Legislative Session Starts; MMA to Focus on 5 Major Issues
February 19, 2026
State lawmakers returned to St. Paul on February 17 for the second half of the 2025-2026 biennium.
September 22, 2022
Laurel Ries, MD, a family physician in St. Paul, has been elected as the MMA’s president-elect. She will assume the role October 1. MMA members voted for officials in August.
Ries will join the other 2023 officers on the board: Will Nicholson, MD, a family physician and hospitalist in Maplewood, will serve as president (watch Nicholson's inauguration video here); Randy Rice, MD, a family physician in Moose Lake, assumes the role of immediate past president. Kim Tjaden, MD, a family physician in St. Cloud, continues as secretary-treasurer. Edwin Bogonko, MD, a hospitalist in Shakopee, continues to serve as board chair.
Other election results include:
Melissa Edgar, was elected as the medical student trustee
Dionne Hart, MD, was re-elected as an MMA trustee
Rebecca Thomas, MD, was re-elected as an MMA trustee
Tjaden was re-elected as an MMA trustee
Gaurav Mehta, MBBS, was elected as an MMA trustee
Dennis O’Hare, MD, was elected as an AMA Delegate
David Thorson, MD, was re-elected as an AMA Delegate
George Morris, MD, was elected as an AMA Alternate Delegate
Ashok Patel, MD, was re-elected as an AMA Alternate Delegate
AMA delegates and alternate delegates take office beginning January 1, 2023.
February 19, 2026
State lawmakers returned to St. Paul on February 17 for the second half of the 2025-2026 biennium.
February 19, 2026
On the second day of the legislative session, MMA leadership was already advocating for one of its top priorities - minimizing the harm of federal changes to Medical Assistance (MA).
February 19, 2026
Legislation to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in prior authorization requirements was heard in the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee on February 19.