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  Community Pulse - October 2017

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Take the first step towards helping a neighbor in need by supporting Project Access®!
What is Project Access®?
Project Access® is a grassroots physician-led volunteer initiative providing access to free comprehensive medical care for low-income, uninsured Buncombe County residents since 1996. Due to the lack of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina and the federal government's desire to end the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), access to affordable health care looks very uncertain for a growing number of our family, friends, and neighbors. A majority of them are "the working poor."

We need programs like Project Access® now more than ever! But we need you to help us!  Donors like you make the work of Project Access® possible.

Please consider donating today- you may just save someone's life.

Every year, more than 2,500 low-income, uninsured patients receive healthcare and prescription medications through our amazing network of volunteer individual physicians, hospitals, pharmacies and other service providers. By donating to Project Access®, you're helping someone in need and getting an excellent return on your investment!
  • Every $1 invested in Project Access® produces a return of $15 in medical care!
  • Project Access® serves more than 2,500 patients per year
  • Over 500 physicians volunteer their time and services each year
  • Donated funds connect patients with doctors, medications, durable medical equipment and interpreter services
We are grateful for any and all support! Thank you for lending a helping hand to those in need.   Donate here
In This Issue:
Ad (left): Parsec Financial Advisors
Take the first step towards helping a neighbor in need by supporting Project Access®
Physicians and PAs: Enjoy 2018 with WCMS!
New Members to WCMS
Message From Association President Dr. MaryShell Zaffino
Information Regarding Mission Health and BCBSNC
MAHEC Prepares Western North Carolina for MACRA
Pardee Hospital comments on Mission/Blue Cross standoff
Bowtie Briefing: Special Sessions Re-Cap
Enrollment in Federal Health Insurance Marketplace Opens Nov. 1 and Ends Dec. 15
From the AMA: An Update on Recent Actions by the Administration With Respect to the Affordable Care Act
Healthy Healer Retreat featuring Rebecca Sotile Fallon - Medicine and Family: New Challenges; New Solutions
Help Families in Puerto Rico
WCMS Job Board
Physicians and PAs: Enjoy 2018 with WCMS!
Physicians and Physician Assistants: If you haven't already, please become a member! 

This is a big year for legislative advocacy. Join us to: 
* Keep legislation out of the physician-patient relationship and exam room
* Make your voice heard about patient safety issues
* Fight for patient access to high quality health care

We've launched our Healthy Healer program.
* Discounts on counseling/coaching
*  Burnout Prevention Events
* On-line Resources

* Advocacy to improve systems and policies

*Connectivity with peers

 
There's a lot happening at WCMS - check out our full 2017 Strategic Plan.

Join Today and make your voice heard!
New Members to WCMS
Click here to view the newest physicians to join WCMS!   
Message From Association President Dr. MaryShell Zaffino
Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am writing from my desk in Hendersonville, NC. You are likely in the midst of seeing patients, or sitting at your office desks or homes, also in Western NC. We all love living here and working here, raising our families here, and likely plan to retire here. It is a beautiful part of the country, with a diverse landscape, and an eclectic mix of people. We all serve these people and each other in our professions and in our communities, and we can preserve our ability to do this by supporting our local physician-led Western Carolina Medical Society. 

As the president of the Western Carolina Medical Society, I have learned the true importance of being able to thrive in living and working here, and WCMS wants to make sure that it continues to be this way. We strive to connect physicians and physician assistants from across the region with other physicians, physician assistants, and their families. We know it's important that we all work together to ensure our freedoms are preserved. Making those connections at regional events and forums through the local medical society has been a blessing and has helped me in my career with referrals, relationships, and educational growth. It has also helped me personally in meeting other families and physicians who are like-minded and can share successes as well as failures.

Local advocacy is a large part of what we do. We work directly with the NCMS to help lobby to ensure our profession stays viable and effective. I have been to Raleigh, but I have also talked with our legislators right here at home. We need to lobby on a state and federal level, but what happens locally is just as important. The WCMS, with your input, can affect change here! We have provided forums for hospital and community leaders to talk with members. We are actively providing support for burnout prevention and love of work with local events, professional coaches, and therapists through WCMS' Healthy Healer Program. We work with local businesses that support us and our members. We are your local resource, right here to serve you in WNC!

As your 2017 President, I have enjoyed meeting many of you and representing you and your interests, and I will continue to support WCMS in the future.

Sincerely,

MaryShell Zaffino, MD
2017 WCMS Board President
LOCAL NEWS

Information Regarding Mission Health and BCBSNC
[Sent on behalf of Dr. Hathaway to Regional Hospital CEO's, please share with your Medical Staff and Leadership Teams]

Dear Colleagues:

We trust you are aware that Mission Health is now out of network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.  We also anticipate that you have had or will receive questions from your BCBS patients regarding the implications of this for them. This email is intended to clarify the impact of this situation.

Top Eight Things You Need to Know re: Out of Network Status for BCBS Patients and Mission Health System:  Read more here
MAHEC Prepares Western North Carolina for MACRA, Featured in New MACRA Toolkit
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.  View toolkit here
Pardee Hospital comments on Mission/Blue Cross standoff
Pardee UNC Health Care has been asked by many in our community to comment on or engage in the current impasse between Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC and Mission Health. We have chosen to remain neutral on this matter, believing that both parties are reasonable, respected entities who can and will eventually reach an agreement.

We value our relationships with both Blue Cross Blue Shield and Mission Health. We know them to be fair and sensible and we strongly believe it is important for both parties to sit down and work this out, allowing patients to stay with their physician or provider of choice.

No one wants to leave their doctor to find a new one and very few of us enjoy doing so as a result of a disagreement completely out of our control. At Pardee, we believe patients should have access to care, close to home. For those currently under the care of Mission Health, we understand their desire to keep their current relationships and avoid a move.  Read more here
STATE NEWS

Bowtie Briefing: Special Sessions Re-Cap; Your Chance to Be "Doctor of the Day"
In this briefing, Chip Baggett summarizes the two special sessions that took place this week at the NC General Assembly, and he shares an important volunteer opportunity for physicians.  Watch briefing here
NATIONAL NEWS

Enrollment in Federal Health Insurance Marketplace Opens Nov. 1 and Ends Dec. 15
The open enrollment period for the Health Insurance Marketplace, aka Obamacare, has begun. Enrollment runs through Nov. 1 and ends Dec. 15.

After a recent executive order by President Donald Trump,  Pisgah Legal Services, a Western North Carolina nonprofit law firm that provides free civil legal aid, noted that there are a "lot of questions swirling around health insurance" through the Affordable Care Act these.

But, the organization said, the Affordable Care Act is still the law and that the coverage and subsidies remains the same. No changes have been made to the financial assistance available to consumers under the ACA.
In Western North Carolina, Blue Cross Blue Shield is the only health insurance provider offering ACA plans. It's also the only provider offering ACA plans in all 100 counties of North Carolina. BCBS increased its rates for the 2018 Affordable Care Act plans by 14.1 percent after requesting a 22.9 percent increase.

In a release, BCBS said that the recent executive order "does not impact 2018 premiums," but "ending these federal reimbursements will drive up premium costs and make it harder for insurers to participate in the ACA marketplace in the long run."  Read more here
From the AMA: An Update on Recent Actions by the Administration With Respect to the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
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. However, the case is pending on appeal (filed by the Obama Administration), and the courts have allowed the payments to continue on a provisional basis while Congress has been actively engaged in legislative efforts to amend the ACA, in order to avoid disruptions to the insurance market.  Read more here
ITEMS OF INTEREST

Healthy Healer Retreat featuring Rebecca Sotile Fallon - Medicine and Family: New Challenges; New Solutions.  Hurry! Register Now because registration closes tonight! 
In this entertaining and thought-provoking seminar, noted speaker Rebecca Fallon of the Sotile Center for Resilience and Center for Physician Resilience, will shed light on the inner workings of contemporary medical providers and their families who manage to have it all: productive careers, high levels of collaboration and collegiality in the medical workplace, and thriving personal lives. 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!
Help Families in Puerto Rico
The families of a WCMS physician and two WIN interpreters are affected by the ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico. WCMS is helping the physician and interpreters gather supplies to send to their families. If you would like to help these families gather supplies to send to their families in Puerto Rico, drop supplies by the office Monday - Friday between 8:00 - 5:00pm  from today until November 22 . This is not considered a donation to WCMS or another non-profit, so we won't be providing receipts for any items people bring. All items collected will be given directly to three local families who will send them to loved ones in Puerto Rico. Here is a list of supplies that would help their families:  View list here
Job Board

Click here to see the latest jobs posted on our website. 

 

To find out how you can post a Job or Classified Ad, click here.

Learn more about the Western Carolina Medical Society on this page. We would love to hear from you. Please contact us with any questions, comments or concerns you may have.   

 

Sincerely,

Miriam Schwarz

 

Miriam Schwarz signature




 

Miriam Schwarz, MPA

WCMS CEO/Executive Director 
( 828) 274-2267 ext. 312