AzAAP Pediatric Council
The purpose of a Pediatric Council is to create a forum where pediatricians can meet with managed care representatives to express concerns with plan policies, covered services and administrative hassles. Through collaborative effort at such meetings and in follow-up meetings, it is possible to inform and educate on a particular issue regarding managed care and pediatric services and achieve real, lasting resolutions to existing problems.
Pediatric Council is not a forum for joint contract negotiation, individual contract discussion, or other discussion of fee-related (reimbursement) concerns. Moreover, a Pediatric Council is not a forum to discuss, allude to, or even imply any sort of collective action (such as a group boycott or any collective unwillingness to sign given contracts) on the part of pediatricians.
One of the main goals of the AzAAP Pediatric Council is to educate our members about effective practice management skills. Skills we anticipate educating members on include but are not limited to review and negotiation of contracts and calculation of immunization overhead expenses.
Stay tuned as the Pediatric Council Working Group posts additional information to this page. We will be asking for your experiences so that we can educate payers on what is impacting patient quality of care and our members' practice management in Arizona pediatric office settings.
***Below is a list of PEDIATRIC COUNCIL WORKING GROUP MEMBERS. We are still looking for representation in this committee from Flagstaff/ Prescott area***
CO-CHAIRS
Jeff Couchman, MD, FAAP
couch@mesquitepediatrics.com
Tucson
Amy Shoptaugh, MD, FAAP
shoprussa@pol.net
Tempe
Northern Arizona
Tom Barela, MD, PhD, FAAP
tdbarela@frontiernet.net
Show Low
Central Arizona
Micahel Arbel, MD, FAAP
mikiarbel@mac.com
Avondale
Andrea DeMets, MD, FAAP
Chandler
Ron Fischler, MD, FAAP
rfischler@nspeds.com
Scottsdale
Jerry Golner, MD, FAAP
Phoenix
Arturo Gonzalez, MD, FAAP
agonzalez@scottsdalechildrensgroup.com
Scottsdale
Dale Guthrie, MD, FAAP
dguthrie@pol.net
Mesa
Lou Iorio, MD
liorio@qwest.net
Mesa, AZ
A.D. Jacobson, MD, FAAP
mdadj@aol.com
Phoenix
Harold Magalnick, MD, FAAP
halmag@aol.com
Phoenix
Michael Perlstein, MD, FAAP
map@pvpeds.com
Scottsdale
Albert Schwartz, MD, FAAP
aschwartz@mesapeds.com
Tempe
Kara Tiffany, MD, FAAP
Phoenix
Stephen West, MD, FAAP
Glendale
Southern Arizona
Keith Dveirin, MD, FAAP
kdveirin@azacp.com
Tucson
Alesandru Tanase, MD, FAAP
sunshinepeds@hotmail.com
Casa Grande
AAP Pediatric Council Contact
Lou Terranova
(800) 433-9016
Lterranova@aap.net