News releases from CMS, ICYMI

Colorado Medical Society installs new officers:

• Patrick Pevoto, MD, MBA, president
• Omar Mubarak, MD, MBA, president-elect
• Mark Johnson, MD, MPH, immediate past president

Colorado Medical Society appoints Dean Holzkamp as CEO

OeHI survey on telehealth; respond by Oct. 25

The Office of eHealth Innovation and Prime Health have released the 2022 Colorado Provider Telehealth Survey to follow up on telehealth usage, benefit, and challenges for patients and providers to inform future decision making in support of equitable statewide telehealth access, adoption and sustainability. The survey is expected to take 15-20 minutes to complete, and only aggregated data will be shared publicly. Three participants will be selected at random to receive a $100 gift card. To be eligible, respondents simply provide their email at the end of the survey. Responses are due by Oct. 25, 2022. 

Register this week for the Consortium Annual Meeting and Education Symposium - Oct. 27-Oct. 28

The Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention will host their 10th Consortium Annual Meeting Thursday, Oct. 17, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., in person on the Anschutz Medical Campus. View the agenda and register for the Annual Meeting here.

The next day, Friday, Oct. 28, 5:30-9 p.m., the Consortium presents the Education Symposium. The Symposium will feature award-winning author and journalist Maia Szalavitz as guest speaker. View the agenda and register for the Education Symposium here. 

For more information, contact info@corxconsortium.org

Hurricane Ian recovery: Donate to affected physicians

Hurricane Ian made landfall Sept. 28 in the Fort Myers, Fla., area as a Category 4 hurricane. Many businesses were destroyed and local physicians lost their homes. The Lee County Medical Society Foundation is accepting donations to help affected physicians fill in the gaps where insurance does not cover.

Monovalent COVID-19 vaccines for ages 5+ no longer authorized as booster doses

Now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has amended the emergency use authorization of the bivalent Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use as single booster doses in younger age groups, the original monovalent, orange cap Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 is no longer authorized for use as a booster dose in children ages 5-11. And, as a reminder, administration of bivalent booster vaccines to younger age groups can only begin after the CDC makes a final recommendation for their use. CDPHE will communicate additional details following CDC approval.

Public health notice: Ebola outbreak poses low risk to U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health advisory about a recently confirmed outbreak of Ebola in Uganda. As of Oct. 6, outbreaks had been reported in five districts and included fewer than 75 cases, deaths or probable deaths.

As you know, the risk of Ebola cases occurring in the United States is low; the CDC and U.S. Department of Homeland Security will screen travelers to the U.S. who have spent time in Uganda in the prior 21 days. CDPHE will assess and monitor travelers to Colorado from Uganda within the preceding 21 days and alert local public health agencies of any people undergoing travel monitoring in their jurisdiction. Access more information for clinicians from the CDC.

Next National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is Oct. 29, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications. Colorado has many permanent collection sites as well as sites participating through this campaign.  Direct your patients to use the collection site locator tool to search by zip code or city/state to find a site convenient to their location.