Virginia Chapter, AAP Board Meeting
Board I Room – March 23, 2012 ~ 4:00 PM
I.
Call to Order and Introductions
Dr. William Rees called the meeting to order 4:06 PM and made introductions of the
members in attendance and on the conference phone.
Members in attendance: Drs. Sam Bartle, Robert Gunther, Barbara Kahler, Ann
Kellams, William Moskowitz Diane Pappas, Kristina Powell, William Rees, Dave
Reynolds, and Francis Rushton. Attending via conference call: Sandy Chung and
Natasha Sriraman.
Staff in attendance: Jane Davis and Aimee Siebert, Lobbyist
Kimberly Kerns, Senior First Colonial High School Presentation
“The Legal and Ethical Implications of Overriding a Parent’s Decision in Pediatric
Care”
II.
Review of Minutes
Motion seconded and approved that the minutes of the January 24, 2013 Board
Meeting were approved as submitted. Drs. Kahler, Pappas and Reynolds agreed to
review minutes for the current meeting.
III.
Advance Child Health
A. Ensure Fair Payment
Pediatric Council Report
Dr. Ted Abernathy reported that he was trying to get the Pediatric Council started backup, he would like to have a dedicated group to work with each of the insurance
companies.
B Advocacy Report
Dr. Pappas advised that there were over 50 Pediatricians/Residents that participated in
the Pediatric General Assembly Day. DRs. Remley and Hazel as well as Karen Addison
participated in the Pediatric General Assembly Day and their support was appreciated.
Dr. Diane Pappas advised that she had invited all pediatric residents in the state to
participate in a Resident Advocacy Workshop on Saturday, April 6 but because of low
response she cancelled the workshop. She hopes to offer a workshop at the Donald
Lewis Pediatric Conference in Williamsburg.
C Increase Advocacy
Aimee Seibert gave the Legislative Committee Report for Helen Ragazzi. MD and
Valerie Bowman, MD
2013 Legislative session- Highlights
• Notable victory of session was Gwyneth’s Law -HB 2028(Dudenhefer)/SB 986
(Stuart)- which requires CPR training for teachers and ensures that every student is
trained in CPR before they graduate from high school.
• Medicaid Expansion: The Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission is a 10member commission of lawmakers that will review Virginia’s progress in attaining
specific reforms in its Medicaid program and determine whether to extend coverage to as
many as 400,000 uninsured Virginians under the Affordable Care Act
• Senator Northam’s SB 1252 expanding concussion awareness and education to youth
sports that use public school property, was defeated by the House Republican caucus
• A bill requiring that doctors provide written notice to patients who are tested for
Lyme Disease passed over the medical communities objections.
• SB 1274 (Barker) would have prohibited minors 14 and under from using tanning
facilities and required parental consent for minors 15, 16 and 17 to do so.
• SB 1352 (Vogel) would have required the use of safety helmets whenever riding on a
bicycle, skateboard or skates.
• SB 975, Senator Northam’s “Smoking in Cars” bill, would have prohibited adults
from smoking in an automobile when a minor under the age of 15 is present.
Future directions:
• Continue to work with community agencies that advocate for children, educate
legislators on issues related to children’s health, and support relevant legislation
• Increase membership of Legislative Committee
• Discuss starting a PAC where we would increase pediatric donations to supportive
legislators.
• Increase awareness of members with regards to legislative activities
o
Match members to their representatives by mapping members to their
specific senate and house districts
o
Focused communication with members whose Delegates/Senators serve on
the respective Health related committee (House: Health, Welfare and
Institutions; Senate: Education and Health)
o
Continue to contact (e.g. email, Facebook, etc.) members regarding
legislative issues that arise
Facilitate mechanism for members to contact their respective
legislators (similar to MSV action alerts)
III Member Value
A.Education Report
Dr. Ann Kellams advised the board that Dr. Natasha Sriraman is now serving as the
education chair for the AAP section on breastfeeding medicine. Dr. Ann Kellams is vicechair of the AAP chapter breastfeeding coordinators steering committee.
The post partum depression conference in Hampton this year was again a huge success!
The statewide obstetrical and neonatal care conference targeting physicians will be held on
May 10th in Virginia Beach. This year the AAP Chapter and the Virginia Breastfeeding
Advocates are honoring OB champions for breastfeeding.
The BF Consortium, or Breastfeeding Friendly Consortium is the new name for the VDH,
UVA, AAP Chapter CME, and part 2 and part 4 breastfeeding education site. It remains
free to all in Virginia, by entering your Virginia zip code and the coupon code that it gives
you. There is now a modest charge for out-of-state participants. We are in the process of
preparing a manuscript to submit to NEJM highlighting its effectiveness. This will be one
of only a few studies showing that a PI project of this nature can truly have a positive impact
on clinical outcomes.
The Skin-to-Skin in the Neonatal Resuscitation Program ALF Resolution, authored by Dr.
Kellams, garnered the support of over 14 states as well as the Section on Breastfeeding.
Drs. Rees and Gunther will represent the cause at the ALF, and we are hoping that it will
make the Top Ten. It simply states that the AAP should work with the American Heart
Association and the task force to include immediate skin-skin in the delivery room for stable
babies that do not require resuscitation in the NRP algorithm.
The AAP Section on Breastfeeding now has a facebook page as does Virginia Breastfeeding
Advocates. Like us!
Virginia has 5 hospitals participating in the NICHQ Best Fed Beginnings project with CDC
money that should lead toward Baby Friendly Hospital certification by 2014. UVA and
VCU are among them! It is also a goal of the State Breastfeeding Advisory Committee to
help hospitals become certified baby Friendly, and this year, they are also planning to work
more closely with the state Breastfeeding Task Force. There is a campaign to get a
breastfeeding license plate option for the state. Go to their website to sign on--they need
450 signatures in order to move forward!
Tobacco Grant
Dr. Robert Gunther advised the board that the AAP/FAMRI Visiting Lectureship that will
with Virginia AAP, VDH and the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth will create some
momentum to increase Virginia’s work on tobacco use prevention/cessation.
Dr. Jonathan Winickoff from Harvard University will be our visiting professor. Dr.
Winickoff is a nationally renowned speaker, clinician, advocate, and researcher in the area
of Tobacco Prevention/cessation.
Dr. Winickoff will give CHKD grand rounds on Thursday September 19th 8 AM with the
other partners, Department of Public Health, and Department leadership. On Friday
September 20th AM he will present at a Plenary Lecture at Donald Lewis Pediatric
Conference in Williamsburg.
HIT Report
Sandy Chung gave a Virginia Chapter web page update:
The website now includes Global Health Resources! Thanks to Mary Vaughn Desoto for
assistance with creating content for the section.
Website Analytics –
259 unique visitors
>1000 page views
Average visit 3 minutes
Pages viewed the most: Home Page (280 views) , Obesity Toolkit (67 views (does not
include Facebook views)), Members Login (66 views), Calendar (53 views), Chapter news
(36 views), Asthma Toolkit (34 views)
Most time spent on Obesity Toolkit (avg 9 min) and Asthma Toolkiit (avg 8 min)
Facebook
193 likes, reaching >900 people with posts this past week!
The people who “like’ us are located mostly in Virginia Beach (34), Roanoke (18),
Richmond (18), Chesapeake (10), and Charlottesville (6).
79.8% Female, 18.1% Male.
Twitter
42 followers. Not much activity.
State Health Information Exchange (HIE) – ConnectVirginia
Going live in a few weeks. Inova Health Systems in northern Virginia is first hospital
system to connect. This will allow exchange of summary patient health information called a
CCD (Continuity of Care Document). This document is generated by nearly all EHRs and
contains information about a patient such as problem list, allergies, medication list,
immunizations, labs. Sometimes chart notes included.
Currently still “opt-in” model where patients need to consent to have their information
exchanged. However, discussion is underway to change this since it is a barrier to adoption.
Also, no way for physicians not electronically connected to a hospital system (such as Epic)
to connect to the HIE. Options are being explored on how to make this affordable for
physicians. Multiple models exist in smaller HIEs and in other states, however all are
dependent on finding sufficient funding.
DIRECT messaging is also still available (secure email that allows for email exchange of
patient information). $15/mo per organization.
III.
Financials
A. Quarterly Report on Chapter Finances
Dr. Bartle gave the quarterly report on Chapter Finances. The Chapter is financially
sound, with a balance of $232,668.45 ($28,306.66 checking plus $204,361.79 in
Reserve) as of March 13, 2013. Dr. Bartle advised that overall year-to-date expenses
are within budget.
B. VA-AAP Mileage Allowance
The VA-AAP Board has been advised by their auditors that they can supply a
certification form for board members advising that they attended board
meetings/events and the board member will be able to use as a deduction on their
taxes. The set reimbursement amount is applicable to the federal rate which is
currently .555 a mile. The board member would need to retain the VA-AAP
certification form that verifies that you attended the meeting/function and need to file
with your tax return.
Finance Committee Meeting – June 13 at the Richmond Academy of Medicine
office at 3:00 p.m. Dr. Bartle also advised that all requests for contributions needed
to be in by May 15, 2013 to be considered.
A motion was made and seconded to approve the finance report.
V Leadership
ALF Update –
Dr. Rees went over the Annual Leadership Meeting that the Executive Board attending in Chicago.
The Top 10 resolutions based on the number of votes received. The top ten resolutions were:
2013 Top 10 Short List
Rank
Resolution
Number
Title
1
LR4
Promoting Education of Families about the Culture of Violence in the Media and its
Effects on Children
2
19SA
Bright Futures Should be Required to be a Covered Insurance Benefit for All Children
3
9SA
Improved Communication Between Child Welfare Systems and Pediatricians
4
45SB
Promoting Social and Emotional Learning throughout Infancy and Childhood
5
7
6
12SA
Teaching Safe Parenting Skills to Students
7
16SA
Monitoring the Outcomes of Homebirths
8
30SB
Non-Standard Immunization Schedules
9
13SA
Physical Education in Schools
10
LR1
Prevention of Button Battery Injury to Children
IV.
Protecting Immigrant Children
Learning and Growing
PROS Update
Dr. Barbara Kahler advised that PROS is recruiting for “No Smoking Cessation” and
“Teen Driving” at this time
VA-AAP Child Advocate 2013 Nominee
There were several nominations brought up to the board Cynthia Romero, Tag Greeson,
Chris Stolle and Patrick Hope, Jim Farrell as the chapter’s 2013 VA-AAP Child
Advocate Nominee to be given out at the Pediatrics at Williamsburg Conference.
Additional Board Positions
It was suggested that the VA-AAP Board add a fulltime representative to MSV and Joel
Brenner, MD our Chairman of a Sports Medicine committee. Dr. Kahler was going to
check with Dr. Karen Ransone to see if she was interested in being the chapter’s MSV
representative.
2013 Board Retreat
Dr. Rees reminded everyone that the VA-AAP Board Retreat would be March 22nd and
23rd at the Hotel Sierra in Richmond.

Ralph Northam, MD would make a presentation at the Cocktail reception on Friday
night

Jim Perrin, MD AAP President-elect will present on Saturday.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.