Are you interesting in joining the NCMS Board of Directors? Five spots are currently available. The board meets six times per year and sets the course for the society through short-term projects and long-term goals. All input is needed and welcome from physician members in a variety of practice settings. Attend a board meeting to see how we function or ask a current board member about his or her experience. You can help shape northern Colorado health care on a larger scale. Complete this form to submit your name for consideration and why you want to volunteer, then email your CV to [email protected].

The Colorado General Assembly adjourned Friday, May 3, after a whirlwind session that put health care law and policy in the spotlight. Despite the great opportunities and vulnerabilities for physicians, the Colorado Medical Society, COPIC and component and specialty societies made real gains for patients and physicians. The hot spots this session were in professional review reenactment (achieved without opening the system to discoverability), the Medical Practice Act sunset (achieved with favorable changes), the opioid crisis (multiple bills achieved to address the epidemic but with a mandatory CME requirement), out-of-network reform (achieved but without our preferred payment benchmark), prior authorization reform (achieved) and more. More important, CMS and allies deflected bad policies that could have made the session catastrophic for our patients. Read more in this CMS update (three-minute read) and in the May/June issue of Colorado Medicine (10-minute read). 

The burnout rate among physicians in the United States dropped modestly in 2017 from a peak in 2014 and currently stands near 2011 levels, according to a triennial study conducted by researchers from the AMA, the Mayo Clinic and Stanford University School of Medicine. While acknowledging progress, the AMA warned more needs to be done to reduce physician burnout and called on leaders in the health care system to remain focused on driving research, interventions, workflow and teamwork enhancements, policy changes and technology improvements. The study found 43.9 percent of U.S. physicians exhibited at least one symptom of burnout in 2017, compared with 54.4 percent in 2014 and 45.5 percent in 2011. In comparison, the overall prevalence of burnout among U.S. workers was 28.1 percent in 2017, similar to levels found in 2014 (28.4 percent) and 2011 (28.6 percent). Read more here.

As part of a grant from the COPIC Foundation, CIVHC is working to help providers in Colorado be properly reimbursed for helping their patients with Advance Care Planning (ACP). A webinar developed by Pinnacle Health is now available on civhc.org and is designed to educate providers how to document and bill for ACP services. The webinar can be accessed here: www.civhc.org/acp-provider-training. CIVHC also asks participants to complete a brief survey following the webinar.

The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) has released an overview of buprenorphine patient limits. The overview includes a history of the issue, beginning with the Drug Addiction Treatment Act (DATA) of 2000; reviews the 2016 final rule on MAT for Opioid Use Disorders; and describes the impact of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 and the SUPPORT Act of 2018. Access the overview here for use in your office.