On February 9, Ohio Academy of Family Physicians leaders including Immediate Past President Tom Houston, MD; President-Elect Don Mack, MD; Lobbyist David Paragas, JD; Executive Vice President (EVP) Ann Spicer; and Deputy EVP Kate Mahler, CAE; participated in a meeting of the Ohio Coalition of Primary Care Physicians held at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM) in Dublin, OH.
The morning featured a lively discussion of legislative issues dealt with in the last General Assembly and anticipated for the current General Assembly that began on January 3. Representatives of the Ohio Coalition of Primary Care Physicians are conducting team visits to members of the Ohio House and Senate Health Committees as well as to those legislators who serve on the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee.
During lunch, the deans from the three Ohio osteopathic medical school campuses in Athens, Dublin, and Cleveland described their mission and vision to train primary care physicians and retain them to practice in Ohio. Ken Johnson, DO, is the OU-HCOM executive dean and chair of the Council of Medical School Deans; Bill Burke, DO, is dean at the OU-HCOM Dublin campus, and Isaac Kirstein, DO, is dean of the OU-HCOM Cleveland campus.
Mary Applegate, MD, Ohio Department of Medicaid medical director, discussed the Ohio Comprehensive Primary Care program.
The day concluded with a discussion on mental and physical health integration led by the Ohio Department of Health and Addiction Services Chief Medical Officer Mark Hurst, MD, and Douglas Smith, MD, chair of the Ohio Psychiatric Physicians Association Integrated Care Committee.