Minson is the Senior Advisor for Health
Affairs at the Texas Engineering Extension Service and is Adjunct Assistant
Professor of Health Policy Management in the School of Rural Public Health at
the Texas A&M Health Science Center. As medical director for Texas Task Force
One, a FEMA and State of Texas urban search and rescue team, he has been
deployed to numerous disaster sites, such as the World Trade Center on
September 11, 2001, the Columbia space shuttle recovery, and Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita.
Texas A&M University Press: Your first book is
essentially a patient's survival guide to 21st century healthcare. How does the
message of this book align with the mission of the Texas A&M School of
Public Health?
Minson: I think ideally. If you consider the core principles of health, which
really is a state of being determined by: a person's genetics and biology,
their behaviors, their physical environment, their mental and
psychological environment, and access to healthcare, then the mission of the
School of Public Health aligns perfectly. My colleagues at the
TAMU SPH are really impressive professionals that are not just committed to the
development of students and other public health professionals, but who also are
committed to the promotion of global health.
Press: How did this book project and series
first come about?
Minson: Well, it certainly wasn't planned. I really wrote it, stemming from a
sense of outrage and alarm. I had a rapid sequence of experiences in a—generally,
very good-- healthcare system that illustrated an extraordinary need for
some healthcare consumer advocacy.
First I was confronted by a
clerical person indicating that I had a balance due, which turned out to be an
issue with their billing and accounting software. I am fairly informed, so I
questioned it, and so was not out some money.
Right on the heels of that,
however, I saw an older woman, who obviously was not wealthy, about to make a
choice between paying "her balance", which she really did not
owe, and being able to pay for food. I spoke to the clinic administrator
about it and was told, rather dismissively, that I could "write a letter
if I wanted". It didn't sit quite right with me and when my wife was
almost a victim of three successive and nearly fatal medical mistakes a few
weeks later, that did it. I thought, I can do a lot better than just writing a
letter. I wrote a book.
Press: In 2014, the Association of American
University Presses is emphasizing collaboration. In what ways was this book the
fruit of a collaborative effort and how is this of benefit to readers?
Minson: I had a fantastic editor. Actually I had several. As
I referenced earlier, I had the conecpt and the text, but the generation of the
book was truly a collaborative effort with a great group at TAMU Press.
This is not just cheerleading.
I am kind of a tough critic of
efficiency and effectiveness, in general. In another couple of years I will
probably qualify for the title of curmudgeon, but these folks were amazing.
My principle editor, Dr. Gastel,
recommended the cartoons and pointed out that my indulgences of anecdote and
humor actually balanced the heavy, often daunting, subject matter of trying to
stay alive and healthy in a sometimes daunting healthcare system. It was a
great suggestion, and I think it helped make the book. As it turned out, I had
written an online cartoon when I was a government employee--it saved my sanity,
as you might imagine--so it lightened the book, and, I think, really made it.
Once it was in production, I found
the editorial staff, the marketing group, and expertise I found at Texas
A&M University Press to be really creative and gifted and-- as a first time
author in this type of writing--really quite supportive and kind. Now, when the
book is recognized or receives some kind of praise, I actually respond by
saying, “we are really pleased.” I am really glad to get to explain that
because I am sure there are a few people out there that thought I was just
channeling Queen Victoria.
Press: In your various roles, is there a
specific element of "navigating the healthcare system" that you find
confuses patients most? What is it, and how do you address it in the
book?
Minson: Probably not just one element. Certainly the billing
convolution baffles everyone. I really think the most dangerous part falls
under with the medication interaction and medical mistake categories.
I mean, in my case, I nearly lost my
wife Kelli for the stupidest reasons. I mean really fundamental mistakes
would have at least put her in the ICU and could have killed her. That is
pretty sobering. I think the most basic problem here is really all about
communication. The way healthcare providers are trained to process information,
the economic pressures to more quickly process patients reducing time spent in consultation,
and the political and social trends in healthcare from provider
compensation and evaluation just exacerbate the problem of communication.
Communication errors lead to misdiagnosis, dissatisfaction, mistakes, and a lot
more.
My effort with the book was to
change some of that or at least help the public be their own informed advocate
or an informed advocate for their loved ones. The feedback I have gotten
and the success of the book, I think, speaks to that. It's really gratifying
that it hit the mark with people, but it also validates my initial concerns. I
also get a kick out of the fact that they seem to like the cartoons. The really
bizarre thing about that is that I was at a hospital the other day and saw one
of them tacked up in the nurse's lounge. I enjoyed seeing that.
Press: Prepare to Defend
Yourself . . . How to Navigate the Healthcare System and Escape with Your Life is
the first installment of a planned series. What's next?
Minson: So glad you asked. I am working on the next in the series, Prepare to Defend Yourself . . . How to Age
Gracefully and Escape With Your Dignity. It really is about the promotion
of health and the social dynamics of aging and what people can do to get
through it with greater autonomy, control, and satisfaction.
Doing the research has been a real
eye opener for me, and as one of the target audience myself, I was surprised at
how many issues there are that can be addressed properly to improve the process
of aging. I am really excited about it.
It's going to cover healthcare
issues, sure, but it also delves into how to determine the progression of
supportive needs as they apply to living arrangements--even architecture. There
are also sections dedicated to social programs, exercise, diet, hydration,
money, available financial resources, disability, and sex.
I decided on the construct of:
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Life covers the health
issues as defined earlier. Liberty addresses financial resources, where there
are services and funding available, and how to qualify if you need it. It is
all about independence and autonomy for seniors.
Pursuit of Happiness goes into the
quality of life stuff like sex and even death. Actually thinking of something
dedicated to sex and death sounds a little like I am writing about bull
fighting or something. I guess that is somewhat similar to the tumult of aging.
Additionally, it will have all the cartoons and goofy stuff I like so I
think it will be a lot of fun.
Press: What prompted you to take your book to a university press and to A&M
Press in particular?
Minson: I actually really wanted a university press. Books like mine benefit
from the discipline and goal orientation of a university press. This book was
not about money or success in the conventional publishing sense. In
fact it was stated that this was about public service. In fact, all my
proceeds are going to health advocacy organizations. I didn 't think it would
be right to profit from this. The press got that right away without me saying
anything. The timing was perfect. The university's chancellor endorsed a
concept of a combined health enterprise for TAMU, so the very spirit of the
university system, the Health Science Center and the School of Public Health
and the Press were aligned perfectly.
I have had great experiences with
TAMU. It started with my involvement with disaster response as medical director
for the search and rescue team, Texas Task Force One, and has progressed as the
Senior Advisor for Health Affairs at the Engineering Extension Service, and
then in the adjunct faculty position with the School of Public Health.
It's a really great organization and the university press experience has been
extremely gratifying.
Follow along the University Press
Week blog tour today to discover more ways scholarly presses are collaborating:
University Press of Colorado: The
press will discuss its collaboration with the Veterinary Information Network on
a recent textbook, Basic Veterinary
Immunology.
University of Georgia Press: The
press will expand on the New Georgia
Encyclopedia partnership, which includes the Georgia Humanities Council,
UGA libraries, GALILEO, and the Press. The NGE is the state’s award-winning,
online only, multi-media reference work on the people, places, events, and
institutions of Georgia.
Duke University Press: Press
author Eben Kirksey will write about the collaboration at the intersection of
anthropology and biology, including his own recent collection, “The
Multispecies Salon.”
University of California Press:
The press will feature authors Paul Farmer and Jim Yong Kim and the
collaborative work they are doing to fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
University of Virginia Press: The
press blog will feature an account of a collaboration between the press and the
Presidential Recordings Project at the Miller Center to create Chasing Shadows, a book on the origins
of Watergate, with a special ebook and website, allowing readers to listen to
the actual Oval Office conversations.
McGill-Queen’s University Press:
The press will discuss Landscape
Architecture in Canada, a major national project created with support from
scholars across the country and published simultaneously in French and English
by two university presses.
Project Muse/Johns HopkinsUniversity Press: Project MUSE is the poster child for collaboration in the
university press world, resulting from collaboration between a university press
and university library. The press will ruminate on collaboration in the
university press world in general, drawing on specific instances of
collaboration among university presses from MUSE’s history.
Yale University Press: Mark
Polizzotti, director of the publications program at The Metropolotan Museum of
Art, New York, will contribute to a guest post to Yale UP’s “Museum Quality
Books” series.
Ambassador
Untermeyer: Perhaps the greatest pubic misperception of the White House is that
it runs the US Government. At most, the White House sets the policy and the
message for the administration and handles the politics. Day-to-day governing
is done by the president’s appointees in the departments and agencies. What the
public may not fully grasp about the Pentagon is how convoluted its bureaucracy
(both military and civilian) is and how much that bureaucracy is fixated on the
budgetary process. 
Ambassador
Untermeyer: Although I have had a life-long interest in politics – and won
election to public office all four times that I ran – I have never been a
political “operative”. (I prefer this word to “fixer”, because the latter
denotes someone outside government who seeks to affect administrative and
legislative decisions. The operative is concerned with winning elections.) But
I have recognized that in the American system, opportunities to serve in
government often (if not always) come from helping specific candidates in their
campaigns. When people ask how I became an ambassador, I only half-jokingly
reply, “I stood in the snow in New Hampshire and waved a sign.” President
George W. Bush certainly appointed me to head the US embassy in Qatar for other
reasons, but he also knew I was a proven supporter. 
