MONTHLY NEWS
April 2017
Understanding the MIPS Advancing Care Information Performance Category 

As a MaineHealth ACO participant, you are automatically enrolled in "MIPS APM," the alternative payment model created by CMS for participants in Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs that do not currently accept downside risk. MIPS APM is seen by many as a more desirable option than standard MIPS, since it allows providers to check off certain requirements by virtue of being in an ACO. However, an important requirement remains: submitting data for the Advancing Care Information performance category. Ensuring that you report in this category is an excellent opportunity to improve your individual performance and contribute to a high score for the ACO as a whole - an outcome that all ACO participants can benefit from. For key insights into the Advancing Care Information (ACI) category.  Continue reading.

We want to make sure our MIPS and MACRA information is relevant and useful to you. If you have specific MIPS and MACRA questions and concerns that you'd like us to address, please email us with your suggestions. We'll do our best to cover them in upcoming issue of this newsletter. Thanks for your input!
MaineHealth ACO In Action

ACO Care Managers Help Produce Diabetes Education Videos

Looking for an effective way to communicate important health information to non-English speakers with low literacy, MaineHealth ACO care managers at St. Mary's Health System in Lewiston turned to video as a creative solution.

"We had a real need to communicate diabetes management techniques to our Somali patients, but traditional health education approaches were falling short," says Kari Grant-Gagnon, director of care management at St. Mary's. "We hit upon video as a medium that could overcome language barriers, work around literacy limitations and standardize our teaching."

N eed To Know: Important Updates

MaineHealth ACO Contributes to New Pediatric Referral Guidelines
Thanks to a generous grant from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the MaineHealth ACO has completed work with Maine Medical Partners to develop more than 30 new condition- and disease-specific guidelines to help pediatricians and family practitioners decide when to refer patients to specialists. The ACO contributed staff to managing the project and helped conduct practice outreach, facilitate video production, and organize meetings between specialists and primary care.
  


Remember to Revalidate Medicare-Enrolled Providers 
The Affordable Care Act established a requirement for all enrolled ACO providers to revalidate their Medicare enrollment on a regular basis. To streamline the revalidation process and reduce the ACO providers' burden, CMS has implemented several revalidation processing improvements.  
  
Events 

The MaineHealth ACO Presents Being Mortal: Free Film Screening and Discussion

Date: April 19th, 2017
Time: 5:30-7:30pm
Location: USM's  Hannaford Hall, 
88 Bedford St, Portland  
Free and Open to the Public

Based on the best-selling book by Dr. Atul Gawande, the documentary film Being Mortal explores the hopes of patients and families facing terminal illness and their relationships with the doctors, nurses, and family members who care for them. 

This free event organized by the MaineHealth ACO is part of National Healthcare Decisions Day, an annual observance that aims to help people understand the value of advance care planning. 

A reception precedes the film and a panel discussion will be held afterwards. Advance care planning resources will be available. 

Special thanks to our generous partners and sponsors: MaineHealth, Maine Medical Center, Maine Medical Partners, Southern Maine Area Agency on Aging, University of Southern Maine and Hospice Foundation of America. 



2017 Annual Tobacco Treatment Conference 

Date: May 9th & 10th, 2017
Location: DoubleTree by Hilton, South Portland, ME 



Internal Medicine Grand Rounds:  Compassionate Opioid Tapering 

Date: May 10th, 2017
Time: 8:00 - 9:00am
Location: Maine Medical Center, Dana Center Auditorium

In the midst of the opioid epidemic, and under the requirements of Maine Public Law 488, medical providers are struggling with how to compassionately taper opioids for chronic pain.  Dr. Noah Nesin, MD will address the challenges tapering presents and provide practical advice for how to taper in a compassionate and patient-centered way.   
Resources

Online Childhood Immunizations Education Program 
MaineHealth Educational Services (MHES) and the Child Health team are proud to announce the release of a new childhood immunization online learning series for pediatric and family medicine clinical support staff! The MaineHealth Childhood Immunization Education and Training Program, a multi-disciplinary, collaborative project, involved hours of meeting, scripting, editing, designing and recording over the past two years. 



Want to Be a Motivational Interviewing Ninja?
 
Well, it might not get you to ninja status, but Let's Go! is offering some great resources to enhance Motivational Interviewing (MI) skills for providers and practice teams. Join them for a series of webinars to learn about some key skills that will enhance your ability to counsel and guide patients towards healthy eating and active living for better health.  Motivational Interviewing is an effective technique that ignites a patient's internal drive for change. This evidence-based approach has been used with diverse populations and in varied settings.

For more information please contact:  Donna Levi  
For Dates & Registration please click here


Toolkit: Caring for Adult Patients at Risk for Falls 

One quarter of all community-dwelling older adults 65+ fall each year. MaineHealth ACO fall risk screening in practices is 90.6%! What are the next steps in caring for patients at risk for falls?
 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Preventing Falls in Older Patients: A Provider Tool Kit"  provides resources for patients and for your practice to "Screen-Assess-Refer" patients who screen positive for At Risk for Falls.

MaineHealth Healthy Aging is providing this information through the MaineHEalth ACO Care Management Training Program and is working with practices as a part of the Southern Maine Agency on Aging / Administration on Community Living Fall Prevention Grant. This work was recently presented at the American Society on Aging in Chicago.

For more information please contact: Gloria Neault 
FAST FIVE: ACO Spotlight
Meet Rob Chamberlin - Medical Director for Primary Care, Maine Medical Partners

Each month, we ask one of our ACO stakeholders quick questions about their life and the work they're doing. This month we catch up with MMP's Rob Chamberlin