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4707 Hwy 61, #232
St. Paul, MN 55110

Phone: 651-407-1873
Fax: 651-407-1754

Councilor
Michael Messer, MD

For a little over 20 years, I have been a member of the APA both in Minnesota and Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Minnesota Medical School, I joined the APA as a resident at Mayo Clinic.

Following training, I worked in Appleton, Wisconsin for 16 years as a medical director for ThedaCare Behavioral Health and also worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings. During those years I was involved in administrative psychiatry with the intent to bring to the area psychiatric care that was ethical and responsive to needs. We integrated behavioral health with primary care, developed innovative levels of treatment for chemical dependency and provided outlying areas with psychiatry services when distance caused access problems.

In that regard, since I moved back to Minnesota and have been working at the Duluth Clinic, I have noticed that access to psychiatric care within Minnesota, both inpatient and outpatient, has been a significant issue. The inpatient bed availability seems to be low and a marked contrast from the 1990’s when “For Profit” hospitals flooded the area with beds.

As a council member, I would look to change reimbursement levels for physicians and hospitals to provide the incentive to care for these complicated patients. Part of the plan would be to advocate for parity with other medical specialties. Although the need for parity is often repeated, maybe it needs to be repeated, again! Lastly, providing members with efficient and empirically based treatment information will give Minnesota psychiatrists a demonstrably better level of care for our patients, improve outcomes in treatment and make the very best use.