Sponsor Message:
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Register today for WCMS' Healthy Healer Retreat: Medicine & Family: New Challenges; New Solutions
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Drawing material from the Sotiles' books, over 15 years of clinical and consulting experiences, and her practice's ground-breaking research with medical families, Rebecca will teach practical strategies that can immediately make a difference in your work and family relationships, regardless of how you define "family."
This event is FREE for all WCMS Members. Discounts apply for non-member physicians and PAs of Gold Level sponsoring hospitals. $75 for non-member physicians and PAs. Significant others attend free of charge!
CME will be offered and we'll be giving a copy of the Sotile's book "Letting Go of What's Holding you Back" to all attending physicians and PAs.
Register online today
HERE!
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Mission Health CEO calls BCBS 'unethical, bullying foe' in internal email to senior leadership
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The CEO of Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health System called Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina "the most unethical, bullying foe that I have ever faced" in an email to senior employees obtained by
Citizen-Times.
Mission Health's contract with Durham-based BCBSNC
expired Oct. 5 following a monthslong feud. Mission Health President and CEO Ronald Paulus, MD, wrote in an Oct. 4 email to roughly 60 senior employees, "When leaders from across North Carolina and beyond called to 'warn me about what Blue Cross would do,' I listened carefully but was skeptical." The approximately 600-word private email accused BCBS of lying to its clients. Dr. Paulus wrote, "I didn't think that was possible from a multibillion dollar company, but alas it was and it is." Read more
here.
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From the AMA: An Update on Recent Actions by the Administration With Respect to the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
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President Trump announced late last night that the Administration would no longer make the cost sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurers offering plans in the ACA marketplace. Repeated Administration threats to stop these payments and delays in Congressional efforts to specifically authorize and fund the CSRs prompted many insurers to increase their 2018 marketplace premiums to offset the potential loss of these funds, so the number of plans that will be prompted to withdraw from the ACA marketplace is not yet known. Lawsuits against the federal government in response to this action are also anticipated.
Under the ACA, health insurers must reduce cost sharing requirements (i.e., deductibles and copayments) for low-income enrollees, and the federal government has a contractual obligation to the plans to defray the cost of these CSRs. A court has ruled in a lawsuit (U.S. House of Representatives v. Kathleen Sebelius) that the CSR payments in their current form are unconstitutional since Congress has not gone through the process of appropriating funds for them. Read more
here.
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Healthy Healer - Doctors may fear losing their license for seeking mental health care
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Nearly 40 percent of U.S. physicians are reluctant to seek mental health care out of fear that it might imperil their medical license, a recent study suggests.
The reluctance was more pronounced in states where licensing applications questioned doctors about mental health conditions going back more than a year. Physicians in those states were at least 20 percent more likely to report they would be reluctant to seek psychological treatment than doctors in states that asked only about current impairment. Read more here.
Note from WCMS: In 2016, in collaboration with NCMS, WCMS successfully advocated for a change in the NC Medical Board's definition of burnout- allowing physicians & physician assistants to seek help without having to report it. Check out our Healthy Healer Program
here. Get the help you need without worry.
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MAHEC Prepares Western North Carolina for MACRA, Featured in New MACRA Toolkit
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WNC practices who have been working with MAHEC's Health Innovation Partners (HIP) team have nothing to worry about. The HIP Team has helped more than 120 WNC practices implement the kinds of quality improvement, data collection and reporting processes that are recognized and reimbursed at higher levels under MACRA.
MAHEC is committed to helping WNC practices achieve the quadruple aim: enhancing patient experience, improving population health, reducing healthcare costs and improving workforce resilience. Read more
here.
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| QI Minute from CCWNC- Using DATA to Improve Patient Health |
The future model of healthcare called Pay for Performance, is a system in which providers use data to show that their patient populations are getting healthier. Read more
here.
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PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT CORNER
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What PAs Want in the Workplace: Effective Conflict Management
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BELCHER: How does effective conflict management contribute to an excellent PA workplace?
HERMAN: Effective conflict management makes it okay to ask questions and challenge the status quo without fear of retribution. This is especially important in complex environments like medical settings, where teams of people ensure high quality care for patients. There will be differing opinions, which can lead to conflict. Effective conflict management allows for improvements and enhancements primarily in systems-how we do things on a regular basis-and PAs are frequently the experts in how things get done. This changes the culture such that PAs are heard; their contributions become much more important. They not only feel more valuable, but are more valuable. Greater organizational efficiency means better outcomes for patients, which we all want. Read more of the interview here.
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WCMS Job Board
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Medical Office Space: for a 1-2 provider practice to share with an established wellness/GYN solo practitioner. We are most interested in office based practitioners of lifestyle, integrative, or functional medicine. Please contact Erin Elliot at (828)489-3942 for more information.
If you are a 100% Member Practice, posting job openings here is FREE!
Click here
for more information.
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WCMS is a thriving 650+ member professional association of the physicians of Western North Carolina, and a chartered component medical society of the NC Medical Society and the AMA. WCMS is an organization run by physicians, for physicians. In 2017, WCMS opened membership to physician assistants.
Our Mission
WCMS Association: WCMSA is the physicians' voice advocating for the health of the physician, the patient, and the community, through strengthening the physician-patient relationship.
WCMS Foundation: WCMSF is the physician and community-led charitable arm of the medical society improving access to quality healthcare, decreasing disparities in health, and promoting health & wellness.
Our Vision
To be a dynamic physician community dedicated to a healthy, vibrant Western North Carolina.
About WCMS
The purpose of WCMS is:
- To strengthen the voice of WNC physicians in advocating for the health of the medical profession, the health of the patient, and the health of our region
- To inform, educate and prepare physicians for rapidly occurring changes in health care at national, state, and local levels
- To share legislative and policy information and advocate on behalf of physicians in areas of mutual interest
- To share available resources in areas of mutual interest
- To promote physician-to-physician communication and dialogue in an open, honest and safe environment
We hope you enjoy our weekly e-Newsletter. If you have questions or suggestions please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
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| Miriam Schwarz |
Miriam Schwarz, MPA
WCMS CEO/Executive Director
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