Events, Conferences, and Announcements for March 20

Each week the Wyoming Medical Society receives a number of webinar, CME, and other conference opportunities which we share with our members without endorsement. This week’s list includes:

Announcements

MLN Connects has produced a series of videos as part of CMS’ MLN Connects National Provider Call Program which feature a number of healthcare-related topics including quality reporting. For more information and to watch this series, click here.

On March 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new recommendations for prescribing opioid medications for chronic pain, excluding cancer, palliative, and end-of-life care. The CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, United States, 2016 will help primary care providers ensure the safest and most effective treatment for their patients.

The American Association of Addiction Psychiatry is making a call for workshops, papers, posters for AAAP’s 27th Annual Meeting and Symposium. The meeting will be held Dec. 8-11 at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort in Bonita Springs, Florida. For more information, click here.

Recently, KEPRO has received protected health information (PHI) from various providers that was not related to KEPRO’s services or was not attributable to a review/appeal KEPRO is working on currently. This is considered an external security incident, which violates HIPAA regulations.

Under contractual guidelines, KEPRO is required to report incidents of this type to QualityNet, a subcontractor for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), for tracking purposes. Providers should follow their internal processes regarding HIPAA compliance. By alerting providers to this concern, we hope that they will look at their own internal processes, to assist KEPRO with resolving this concern.

Click here for more information about HIPAA security incidents, provided by the HIPAA Survival Guide. If the link doesn’t work, go to HIPAA Survival Guide at hipaasurvivalguide.com/hipaa-regulations/164-304.php. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Cheryl A. Cook, RN at 813-280-8256, ext. 7201 or Cheryl.Cook@bfcc2.hcqis.org.

Publications

United HealthCare’s March Network Bulletin includes information on Non-participating lab practices; PRA enhancements and more.

The American Academy of Family Physicians released its monthly newsletter with stories on How You Start Your Workday, Making Sense of MACRA, and screening your adult patients for depression.

HITECH Answers offers its monthly newsletter with pieces on Maximizing Medicare Reimbursement, EHR’s and webinars about HIPPA Compliant Faxing and MIPS.

Concierge Medicine Today released its newsletter with stories on Industry-Leading Women, and tips for building a concierge medicine practice.

The Doctor’s Company released a new report called EHR Risks:  How to Protect Your Practice, which outlines areas of potential EHR-related malpractice exposure and patient safety risks,

CMS released its latest edition of the MLN Provider Network newsletter, which includes stories on the SNF Consolidated Billing Training Course, HIPPA DEI Standards training course, and a dual eligible beneficiaries Fact Sheet.

Denver-based CEO of RT Welter and Associates, R. Todd Welter went to visit five hospitals in five days in a whirlwind trip to Beijing, China to provide area medical professionals with insight to how the American Healthcare System works. Click here to find out more about the trip.

Conferences and Webinars

As an active member in the medical community, SynAptiv has partnered with various organizations to develop highly impactful eLearning modules to educate healthcare professionals about safe use of these commonly prescribed medications. There are five modules in this series: Issues Affecting the Use of Opioids; Pain and the Use of Opioids; Initiating Opioids Safely; Titrating and Converting Opioids, and Patient Controlled Analgesia. For more information, Email Lori Conwell at lconwell@synaptiv.org.

The arrival of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and associated increased legislation in the area of Healthcare Debt Collection has made the job of Healthcare Revenue Cycle Professionals more challenging than ever before. Listen as IC System’s Vice President of Healthcare discusses these issues in detail, and shares tips and tactics to help insure that your Healthcare Business Office stays efficient, effective and compliant. The webinar is slated for March 22 at 10 a.m. and will be available on-demand an hour after the presentation.

Providers’ Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies offers a webinar at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 24 called, The Experiences of People Living with Chronic Pain while Receiving Opioids to Manage Their Pain in the Primary Care Setting.The main purpose of this activity is to inform healthcare providers of the barriers patients face and how to overcome them when experiencing chronic pain and receiving opioid for the treatment of chronic pain through a primary care clinic.

Join the AMA Organized Medical Staff Section (OMSS) and medical staff attorney and bylaws expert Elizabeth A. (Libby) Snelson, Esq., on Tuesday, April 12, at 8 pm EST, for an informative discussion of recent revisions to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) Guidebook. Learn more about what is reportable and what is not under the revised guidelines, and how medical staffs should amend their bylaws in light of these changes.