SCMA/MLCMS January 2020 News Brief

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The North Bay Business Journal asked me to write an article on what I felt the trends in the field of medicine would be in 2020. This was published December 30, 2019. I am sharing the article with you here.

The Sonoma County Medical Association is the physician-led professional organization of Sonoma County. With their membership in SCMA, physicians are empowered to lead and transform the health care system through advocacy. The SCMA administrative team focuses on providing tools, networks and services to physicians to improve their practice life and personal well-being, which in turn translates to patient well-being. Trends that SCMA will focus on in 2020 are:

1. The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) — working to continue California’s landmark malpractice protections.

To read the full article, click here .

Yours in service,

Wendy Young, Executive Director

(and the entire Team from the Sonoma County Medical Association

and Mendocino/Lake County Medical Society)

(707) 525-4141 | exec@scma.org

Purchase your individual or full table tickets online at: https://comedynightgala.bpt.me/

SCMA WHITE COAT INVESTORS QUARTERLY DINNER

Topic: Estate Planning

The Importance of estate planning and designing your plan so that you have control over the future. How do your will and trust documents fit into your financial plan? You take great care of others; have you taken care of yourself and your family?

Hosted By SCMA and:

Russel Van Sistine, Edward Jones, Financial Advisor (SCMA Business Partner)

& Erika Copenhaver, Attorney

Date: Thursday, January 16, 2020 | Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm

LOCATION:

Ca' Bianca Restaurant

835 2nd Street, Santa Rosa

No cost to SCMA/MLCMS Physician Members! Includes Wine and Dinner

RSVP: (707) 525-4375

Medicare changes 2020 and Beyond

Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Time: 12:00 - 1:30pm

LOCATION:

Partnership HealthPlan

495 Tesconi Cir, Santa Rosa

COST: $25 includes lunch

Bring a friend for just $15

RSVP: (707) 525-4375

New Rebuttal Process for Deactivated Medicare Providers: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has developed a new rebuttal process for providers whose Medicare enrollments have been deactivated. This new process began on December 31, 2019, and gives providers the right to file a rebuttal to challenge their deactivation. Providers are given this opportunity to demonstrate that they meet all applicable enrollment requirements and that their Medicare billing privileges should not have been deactivated.

Submitting a Rebuttal: All rebuttals must be submitted within 20 calendar days from the date of the deactivation notice. These requests can be mailed, emailed or faxed to Noridian, California’s Medicare contractor. Any rebuttal submitted after the 20 calendar days will be dismissed. Read more here.

New surprise billing proposal bad for patients and physicians

SCMA/MLCMS/CMA are urging physicians to contact their members of congress and tell them the new surprise billing proposal is bad for patients and physicians.

Read More Take Action Now!

2020 California Laws of Interest to Physicians

Download this summary of laws affecting health care coverage, drug prescribing, public health and mental health issues.

Download Summary

Apply for CalHealthCares loan repayment program starting January 13, 2020

The 2020 application cycle for the CalHealthCares loan repayment program is approaching!

CalHealthCares will award $340 million in loan repayments to recently graduated physicians and dentists over the next five years to encourage and incentivize providers to provide care to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has contracted with Physicians for a Healthy California (PHC) to administer this program.

CalHealthCares has approximately $58.6 million for physicians and $10.7 million for dentists for this application cycle for loan repayments of up to $300,000 in exchange for a five-year service obligation. Qualifying dentists can also apply for a practice support grant in exchange for a 10-year service obligation. Please visit our website to view the updated information.

View website for application and info webinars details | Applications deadline February 7, 2020

Registration for the 2020 Point in Time Homeless Count is now available online at 2020 Sonoma County PIT Count Volunteer Registration .

The 2020 Homeless Count will take place on Friday January 31, 2020 from 5am-9am at locations across Sonoma County.

Approximately 150-175 community volunteers are needed for this year's count. Volunteers work with paid guides who have experienced homelessness and canvass all census tracts across the county. Deployment sites will be based in Santa Rosa, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Petaluma, and Sonoma Valley.

A series of trainings will be held for volunteers in late January and will be listed on the County website soon. Click here for registration

Seeking aspiring authors/writers

who would like to see their work PUBLISHED!

Articles/writers sought for future issues of

Sonoma Medicine

Sonoma Medicine is the journal for the Northern California medical community, written by the local physician members (and non-members), local and regional experts and retired physicians. While there is generally a theme to each issue (for example, the recently released fall/winter issue is focused on the environment), we also strive to tap into the talent and interests of local physicians by featuring topics of local interest.

For the spring/summer 2020 issue of Sonoma Medicine we are seeking:

• SCMA and/or MLCMS physician-featured articles sharing the hobbies and/or activities that you engage in to break up the stress of practicing medicine. (We have had some spectacular contributions of local physicians' winemaking, painting, woodworking, stone carving and amazing photography.) What is your hobby? Care to share it?

• “Mystery cases!” Tap into the latent “Sherlock Holmes” in all of us and share your mystery and how it was resolved.

Give it a try. We can help you through the process.

Email your suggestions by Monday, January 13, 2020 to Sonoma Medicine editor,

Tim Burkhard at tpburk@aol.com .

Want to join the Editorial Board? Our next Editorial Board meeting is:

12:00 p.m. on January 14, 2020 in Santa Rosa

Please email your interest to tpburk@aol.com for details.

Ideal property to convert into medical/dental office in Kelseyville . 4-BR 1,700 sf ranch-style house on major street near Hwy 29. Zoned commercial. Huge lot. Sale/lease. 414-659-1010. marjorie.windrem@gmail.com .

Have an item to submit for the News Briefs Bulletin Board? Free for SCMA and MLCMS members; $1 per word for nonmembers. Contact Susan Gumucio at 707-525-0102 or susan@scma.org .

Northern California

Medical Associates (NCMA) Physicians:

Kriegh Moulton, MD

Sutter Medical Group of the Redwoods (SMGR) Physicians:

Robert Faust, MD

Sophie Fletcher, MD

Shawn Pejuta Franklin, MD

Gary Furness, MD

Cassandra Garcia, MD

Karen Gelphman, MD

Robert Haimson, MD

Rex Harner, MD

Todd Hofeling, MD

Donald Hopkins, MD

Paul Hornberger, MD

Aruna Jayaraman, MD

Natasha Kahl, MD

Sumit Kohli, MD

Lisa Kremer, MD

Nicole Kwon, MD

Jennifer Lee, MD

Robert Lee, MD

Mondhipa Ratnarathorn, MD

Bradley Restel, MD

Anthony Sajewicz, MD

Emily Shaw, MD

Pooja Sherchan, MD

Briant Smith, MD

David Soto, MD

Christopher Stafford, MD

Kari Teran, MD

SCMA & MLCMSJoin Today!

Sutter Medical Group of the Redwoods (SMGR) Physicians:

Jonathan Albeg, MD

Frank Anderson, MD

Renee Armstrong, MD

Marjorie Bohn, MD

Daniel Brenner, MD

Ying Cao, MD

Linda Casey, MD

Laurie Cederberg, MD

Dorothy Coleman-Riese, MD

Emily Conway, MD

Allen Cortez, MD

Leland Davis, MD

Paul Doemeny, MD

Tabitha Doniach, MD, Phd.

Thomas Duckett, MD

Max Duncan, DO

Helena Longin, MD

Michael Magnotti, MD

J Richard Mendius, MD

Jeremy Mesches, MD

Jaime Molden, MD

Thomas Neal, MD

David Nguyen, MD

Jeannie Pflum, DO

Mark Popovich, MD

Matthew Pride, MD

Jesse Rael, MD

Tam Tiet, MD

Rita Wang, MD

Ashley Weinert, MD

Jennifer Williams, MD

Robert Woodbury, MD

Thomas Zembal, MD

Making Sense of California's Newest Employment Laws

The Cooperative of American Physicians, Inc. (CAP) is pleased to offer members of the Sonoma County Medical Association the opportunity to view a free on-demand webcast, Making Sense of California's Newest Employment Laws, which highlights recent updates to labor regulations and their implications for medical practices statewide.

Presented by Nancy Brusegaard Johnson, CAP’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Operations, this 30-minute webcast:

• Outlines updated requirements for sexual harassment prevention training and education.

• Provides clarification on the differences between independent contractors and employees, and delves into the three-pronged "ABC" Test.

• Shares insight on new developments related to minimum wage laws.

Gain the understanding necessary to stay informed of and compliant with the latest regulations!

View the Webcast Now

In addition to superior medical malpractice coverage, CAP provides its members valuable practice management resources such as this webcast. Find out more about what CAP has to offer by contacting Dorine Leong, CAP Senior Account Executive, directly at 650-543-2183, or via email at dleong@CAPphysicians.com .

Let us help you with your 2020 Marketing and Business Development Plan and Budget!

SCMA offers a number of ways for local businesses to connect with physicians and the local medical community, one of which is our comprehensive Business Partnership Program.

The program provides local physicians with vetted and committed professional and personal business resources. We ask our partners to commit to a benefit or pricing structure that is unique to SCMA members. [Click the cover image to the left to view the partnership details.]

Apply to become a Partner using this application.