They Said It...

“Students Run Philly Style…helps to inspire young people in every zip code of our city to embrace a healthy lifestyle. The partnership between PCMS and SRPS allows each organization to amplify our efforts to improve the health of Philadelphians.” Dr. John Vasudevan, president of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, speaking on the collaboration between PCMS and Students Run Philly Style. PCMS participated in the Philadelphia Distance Run on September 17. Read more in our Fall 2023 Edition of Philadelphia Medicine magazine.

If you are interested in writing an article for Philadelphia Medicine, please contact us at [email protected]. We are accepting articles for both the newsletter and magazine.

After 37+ years at PCMS as Director of Membership & Programming, Eileen has retired. Her attention to detail, her achievements and friendship—while always keeping the medical society in mind—have been invaluable to us. We thank her for those many years of service. She has more than earned this opportunity and we wish her all the happiness in this new phase of her life!

If you wish to contact Eileen, you can do so at this email until the end of the year: [email protected]

Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding is a dire problem. The issues leading to overcrowding are multifactorial and result in more patients presenting in the emergency department than the health care staff can accommodate. The primary cause of ED overcrowding is "boarding," the practice of holding patients in the emergency department after they have been admitted to the hospital, because no inpatient beds are available. Boarding is a decade long, unresolved problem that was only brought to its brink during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has become its own public health emergency which has negatively impacted healthcare systems, patients, and the community at large. We need state legislators' help in this dire situation.

You can take action to address ED overcrowding by visiting PAMED’s Action Center. 

Know a Philadelphia colleague or mentor that deserves to be recognized? Nominations are now open for the Strittmatter Award, Cristol Award, Practitioner of the Year Award, and the Vanitha Appadorai Vaidya, MD Award for Humaneness in Medicine.

Awardees will be honored by PCMS during our formal Presidents Installation event in early June, 2024. It's a great way to say "Thank you!" Won’t you please nominate a colleague today? Deadline is March 4.

Visit our Awards page for more information and to submit your nominations.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently cleared for marketing the first over-the-counter (OTC) antigen test for COVID-19. ACON Laboratories’ Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Test, originally authorized for emergency use in 2021, is now the second home COVID-19 test to successfully complete a traditional FDA premarket review pathway, and the first indicated for use in children under 18. This announcement follows clearance of a molecular home test earlier this year.

As with antigen tests authorized for emergency use, this test is intended to be used at least twice over three days with at least 48 hours between tests. This means that a symptomatic individual with an initial negative test result should be re-tested once between 48 and 72 hours after the first test using an antigen test for COVID-19 or followed up with a molecular COVID-19 test. 

The Breathe Free PA coalition is working to remove exemptions to PA's current ClAA to provide healthy, safe air for PA workers and citizens. The group is recommending closing the loopholes and protecting Pennsylvania workers and patrons by supporting a comprehensive Clean Indoor Air Act. The American Lung Association estimates smoke-free air would save 52 hospitality workers’ lives per year in Pennsylvania. Contact your state representatives to encourage their support of the bill.

You can view the bill here.

In early November, CMS released the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule for calendar year (CY) 2024, finalizing a 1.25 percent overall reduction for physician services next year. This final rule encompasses several crucial provisions that could significantly impact Medicare physician payment and the Quality Payment Program (QPP). The AMA summary on the Final Rule can be found here.

You can download resources for the 2024 QPP Final Rule at the QPP Resource Library (under Regulatory Resources). Additionally, a Fact Sheet is available on the CMS website, and you can view the AMA’s Specialty Impact Chart here.

David Woods, a former editor of Philadelphia Medicine, has written a memoir of his 60-year career in journalism, which included witnessing the wartime devastation in Britain and the aftermath of much of the destruction of German cities in World War II. David has spent five years teaching medical writing for grad students, and currently serves as a mentor for first year medical students at Sidney Kimmel Medical College.

You can purchase The Road Not Taken: The Fascinating Life of an International Journalist here.

Now’s the time to renew your membership to PCMS/PAMED! Renew now to continue being a part of our efforts to represent you and your patients to legislators and to maintain access to member benefits like free CME programs and the License Resource Center.

You can renew at www.pamedsoc.org/PayMyBill. Thanks also to everyone that has already renewed!

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has posted data which reveals that in 2022, syphilis cases in newborns had increased over 10 times the number in 2012. The increase follows rising syphilis cases among women of reproductive age. According to CDC, almost 9 in 10 cases of newborn syphilis in 2022 might have been preventable. The increase is attributed to social and economic factors such as a lack of ongoing health coverage, challenges posed by substance use disorder, poverty, and racism.

CDC encourages healthcare providers to increase their efforts to address newborn syphilis by:

• Considering starting syphilis treatment right away following a positive rapid syphilis test during pregnancy if the patient faces greater obstacles to ongoing care (and still send for full confirmatory syphilis testing for optimal patient follow-up), and
• Offering to screen sexually active women and their partners for syphilis, as well as people with other risk factors for syphilis.

How to Improve Your Business Strategy Without an MBA

Date: Thursday, February 8

Time: 6:00 PM

Place: The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 S 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

The second of four programs in the Doctors Lounge Lecture Series, co-hosted by The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and The Philadelphia County Medical Society. Stay tuned for more information!