Following an extensive nationwide search, and with the unanimous and enthusiastic support of the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM) Board of Trustees, ICOM announced the appointment of Dr. Kevin Wilson as the new Dean/CAO of the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, effective immediately. Dr. Wilson has served as Interim Dean/CAO since last August, and as founding Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs since early 2017. He also served previously as ICOM’s Interim Dean/CAO for much of 2019. 

Over the past 6 years Dr. Wilson has distinguished himself as a collaborative, empathetic, and results-oriented leader. He has also won the confidence and respect of his colleagues and peers for building a high-quality network of physician preceptors that has enabled ICOM students to thrive during their 3^rd and 4^th year clinical rotations. Under Kevin’s leadership, 100% and 99.3% of the Classes of 2022 and 2023 respectively secured post-graduate residency positions across 20 specialties in 40 states. Much of ICOM’s success over the past 5+ years may be appropriately attributed to the leadership and/or support of Dr. Wilson.

Congratulations Dr. Wilson and Idaho Osteopathic College of Medicine!!!

Idaho Doctors Publish Book with Lessons Learned from COVID-19

Originally published April 3 on IdahoCapitalSun.com.

Two doctors who were part of Idaho’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic have published a book that examines “the failures of the U.S. response to COVID-19” and gives recommendations on how to avoid those failures in the next pandemic.

“Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak: A Guide to Planning from the Schoolhouse to the White House,” by Dr. David C. Pate and Dr. Ted Epperly, will hit shelves on April 18. The publisher is Johns Hopkins University Press.

“The authors know that there will be another pandemic; they just do not know when,” the book’s preface says.

“Whenever it is, they pray that the country does not repeat the mistakes of this pandemic response and that, as a country, we can be better prepared for that future day,” it says, “so that there will be less loss of life, less serious illness, fewer long-term health consequences, and health care costs, less economic devastation, less disruption to life, less impact on Americans’ mental health, and fewer disparities in health care — and less politicization, less divisiveness, and more compassion as we come together as one Idaho, one nation, and one global community.”

The book includes 117 recommendations for schools, hospitals, public health agencies and governments.

Pate served as a coronavirus adviser to Idaho Gov. Brad Little starting in early 2020, after retiring as CEO of St. Luke’s Health System. He spent his career in hospital administration and internal medicine. Pate also is an attorney.

Epperly served for 15 years on the board of Idaho’s largest regional public health department and is the longtime CEO of Full Circle Health medical residency and community health clinics, formerly known as Family Medicine Residency of Idaho and Family Medicine Health Center.

The book received praise from public health experts including Dr. Peter J. Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine; Michael T. Osterholm of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota; and Gregg Gonsalves of Yale School of Public Health.

In Case You Missed the Final 2023 Legislative Report

In this issue...

• FINAL 2023 Legislative Report
• S 1147: Expanding Graduate Medical Education
• HB 374: Fixes to Idaho’s Total Abortion Ban
• HB 71: Criminalizing Transgender Care for Minors 

Click the image below to view the report.

MIPS EUC Hardship Exception Due to COVID-19 Continues in 2023

In response to advocacy from the American Medical Association and organized medicine about the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will continue to allow physicians and group practices to apply for a MIPS Extreme and Uncontrollable Circumstances hardship exception to avoid up to a -9% MIPS penalty in 2025 based on 2023 performance. The exception will not be automatic, and interested physicians and groups must actively request reweighting of one or more MIPS performance categories due to the COVID-19 PHE. Requesting reweighting of all four MIPS performance categories will avoid a MIPS penalty in 2025. CMS expects to release the hardship exception application in spring 2023.

This is a big relief for physicians and their patients because CMS estimated in the final rule that up to one-third of MIPS eligible clinicians would have received a penalty due to the increasingly stringent requirements to participate in MIPS in 2023. It is also likely that small, rural, and practices serving underserved populations would have been disproportionately impacted by these penalties. This critical reprieve could have up to a -9% penalty due to the COVID-19 PHE.