Lucky ducks: Dave Gans and his legacy at MGMA

There’s a very important milestone here at MGMA that cannot go without mention this month.

For the past four decades of near-constant shifts in the healthcare industry, one of the few constants at MGMA has been David N. Gans, MSHA, FACMPE, senior fellow, MGMA Industry Affairs.

Over the past 37 years, Dave has become a national authority on medical practice operations and health systems. He is one of the best advocates for our members both from his work here as well as his active collaboration with many well-respected institutions across the country in pursuit of advancing medical practice management. The respect and credibility his efforts have garnered is without a doubt inspirational for those of us who have worked with Dave.

For attendees of the 1999 MGMA Annual Conference’s New Member Orientation, there was only one person right for the job of donning the costume of the “Answer Duck” — Dave Gans, of course.

So, it was every bit as bittersweet as we could imagine when staff members past and present gathered in March to honor Dave as he moves from his full-time role at MGMA into what’s being dubbed his “semi-retirement.”

As of March 6, Dave is focusing his shortened work schedule on the Association’s data analytics efforts. He also continues to write his regular column for MGMA Connection magazine, speak at state MGMA meetings, take part in MGMA’s national conferences and be a resource for MGMA staff and members.

To our delight, as Dave begins this new chapter and gets a bit more time to hopefully stop and smell the roses, it’s already evident he’s still every bit the energetic and engaging Dave we’ve known through the years.

Dave joined MGMA on March 1, 1980, as he was finishing his master’s degree in health services administration at the University of Colorado. At the time, he thought that MGMA would be a great place to work for a few years while he learned about group practice and built a network of healthcare managers. Little did he imagine that his work on the chart of accounts, financial management books, MGMA surveys and health services research would evolve. He remained on the MGMA staff beyond the three-year life of his original grant project and spent almost four decades as one of MGMA’s go-to resources for any topic.

Our service commitment to our members and the field of medical practice management has always been reflected in Dave’s willingness to share. While he is as well-versed in practice management topics as anyone you’ll meet, what’s most impressive about Dave — and what gives us the greatest pride to work alongside him — is his ability to connect with anyone at any stage in their career.

Organizations should only be so lucky as to have someone like Dave who, while working with leading researchers across the country and examining topics getting national attention, still takes the time to invite an intern into his office and chat about where they want to go in their career and how MGMA can be a part of it. And he has consistently done this through the years with a positive attitude and a huge smile on his face.

It’s a reputation that’s grown in many ways over the years. For attendees of the 1999 MGMA Annual Conference’s New Member Orientation, there was only one person right for the job of donning the costume of the “Answer Duck” — Dave Gans, of course. Dave’s ease in fielding questions from attendees trying to stump him with their toughest practice management questions became a legend right then and there. In the following years, Dave’s office has become home to a large collection of rubber ducks that are an instant talking point for anyone new to our office and seeing them for the first time.

That’s another thing we cherish about Dave: He tells our story, the MGMA story, and he does it so well. When newly hired MGMA employees go through orientation, Dave has routinely been there to impart his unmatched institutional knowledge, sharing how a group of 22 managers from 16 medical groups met on Nov. 1, 1926, in Madison, Wis., to create what we know today as MGMA. When we marked MGMA’s 90-year anniversary in 2016, Dave helped put almost a century’s worth of industry shifts into perspective (mgma.org/more-things-change) as MGMA’s longest-tenured employee.

And it’s not just about the facts with Dave. He can give you the ones and zeroes as well as anybody we know, but very few people can do what he does: Make it relevant to a range of practice leaders and relate it back to how the healthcare industry is changing. Multiple readers of MGMA Connection magazine over the years have hailed Dave’s Data Mine column as one of the first resources they turn to for his insights on group practice management and the thoughtful analysis of MGMA’s data points, “extracting wisdom from the numbers.”

As Shelly A. Waggoner, MS, CEBS, SHRM-SCP, MGMA vice president, Human Resources, put it when she announced to the staff Dave’s move to semi-retirement earlier this year: “His tenure has led to us learning and leaning on Dave with his rich institutional knowledge and strong expertise in group practice management.”

It also cannot be ignored that Dave’s time at MGMA is truly unique. As we think about how the healthcare industry works and how jobs and careers have changed generationally, it’s astonishing to still see someone commit to one place in one career for nearly 40 years. As we recognize and honor Dave’s dedication over the years, one of the hardest things to quantify is his impact, not just within the walls of MGMA, but for our members and the very business of healthcare in America.

To do so, we might need to devote an entire issue of MGMA Connection magazine to Dave’s work at MGMA and how it has helped influence our federal and state policies in a positive way. It’s evident in the administrative simplification of medical practice management over the years, as well as the MGMA SwipeIT initiative to push for machine-readable health plan cards for patients. But even as Dave moves to a shorter work week, we know that the list of meaningful contributions like these is sure to grow as he continues to give so much of himself, as he has for his entire career.

We are remarkably grateful to share in Dave’s journey — one that saw him earn a bachelor of arts degree in government from the University of Notre Dame, a master of science degree in education from the University of Southern California and his MSHA from the University of Colorado. Dave is retired from the U.S. Army Reserve, where he attained the rank of colonel. And as family members and former colleagues have attested in recent weeks as we’ve reflected on Dave’s body of work, he is also just a kind, caring soul whose gift for being reassuring and calm in the roughest of times is something to behold.

Though we will be at a loss to not have Dave’s smile and unmistakably positive spirit in the office every day, we consider ourselves so lucky to continue sharing Dave’s unparalleled view of this industry with members across the entire MGMA organization.

We hope you join us in honoring Dave as he embarks on this new chapter in his life. If you would like to share your own favorite story about Dave, please email us and we’ll assemble them for a member tribute later this year.