The Colorado delegation to the American Medical Association represented Colorado at the 2022 AMA Interim Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, Nov. 12-15. Read the top 10 stories from the meeting here.

The Colorado delegation brought a resolution that was passed by the AMA House of Delegates that creates a task force to preserve the patient-physician relationship when evidence-based, appropriate care is banned or restricted. The task force will publish an annual report with resources for physicians required by medical judgment and ethical standards of care to act against state and federal laws. The resolution will also ensure these physicians have access to legal support through the AMA Litigation Center.

A member of the Colorado delegation -- Carolynn Francavilla, MD, pictured -- presented on the panel "Protecting our Healers," during which speakers advised how physicians and health care teams can plan to stay safe in an era of increasing violence towards health care workers. She also served as chair-elect to the Private Practice Physician Section where she supported several resolutions at the AMA meeting to help support physicians in independent practice. Watch for more coverage from the AMA meeting in a future CMS publication, and find out how to get involved with the AMA by emailing dianna_fetter@cms.org.

AMA releases study on competition in health insurance markets

The American Medical Association recently published the 2022 update to "Competition in Health Insurance: A Comprehensive Study of U.S. Markets." It is intended to help antitrust researchers, policymakers, and federal and state regulators identify areas where consolidation among health insurers may cause anti-competitive harm to consumers and providers of care. Once again they found that most commercial and Medicare Advantage health insurance markets in the U.S. remain highly concentrated, though Colorado was not in the top 10 list of states with the least competitive markets. Read more here.

ICYMI: A few answers to questions about recent RAC audits

The Colorado Medical Society has recently heard from several members' practices who have received audit requests from Colorado's Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) for Medicaid. While CMS does not have the resources to troubleshoot each issue for each practice, we have had several meetings with the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) seeking clarification on concerns with initial hospital care service codes (99221-99223) and other general resources. View more information here.

If you have questions about a RAC audit, you can reach out to HCPF directly by contacting Bart Armstrong at bart.armstrong@state.co.us or Alyssa Gilger at alyssa.gilger@state.co.us.

New CDC opioid prescribing guideline for pain

Are you interested in learning about the revised CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain?

Dr. David Mendez and Dr. Allison Costello of the University of Colorado are providing a one-hour Zoom session on key takeaways from the 100-page guideline recently released by the CDC. 

The Zoom presentation is scheduled on Wednesday, Dec. 14 from 12-1 p.m. Zoom link here; registration not required.

The CDC also has a Guidelines at a Glance publication.