WORD TO THE WISE
Newsletter: November 2017 - Volume 17, No. 11
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In this issue:
- Director's Message: Let's get social at the 2017 annual meeting - Nov. 16
- PCMS Opioid Symposium - a great success!
- Update from the Pueblo City-County Health Department: Opioid Symposium
- Members on the Move: Dr. Shinn pens a book on pain relief
- Hot topics in medicine: Physician compare, opioid epidemic and QPP
- Upcoming events: 2017 annual meeting and member social
- News from COPIC: Opioid seminar - Nov. 9
- News from CMS: Affect policy through Central Line
- News from AMA: Study finds consolidation increasing nationwide
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MESSAGE
Don't miss out on our 2017 annual meeting and member social!
Members, come be social with us at the event of the year, Thursday, Nov. 16. This fun and relaxed evening will be held at the home of Teresa Braden, DO, with a gorgeous balcony overlooking the golf course and city, a cozy circle of benches surrounding a warm fire pit, and -- of course -- the great company and conversation of your fellow Pueblo physicians. There is no cost to attend. Registration will close once capacity is reached so RSVP soon
to my phone or email.
I hope to see you there!
Cheryl
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2018 membership dues are now due!
Your 2018 dues invoices are being sent out to your office or home. If you have any address changes, etc, please contact us at
billing@pueblocms.org
as soon as possible. If you should have questions regarding the billing, please do not hesitate to give me a call at 719-281-6073 or
cheryl.law@pueblocms.org
. We thank you for your continued support!
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PCMS Opioid Symposium was a great success!
Thank you to all the PCMS members and other professionals who attended the highly successful 2017 Opioid Symposium. Attendees came together for powerful presentations to learn more about opioid abuse in Pueblo and talk about solutions to a healthier Pueblo. The link to view the complete program is located below.
Special thanks to the staff members of the Pueblo City-County Health Department, whose help was invaluable; to Parkview for sponsoring breakfast, drinks and the venue; and to PCMS president-elect, Tom Greidanus, MD, for his hard work leading the event committee and inspiration to put together the event, and to PCMS board members Drs. Newburg, Tonsing, Luebke, Braden and Vargas, for their attendance at the event.
A few comments from attendees:
- Thanks for making the event local only!
- Great to see the society coming alive!
- When's your next event?
We truly demonstrated our mission to facilitate meaningful collaboration of medical professionals in Pueblo County!
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Critical to the success of the event was
SUBOXONE TRAINING, and getting medical providers to participate in this type of training to become treatment providers. Learn more about becoming waivered to write for suboxone in an upcoming program, "Confronting the Opioid Crisis in Your Community - Become Waivered." It will be held Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. at Park East, 720 Goodnight Ave, Pueblo, CO 81005. RSVP to Michelle Blood at
michelle.blood@indivior.com or (720) 201-4955.
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NEWS FROM THE PUEBLO CITY-COUNTY HEALTH DEPT.
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Report from the Oct. 14 Opioid Symposium
Due to the alarming statistics around opioid abuse in Pueblo County, the Pueblo City-County Health Department partnered with the Pueblo County Medical Society to host the 2017 Opioid Abuse Symposium on Oct. 14, 2017. Local leaders presented to health care professionals on opioid topics specific to Pueblo County which included: substance use prevention skills, tools for safer prescribing practices, local impact report, prescribing guidelines, screening and referral tools, the neurobiology of addiction, infectious disease and harm reduction, local medically assisted treatment options, field information from Emergency Medical Services, and a personal testimony of addiction and recovery.
A video of the symposium is available at
youtu.be/z4WxpM3mQpg for those who were unable to attend. The Pueblo City-County Health Department is also collaborating with other community partners to build a coalition to address the opioid crisis in Pueblo. If you would like to participate, please contact Tessa Lewis, project specialist for the Pueblo City-County Health Department, by email at
lewist@pueblocounty.us or by phone at 719-717-0505.
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MEMBERS ON THE MOVE
This section of the PCMS newsletter highlights members who are making a difference in our community or medical field.
Share your news with us
!
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PCMS member Rina K. Shinn, MD, FACS releases book on alternative pain management
Rina Shinn, MD, FACS, has released a book titled "Instant Pain Ease" that she wrote to help her patients to learn to help themselves for achieving pain relief.
She is a board certified surgeon who has been open to newer ways of handling pain. She introduced a PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field) machine for pain control in 2010 to help her staff deal with chronic pain. In 2013, she heard about a pain neutralization technique taught by Stephen Kaufman, DC, in Denver. She was impressed by how effective the technique was but the full course dealt more with meridians and other chiropractic techniques.
She was introducing a simplified version to her clients and when she saw that her teenage son was able to use it without any knowledge of anatomy or previous medical training, she realized that it must be possible to show people how to eliminate their acute and chronic pain using trigger point elimination technique.
"I feel we should empower our patients with tools to cope with their pain rather than relying on pain medications or addictive drugs," Shinn said.
Dr. Shinn will host an open house at her practice, 5-7 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2017 for book signing and purchase as well as a free demonstration of the IPE technique. If you would like a copy of the manuscript, a limited supply is available free to PCMS members only. Contact
cheryl.law@pueblocms.org to claim a free copy.
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Annual Meeting and Member Social - Nov. 16
Join us for our 2017 annual meeting and member social held Thursday, Nov. 16, 5:30-9 p.m. at the home of PCMS Board member Teresa Braden, DO, 4339 Porta Fina Dr, Pueblo, CO 81001.
- Enjoy amazing food and a night full of dynamic discussion, camaraderie, and live and interactive music.
- Play pool, sit around a cozy fire pit or stroll along the balcony overlooking the golf course and city.
- Cash bar will be available.
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Physician Compare preview issue resolved; preview open through Dec. 1
On Oct. 18, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services opened the 30-Day Preview Period for the 2016 performance information targeted to be publicly reported on
Physician Compare
starting in December 2017. The preview was scheduled to end on Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. ET. Due to a technical issue preventing the data from properly displaying in the preview portal, the
Provider Quality Information Portal (PQIP), all data were not viewable for the first week of preview. This display issue
has now been resolved and the federal CMS is extending preview through
Friday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. ET to provide more time for clinicians and groups to preview their performance data as a result of this technical issue.
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Trump Administration declares opioid crisis a public health emergency
The Trump administration declared the opioid epidemic a "national public health emergency" today, which will open up funding for treatment and research. President Trump also directed agency and department heads to use all appropriate emergency authorities to reduce number of deaths caused by the opioid crisis.
The move stops short of declaring the crisis a national emergency, as was advised by the commission to study the opioid crisis headed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Doing so would free up more funds for treatment, ensure wider access to the anti-overdose drug naloxone and improve monitoring of opioid prescriptions to prevent abuse but would pull funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund.
The American Medical Association issued a statement commending the president's action and calling on physicians to be leaders "in continuing to make judicious prescribing decisions, and by considering the full range of effective therapies for pain, including non-opioid and non-pharmacologic options, co-prescribing naloxone, helping patients access medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder and removing stigma."
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Federal CMS adds third way to participate in QPP
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released the Proposed Rule guidelines for a third way to participate in the QPP MIPS track starting in 2018. If physicians are thinking of pursuing this participation option, they must apply before Dec. 1, 2017. If you have questions or need help, contact Courtnay Ryan at
cryan@telligen.com
.
As proposed in the 2018 Quality Payment Program proposed rule, solo practitioners and groups can choose to participate in the
Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)
as a virtual group for the 2018 performance period. To form a virtual group for 2018, solo practitioners and groups need to engage in an election process. For the 2018 MIPS performance period, the election period for virtual groups to make an election is from Oct. 11, 2017 to Dec. 1, 2017. For more information about joining or forming virtual groups, see the
Virtual Groups Toolkit
.
Need help with the election process? Contact the Quality Payment Program at
QPP@cms.hhs.gov
or 1-866-288-8292 (TTY: 1-877-715-6222). You can also contact your local support organization for support. And visit the Colorado QPP Coalition website for helpful resources and webinars:
www.cms.org/coqpp.
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The Opioid Crisis Part I—The Pain that Won't Go Away
WHEN: Nov. 9; 12–1pm
WHERE: Cancer Center in Penrose Main Hospital (2222 North Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80907)
WHAT: This in-person seminar examines the scope of the opioid problem, and uses the guidance of the CDC, FDA, medical boards and other best practices to describe practical approaches to practice more safely with opioids. Attendees receive one COPIC point and one CME credit.
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NEWS FROM THE COLORADO MEDICAL SOCIETY
Connect with CMS through Central Line - a revolutionary engagement platform
The Colorado Medical Society has been working for five years, along with other provider organizations and state government at the legislative and executive levels, to address this crisis. CMS urges all Colorado physicians to take action by reading CMS's "
7 Strategies to Achieve Safe Opioid Prescribing" and implementing these steps in their practices.
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NEWS FROM THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
AMA study finds health insurers consolidation increasing nationwide
The 16th edition of the AMA annual report -- " Competition in Health Insurance: A Comprehensive Study of U.S. Markets " -- examined market concentration in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 389 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and found that in 43 percent of MSAs one insurer had at least a 50 percent share of the market.
"We find that the majority of U.S. commercial health insurance markets are highly concentrated," the report concludes. "Our findings should prompt federal and state antitrust authorities to vigorously examine the competitive effects of proposed mergers between health insurers."
Read more here
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MISSION:
Facilitate meaningful collaboration of medical professionals in Pueblo County.
VISION:
Create a medical society that serves as a venue for collaboration for the betterment of healthcare in Pueblo County. The Society’s efforts will improve the practice of medicine and life of medical professionals.
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Board Officers:
President: Henrique Fernandez, MD; President-Elect: Thomas Greidanus, MD; Secretary: Ross Patrick, MD; Treasurer: Lev Asherov, MD; Past-President: Alfredo Vargas, MD; CMS Representative: TBD |
Directors:
Teresa Braden, DO; Donald Luebke, MD; Julie Newburg, MD; Robert Tonsing, MD; Atul Vahil, MD |
Executive Director:
Cheryl Law, MA, MNM
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This newsletter is intended for the members and interested persons of the Pueblo County Medical Society. If you have received this and wish to opt-out call 719-281-6073 or use the “unsubscribe” link below.
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