News
Jessee to retire as president-CEO of MGMA in 2011
(Source: Modernhealthcare.com)
William Jessee will retire as president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Association in the fall of 2011, the Englewood, Colo.-based MGMA will announce later today. Jessee, a physician, has headed the 21,500-member MGMA for 11 years.
“I've been blessed to have the opportunity to spend the last 11 years working with a marvelous staff and dynamic boards of directors, during an incredibly exciting period for our nation's healthcare system,” Jessee, 63, said in a prepared statement.
The MGMA, which represents administrators and physicians who run group practices, said it will retain an outside firm to assist in the search for Jessee's successor. The MGMA said the process will take from nine months to a year after the search is formally launched, likely in early summer. In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, Jessee earned $699,759 in total compensation from the MGMA.
Under Jessee's leadership, the MGMA has been a vocal advocate for its members, particularly in the area of information technology and collecting and reporting clinical performance data. For example, the MGMA last month released a survey of its membership that reported ongoing administrative difficulties complying with the Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative.
Last November, the MGMA sent a letter to HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, arguing that the government was setting the bar too high for physicians to qualify for economic stimulus money under its proposed meaningful-use regulations. The MGMA also successfully lobbied for a longer transition period for the conversion to ICD-10-CM billing codes.
Prior to joining the MGMA, Jessee held a number of executive posts at other healthcare organizations, including two stints at the Joint Commission, and one at the American Medical Association, where he was vice president for quality and managed-care standards.
Last year, readers of Modern Physician voted Jessee No. 10 on the ranking of the 50 Most Powerful Physician Executives in Healthcare. And readers of Modern Healthcare voted him No. 98 on ranking of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.
