Physicians thinking about implementing telemedicine are encouraged to participate in a discussion: "Telemedicine in Practice - From laws and licensure to adoption and payment," hosted by the American Medical Association. The online discussion began Tuesday, May 29 and will run until Friday, June 8.

Telemedicine is transforming the way health care is delivered and is a strategy for many physician practices and health systems to provide more immediate access to care, improve care coordination, and decrease overall costs to organizations and patients. If you are thinking about implementing telemedicine in your practice, this discussion is for you. Not only will you learn about relevant laws and licensure status; the AMA will also focus on how to implement telemedicine in your practice by discussing such issues as cybersecurity, adoption and reimbursement. Join this discussion to learn more about implementing telemedicine in practice and where to go for resources to keep up with the latest legislative and payment changes in this space. 

Click here for more information.

The Colorado Medical Society Physician Leadership Skills Series -- an exclusive, free benefit for CMS members -- brings physicians high-quality leadership training from renowned faculty. 

Registration is open for the next program:  " Building professional resilience: How to thrive in the face of challenge " on Tuesday, June 26, 6-8 p.m. at CMS headquarters. 

Grounded in current research from neuro-leadership and performance psychology, this session includes the neuroscience and basic principles behind emotional intelligence, a framework for mental toughness and personal resilience based on performance psychology, the role of mindset and strategy in cultivating our resilience at any age, and tools to cultivate resilience in yourself and in your workforce.

The Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention recently published the Community Reference, a resource and reference guide for communities and organizations working to address the opioid crisis in Colorado. The Community Reference was developed by the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention with the Colorado Department of Human Services, Office of Behavioral Health, and it compiles the work of the Consortium and partners across the state. Stakeholders can use elements of it to enhance existing work or develop new strategies and programs.

The Community Reference is posted on the Consortium's website, here. Share it widely and send questions or feedback to pm@corxconsortium.org.

Telligen held a series of opioid education events in April and has archived the recordings on their website for access anytime.

Explore resources available to combat opioid harm and start today with practical, easy-win strategies to begin or continue to fight the opioid epidemic. There is an abundance of information for clinicians, patients, community members and caregivers to use. View the presentations to learn where to access these resources, what they look like, practical application, low or no-cost educational opportunities, and suggestions for their use.

View the series here.

Physician practices/groups may now log into the federal CMS QPP website to check their 2018 eligibility for Medicare's Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). After groups log in, they will be able to click into a details screen to see the eligibility status of every clinician in the group (based on their National Provider Identifier or NPI) to find out whether they need to participate during the 2018 performance year for MIPS.

Unfortunately, the federal CMS will not be sending out letters to advise physicians of their eligibility status this year so checking on the QPP participation status look-up tool is the only way to determine or verify eligibility status. Eligibility rules in 2018 are different than in 2017 so status this year may be different than last. Also as is indicated in the look-up tool, exempt individual clinicians still will need to report if their group is eligible and chooses to report as a group. The look-up tool can be found here.

New partnerships that stretch beyond health care clinics are key to addressing a mental health crisis in Colorado and nationwide, according to a new report published by health care experts convened by the Colorado State Innovation Model (SIM) and released during Mental Health Month in May.

"The multi-disciplinary approach to addressing the mental health of boys and men will help us change the health care dynamic in our state," said Gov. John Hickenlooper in a news release. "When health care experts work alongside other partners, we ensure Coloradans receive the care they need when they need it most."

Strategies in "Raising the bar on behavioral health awareness, prevention and treatment for boys and men: A call to action" will help increase awareness of mental health conditions that influence all aspects of a person's life.

The 42-page call-to-action report represents about 12 months of work initiated and led by the SIM population health workgroup, one of seven workgroups that guide the federally funded, governor's office initiative, which helps hundreds of primary care practice sites and four community mental health centers integrate behavioral and physical health.

Read the report here.

In the recently released 2019 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (federal CMS) is advancing an overhaul of the Meaningful Use (MU) program to improve flexibility, reduce physician burdens and advance health-information exchange and patient access measures.

To better reflect this new focus, the agency is renaming the MU program the Promoting Interoperability Program. The AMA has advocated many of the proposed changes and supports their general direction of narrowing the MU program requirements and focusing on interoperability.

Proposed changes include:

• Continuous 90-day electronic health record (EHR) reporting periods in 2019 and 2020.
• A new scoring methodology focused on performance rather than thresholds. New bonus measures for 2019, including "Query of a prescription drug-monitoring program (PDMP)" and "Verify Opioid Treatment Agreement."
• Removal of a number of the most challenging MU measures, including required collection of patient-generated health data (PGHD) and the view, download and transmit (V/D/T) measure.
• Allowing hospitals to send physicians more relevant information such as "referral notes" instead of large, bulky data dumps as a way to meet health-information exchange requirements.

The federal CMS has also stated that it will be changing the name of the Advancing Care Information component of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) to Promoting Interoperability. Further rulemaking will be required to make changes to measures under that program.