at-Large; Brian McClay, Esq., Member-at-Large.

The Board:
Serving as the Administrative Board to Sacramento Medical Foundation/Blood Source, received an update on BloodSource activities from Michael Ueltzen, President of the BloodSource Board of Trustees and ratified the appointment of Mervin B. "Bo" O'Neill, MD, to the BloodSource Board of Trustees. Also reviewed legal counsel opinion regarding Directors and Officers Coverage for the SSVMS Board when serving as the Administrative Board to the Sacramento Medical Foundation/BloodSource.

Approved Dr. Otashe Golden as the Representative, and Dr. Vikas Mahavni as the Alternate Representative, to the CMA-Young Physicians Section Assembly to be held March 18, 2005 in Anaheim.

Approved a new policy, "Confidentiality of Individual Physician Membership Information," which states the Society's commitment to protecting the privacy of its members and the confidentiality of information collected for the following: Membership processing purposes, SSVMS peer review documents and decisions, confidential or sensitive information collected in the course of SSVMS activities and interactions with members and non-members, the public and other healthcare institutions.

Returned to the Executive Committee for further review the proposed policy, "SSVMS Involvement in Political Activity and Support of Candidates for Public Office and Political Campaigns."

Approved sending a letter of support to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors regarding the "Syringe Bill" (SB 1159). The intent of the bill is to allow California pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to provide hypodermic needles and syringes to adults without a prescription, to prevent the spread of HIV, hepatitis C and other potentially fatal infections.

Approved the 2005 Committee Appointments.

Approved the Membership Report:
For Active Membership — Thomas J. Blumenfeld, MD; Arlene R. Burton, MD; Rachel K. Dong, MD; Caroline C. Hahn, MD; Sheryl L. Hancock, MD; Denise W. Henderson, MD; Thao N. Huynh, MD; Edward R. Lee, MD; Helen T. Nutter, MD; Alisa M. Sabin, MD; Alan K. Silverman, MD; Michael T. Sim, MD
For Resident Membership — Parag A. Nene, MD
For Reinstatement of Active Membership — Robert D. Bellinoff, MD; Jill A. Walsh, MD
For Return of Active Membership from Illness Leave of Absence—Peter Sfakianos, MD
For a Change in Membership from Multiple to Active — Kenny K. Charn, MD (maintain Multiple Membership w/ San Joaquin)
For A Change in Membership from Active to Multiple — Sidney Crain, MD (maintain Active Membership w/ Placer-Nevada)
For A Change in Membership from Active to Active 65/20:— William Dugdale, MD
For Acceptance of Resignation — Leonard Davis, MD (Retired); Jason F. Giles, MD (transfer to Humboldt); Dawn E. Harris, MD (moved to Nevada City); Richard A. Mancina, MD; Ryan Q. Nguyen, DO (moved to Garden Grove); Svetlana Tounkel, MD (moved to Los Gatos)
For Termination of Membership for Nonpayment of 2004 dues — Sawey A. Harhash, MD
For Approval of Change in Retired Status as a Result of CMA Bylaws Changes; from Retired to Active Membership— Thomas Leavitt, MD