1st Carnegie Mellon MMM class making strides in Medical Management.

Graduates of the first Masters of Medical Management class (a.k.a. the Crash Test Dummies) at Carnegie Mellon University met at ACPE's Spring Institute in San Diego for their first reunion. Here's a look at what they've been up to since earning their master's degrees in October 1999.

Jeff Allen, MD, MMM, CPE, sold his practice and was on sabbatical from medicine from June 2000 until February 2002 to comply with the non-compete clause in his sale agreement. He took a job as chairman of the board for the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vt. Plus, he is working to open a new urgent care center in Burlington.

MMM impact: The most useful courses were the Management of Change course and the finance courses.

Mark Katlic, MD, MMM, left the practice he owned and took a new job as director of the division of surgery and director of thoracic surgery at Geisinger Clinic at the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He also started a practice management consulting company, Polaris Medical Management.

MMM impact: He says he uses his degree every day. "I've used the sheepskin and the meat, and it's kept me from getting fleeced," he jokes. It's also helped him understand business language and business interests, evaluate opportunities and find a new job.

Cynthia Sherry MD, MMM, FACPE, CPE, completed her term as medical staff president at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas and went on to co-chair a five-year strategic plan for the hospital that will lead to construction of a new bed tower and the development of appropriate service lines. She then became chair of the physician leadership council of Texas Health Resources, a 13-hospital system providing services across 22 Texas counties.

MMM impact: The most valuable lessons she learned included Peter Senge's "Fifth Discipline" and systems thinking concepts. She also used a business plan she developed at CMU to help her participate in development of a satellite hospital.

Frank Byrne MD, MMM, CPE, FACPE, assumed a new role at Parkview Health, in Fort Wayne, Ind., the sponsoring system for Parkview Hospital. As system executive vice president and foundation president, his responsibilities include public policy, advocacy, government relations, community relations and research programs. He was elected to the ACPE Board April 2002.

MMM impact: Byrne uses his MMM training daily. Techniques from the Markets and Competition class were used for board and management presentations proposing development of a satellite hospital that opened in January of this year.

Dennis English MD, MMM, CPE, is a medical director for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center at Magee Women's Hospital, where he is responsible for educating physicians on resource utilization. He is also the medical director at Women's Care Associates, a single-specialty OBG group with 24 providers. He established a women's health disease management program called "One on One" that reduced NICU admissions and bed days in high-risk pregnancies.

MMM impact: English says the degree gave him the tools he needed to set up processes and practice structure, deal with disruptive physicians and relate to the administration.

Larry Koenig MD, MMM, is the medical director of the Centre for Health Care in San Diego, Calif., a 48-member multi-specialty group, where he does full risk contracting and TPA services. Due to extensive penetration of HMO's in the San Diego market, he is heavily involved in disease management programs such as diabetes, CHF, asthma and coumadin clinics.

MMM impact: He says he used his degree to implement a new IT system and to institute systems for physician performance and pharmacy risk management.

Chal Nunn, MD, MMM, CPE, FACPE, took a job as senior vice president and chief medical officer at Centra Health in Lynchburg, Va., where he is involved in managing quality of care, clinical pathways and case management. He has reorganized the medical staff and simplified its bylaws, changed coding practices, improved case mix index by 10 percent and decreased accounts receivable by 20 percent. He was elected to the ACPE Board in April 2002.

MMM impact: Nunn credits the MMM course for his new job because it gave him the credibility and knowledge base to be successful in his higher-level position.

Skip Major MD, MMM, is executive director of the Individual Practice Association of Western New York (IPA/WNY), a 2,600 member open-panel IPA that contracts with a single HMO and has 360,000 covered lives. He mediates between doctors and health plans with the goal of providing quality health care at affordable cost under physician direction. IPA/WNY also provides physicians with performance-based compensation through a quality management incentive award to PCP's meeting HEDIS measures.

MMM impact: Major believes the degree established his credibility as a change leader and taught him how to help physicians deal with change.

Rob Jackson, MD, MMM, is a medical director for two IPA's in Detroit and manages a private practice of 12 primary care physicians. He's working on quality measures and resource utilization in practice, hospital medical staff and IPA settings. He is active in the medical management committee of Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital in Detroit. In addition, he is heavily involved in bringing the Leapfrog Group to Michigan.

MMM impact: Helped him manage his practice and negotiate with health plans.

Ragupathy Veluswamy MD, MMM, CPE, is in pediatric private practice in Lakewood, N.J. and is recruiting a fifth doctor for his practice. He continues as a medical staff leader at Kimball Medical Center, where he is active in quality improvement activities, including instituting process improvement plans and clinical guidelines.

MMM impact: His MMM experience helped him improve collections and, find ways to reduce patient wait time and allowed him to be an effective finance committee member.