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Six resolutions from North Bay physicians advance to CMA House

Six resolutions from North Bay physicians will be submitted to the CMA House of Delegates at its annual meeting this fall. Depending on what action the House takes, the resolutions may become part of CMA’s legislative agenda for the coming year. In their current form, the resolutions:

·       Request that CMA help local medical societies and physician group practices develop Accountable Care Organizations and/or medical foundations (Dr. Bretan).

·       Ask CMA to form a Technical Advisory Committee to investigate strategies for strengthening the alignment between CMA and its component medical societies (Dr. Bretan).

·       Recommend that CMA convene a Marijuana Technical Advisory Committee to determine the appropriate DEA Classification Schedule for marijuana (Drs. Bedard and Rogan).

·       Urge CMA to endorse Proposition 19, also known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Marijuana Act (Drs. Bedard and Rogan).

·       Request that Medi-Cal cover osteopathic manipulative treatment (Drs. McCaffrey and Zaphiris).

·       Seek to prevent unlawful disclosure of personal health information to ERISA entities, such as insurance companies and third-party administrators (Dr. Jutila).

Any CMA member is welcome to submit resolutions for consideration by the House of Delegates. Resolutions approved by the House become official CMA policy, and many are subsequently enacted into law by the state legislature.

North Bay medical societies begin administrative regionalization effort

In collaboration with CMA, medical societies in Sonoma, Marin, Mendocino, Lake, Napa and Solano counties have begun an administrative regionalization effort to streamline operational systems and realize greater efficiencies. Most notably CMA is pooling its employees with county medical society staff to optimize payroll services and produce significant savings through an Administrative Services Agreement.

In addition, administrative regionalization will allow the county medical societies to share an online database and computer network to better utilize existing staff and increase administrative capacity. Many outsourced services will be brought in-house, eliminating redundancies and improving collaboration between the various North Bay medical societies.

CMA offers updates on Accountable Care Organizations

CMA has begun distributing information on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a component of the new health reform legislation that is intended to encourage greater coordination of care under Medicare. An ACO is a collection of physicians who join together to coordinate care, share clinical information and report on quality measures.

An initial CMA document, “The Basics About ACOs,” has been posted at mlcms.org/resources. Sample questions and answers appear below.

Why create an ACO?
ACOs that meet spending benchmarks will receive bonus payments. These payments will be based on the percent of Medicare Part A hospital savings and Part B physician savings in the community served by the ACO. The idea behind the policy is that greater coordination will improve quality of care, prevent costly hospital visits and ultimately produce a more cost-effective health care system.

What is allowed to be an ACO?
ACOs can be networks of individual physician practices, such as solo and small group physicians; an Independent Provider Association (IPA) or a large medical group; or a fully integrated physician-hospital system, but an ACO does not have to involve a hospital. Most IPAs, medical groups and physician organizations would qualify as ACOs as they currently exist.

How do you set up an ACO?
That is still to be determined. The health care reform bill only provides general terms for the creation of ACOs. Before ACOs are actually implemented, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will issue detailed regulatory guidelines.

Where can I get more information about ACOs?
CMA will be providing regular updates, as regulations take shape, and offer members legal and administrative guidance on how to set up and qualify as an ACO. Sign up at legalinfo@cmanet.org.

Medicare simplifies Meaningful Use requirements for EHRs

In response to comments from CMA and others, Medicare has greatly simplified the Meaningful Use criteria for electronic health record systems. The final EHR rule, released by Medicare in July, also gives physicians more flexibility to choose measures that apply to their specialty. In addition, there are protections for physicians practicing in areas lacking health information technology (HIT) infrastructure, such as health information exchanges and immunization registries.

A summary of the final Meaningful Use rule is available in the HIT resource center at cmanet.org/hit.

POLST kit now available in Spanish

Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) last year became a legally recognized document, similar to the widely used “do not resuscitate” (DNR) orders. The POLST form, used for patients with a serious illness or whose life expectancy is a year or less, outlines a plan of care reflecting the patient’s wishes concerning medical treatment and interventions at life’s end. The POLST form complements an advance directive by turning a patient’s treatment preferences into actionable medical orders.

CMA’s POLST kit includes legal forms and wallet identification cards, and answers frequently asked questions about end-of-life issues. The kits are available in both English and Spanish and can be purchased from CMA’s online bookstore at cmanet.org/bookstore. Single copies are $5 for members or $6 for nonmembers. Significant discounts are available on bulk purchases. Order 10 kits and members pay $2.13 each. Order 100 and pay just $1.53 per kit. (To receive your member discount, be sure to log in before you place the items in your shopping cart.) For more details, contact Samantha Pellon at 916-551-2872 or spellon@cmanet.org.

EVENTS

Save the date: North Bay membership dinner on Oct. 28
Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona is the featured speaker at the combined North Bay medical societies’ membership dinner on Thursday, Oct. 28. The event, to be held at the San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, begins with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7. Dr. Carmona, a highly respected trauma surgeon and public health expert, served as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006. He will speak about the role of state and local medical societies in disaster preparedness.

APPLICANTS

William Louis Rohr Jr., MD, Orthopaedic Surgery*, 510 Cypress St. #A, Fort Bragg 95437, Washington Univ 1975

* board certified

CLASSIFIEDS

Reimbursement specialist
Need help with office inefficiencies? Revenue RN provides outsourced billing, coding and revenue cycle services: www.revenuerecoverynetwork.com.

How to submit a classified ad

To submit a classified ad for MLCMS News Briefs, contact Erika Goodwin at solanomedsoc@sbcglobal.net or 707-548-6491. The cost is one dollar per word.

ABOUT MLCMS

The Mendocino-Lake County Medical Society, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit association, supports local physicians and their efforts to enhance the health of the community. Founded in 1938, MLCMS is affiliated with the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association.

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Santa Rosa, CA 95403