Practice like the Pros

visit,” said clinic co-director Mohamed Kazamel, MD, associate professor in the Department of Neurology, Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine. “It allows the care team to work together to build a comprehensive care program for each patient paired with frequent follow-up.”

The new clinic opened in January. It sees about 150 patients currently and expects to add about 30 new patients each year.

“Beyond expanding our clinical services, the Alabama Innovation Fund grant will allow us to hire an ALS clinical trials coordinator so that we can participate in trials that shed new light on the disease,” said Nan Jiang, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology and codirector of the clinic.

For more information on the UAB ALS clinic, call 205-934-2120.

Endoscopic Spine Surgery.

Alabama MGMA Winter Conference

UAB Names New Leaders

organizational financial health and strategic financial decision-making. Prior to joining UAB, she spent 21 years with Ascension Health in Birmingham, serving in several financial roles that culminated as vice president of Seton Health Corporation. She is a certified public accountant and was formerly with KPMG.

‘Odds Are Alabama’ Shines Light on Dangers of Fentanyl

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System has named Brenda Carlisle as chief executive officer of UAB Hospital, and Susan Jennings as chief financial officer for the Health System. Both had been serving in their respective roles in an interim capacity.

Before assuming the position as interim CEO in November 2022, Carlisle had been vice president of Clinical Operations for UAB Hospital since 2017. Prior to joining UAB, she was chief operating officer, vice president of Patient Care Services and vice president of Operations at Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham. She began her career as a registered nurse and has over 30 years of experience in nursing management and health care operations throughout Alabama and Florida.

Jennings has over 35 years’ experience within the health care industry serving in a variety of roles focused on

The Odds are that if you buy pills or other illicit drugs online or from a dealer, they will be laced with a deadly dose of Fentanyl. According to a 2022 DEA study, six out of 10 fake pills seized by the DEA contained Fentanyl. These were some of the facts highlighted to-

The Alabama Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) held their Winter Conference at the Birmingham Hyatt Regency from Wednesday, March 1st to Friday, March 3rd.

The opening day included breakout sessions for a number of specialties in order to discuss issues specific to specialty. It included Orthopedics, OB/ GYN, Primary Care, Cardiology, Der- day by several statewide organizations announcing the launch of Odds Are Alabama, a campaign to bring awareness to Alabamians on the dangers and prevalence of illicit Fentanyl.

Odds Are Alabama will heighten awareness of the dangers, and provide information regarding help for people with substance use disorders, along with information about medication that can reverse an overdose and strips to test drugs for Fentanyl.

According to the DEA, Illicit drug manufacturers are lacing other drugs like cocaine and marijuana with Fentanyl and manufacturing fake pills that matology, ENT, Oncology, Pediatrics, Pulmonary, Allergy, and Surgery. include the drug to ensure that users are hooked on the first try. Because a lethal dose of Fentanyl is only about two milligrams, equivalent to a few grains of salt, it’s becoming increasingly common for users to overdose.

The Alabama MGMA Board: Greg Hulsey, Todd Ledford, Tamekia Buchanon, Thalia Baker, Amy Fisher, Samantha Wiseman, Tony Palazzo, Lisa Beard.

The following days gave attendees choices of sessions with professionals, including Maddox Casey, CPA of Warren Averett, who spoke about strategic planning; Kim Huey on Incident-to and Split/Shared Services; and Janet Day, MBA, CMPE who talked about no surprise billing.

“The surge of illicit Fentanyl is driving overdose deaths to their highest level ever,” said Julia Boothe, MD, president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama. “Fake pills containing Fentanyl are everywhere in Alabama. They look identical to real medicine, but you won’t know until it’s too late.”

For more information visit www. OddsAreAlabama.org.

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Grandview Opens FSED in Trussville

Grandview Medical Center held ribbon cutting ceremony on April 4th for the new Freestanding Emergency Department (FSED), opening in Trussville. The 12,500 square foot facility is the first of its kind in the Trussville community and provides patients with another option for 24/7 emergency services in the region.

The new FSED is located at 5542 Vanlerberghe Lane, just off Highway 11. It will include nine exam rooms, Fast Track rooms, on-site lab services, diagnostic imaging for X-ray, CT, and ultrasound. There is also a heliport on site. Emergency physicians, registered nurses and other patient care professionals will staff the ER.

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