First place winner: Tennessee
Tennessee MGMA had a very successful 2019. We continue to focus on our Mission Statement,
“TMGMA is the Authoritative Leader in the profession of Medical Practice Management. We provide
resources through education, mentoring, networking and advocacy.”, at the forefront of all we have
done throughout the year. The Mission Statement is kept at the top of all Executive Board and
Leadership meeting agendas to remind us of our purpose and to ensure all decisions we make are
centered around our Mission Statement.
To address mentoring and networking, we added a “first time attendee” breakfast at the beginning of
our Spring Conference. TMGMA Board members and ACMPE Forum Representative attended the
breakfast to ensure our new attendees were getting acclimated to the conference. A facilitator was
present to introduce everyone. A warm, inviting, open environment was created for the attendees by
sharing experiences of our first conference attendance, and what we have gleaned from our attendance
and membership in subsequent years. The networking did not stop after breakfast. Board members and
seasoned members attended general sessions, break‐out sessions and the social events with the new
attendees. Every effort was made to introduce new attendees to members as they interacted
throughout the conference. This made a lasting impression, as 12 of our 34 first‐ time attendees
returned to the Fall Conference.
Expanding communications with our membership and attracting new members was another goal for
2019. This resulted in implementation of a new updated Facebook page. TMGMA engaged a
professional company to assist with making daily posts pertaining to medical news from local to
national. We are taking advantage of this media by posting conference pictures, information and reserve
the date messages. An updated website was introduced this year to include more announcements of
upcoming events. A member list exchange with our 10 local chapters was added in an effort to
communicate to more medical professionals across the state. A state wide listserv is set for
implementation in February 2020 for our membership to connect and network.
We rebranded our pilot mentoring program (attachment A), “Trusted Advisors”, into “Peer to Peer
Initiative”. The initiative has become a permanent benefit for any medical manager in our state and the
participation rate has grown. This growth has demonstrated that a need for mentoring our membership
has been met. We are anxious to see how much it will grow this coming year as we market it through
our conferences, Facebook page and website.
Additional focus has been placed on our ten Local Chapters in 2019. In an effort to educate the local
chapters on their Affiliation Agreement and the benefits of participation with the state and national
MGMA, Tennessee MGMA Board Members visited all the Local Chapter board meetings throughout the first quarter. A formal presentation (attachment B) was given to the local boards, as well as a questionand answer session. Our message was one of support, encouragement and participation. The emphasiswas “Tennessee MGMA is a resource for local chapters”. A schedule was developed to assign a Board member to participate on the monthly local chapter leadership conference calls. Through the monthly calls we were able to promote participation in MGMA’s STAT, MGMA’s annual Salary Survey, ACMPE Certification/Fellowship, and promote Tennessee’s Day on The Hill. We hosted a pre‐conference dinner in the spring to honor our local chapter leadership. This event gave leadership an opportunity to network with each other. In 2019, Tennessee MGMA increased conference participation with local chapter leaders by greater than 80%. Developing relationships with local chapter leadership was the goal, knowing they were the key to making our state organization stronger and more effective.
We continued our focus on educational opportunities for our members by providing free monthly
webinars. In 2019 we saw an increase in participation as members became aware of this offering
through our marketing efforts.
Tennessee MGMA’s Legislative Liaison, Sharon Cannon, has worked diligently this year with the
Tennessee Medical Association (TMA), our state medical association, to communicate changes coming
from both state and national legislation. Sharon has assembled a committee of members from each
local chapter to conduct regular conference calls. These calls provide updates to members while the
Tennessee legislators are in session. These calls keep information flowing throughout the state about
laws being introduced/passed that effect the practice of medicine. This grassroots effort resulted in
record attendance for Tennessee’s Day on The Hill this year. During our Spring Conference, Drew Voytal commended Tennessee’s consistent efforts with communication and updates.
During our summer Board retreat, a decision was made to place additional emphasis, support and
recognition for those members seeking ACMPE Certification and Fellowship. We redesigned the Past
President’s Scholarship Fund to reward members who become certified or obtain fellowship in the
college. We are awarding these accomplishments with a free Spring or Fall state conference
registration.
ACMPE Forum Representative, Loretta Duncan, writes regular articles in our bi‐monthly newsletter
(attachment C) to promote the college. Loretta addressed the membership at our Spring conference and
challenged them to obtain ACMPE Certification or Fellowship during the coming year. The challenge
worked. For 2019, Tennessee MGMA had 10 new Certified members on their way to Fellowship and 2
new Fellows. Spring Conference 2020 will provide a pre‐conference workshop with Cristian Lieneck,
FACMPE, presenting the path to fellowship training. We will continue to provide opportunities in
support of our members working toward these goals.
While reviewing our challenges for the year, we realized our membership population has changed. As
the landscape in the medical management profession changes due to mergers and acquisitions, we find
there are more large corporations obtaining practices; smaller physician owned practices are not the
majority in our state any longer. In an effort to provide relevant education for all members, we have
developed two tracks for our 2020 Spring Conference education. The General Sessions will provide
leadership skills that will pertain to all members. Our breakout sessions will provide two options for
attendees. One will offer more education for hands on smaller practices, the other will provide more in‐
depth education for larger practice administrators and CEO’s. Topics were chosen to enhance the
conference educational experience for all members.
To identify the needs of our members, member surveys were sent out. The information received has
been very helpful. We chose our 2020 and 2021 conference locations as a direct result of our members
request via the survey. We have been proactive in getting the dates/locations out to our membership to
provide ample time for planning.
Knowing that the future depends on new membership, we have developed a pilot program with
Cumberland University. Cumberland offers a degree in Medical Administration. We had several
discussions with the head of the department to determine how we can work together to develop
student members. Students from the program have been invited to attend a day of our Spring
Conference to introduce them to Tennessee MGMA. We believe introducing them now will provide a
foundation for future membership in a MGMA organization.
Tennessee MGMA has made a commitment to build a strong Board. We feel a strong, cohesive Board
will lead to a stronger, more successful organization. To accomplish this goal, we have established
monthly conference calls, face to face meetings four times per year, consistent summer planning
retreats and consistent Board orientation retreats. A decision was made to send all of our Executive
Board to MGMA’s State Leadership conference. A Board meeting will be held at the beginning of the
conference to discuss the organization’s business and to make breakout session assignments for the
conference. Our strategy is to have two members at each break out session offered. At the end of the
day we meet to discuss what we have learned. We are capitalizing on this event by educating our Board
members at the beginning of their term with the thought they will become stronger leaders for the
organization.
Tennessee PowerPoint
Tennessee ACMPE