Each week the Wyoming Medical Society received a number of items in which it shares with its members without endorsement.
Announcements
The 2017 AMPAC Campaign School will be taking place Oct. 27-29 at the AMA Office in Washington, DC. The school is targeted to AMA members, their spouses, residents, medical students and medical society staff who want to become more involved in the campaign process.
On June 7, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted new versions of the Important Message from Medicare (IM) form (CMS-R-193) and the Detailed Notice of Discharge (DND) form (CMS 10066) on the Beneficiary Notices Initiative webpage. The associated instructions for use are also available. The new IM form incorporates the following language related to discrimination – “For more information, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), or TTY: 1-877-486-2048. CMS does not discriminate in its programs and activities. To request this publication in an alternate format, please call: 1-800-MEDICARE or email: AltFormatRequest@cms.hhs.gov.” The Detailed Notice also has new language related to discrimination. Both forms have new expiration dates. CMS is requiring that the new version of these forms must be in use by August 28, 2017.
The Wyoming Provider Recruitment Grant Program is accepting applications from eligible recruiting entities (hospitals, clinics, community organizations, private practices) through September 30, 2017. Recruiting entities may apply for up to $50,000 in reimbursement of the costs incurred in the recruitment of an eligible provider. The application package and Program Rules and Regulations can be found here.
The 2017 American Medical Association Organized Medical Staff Section (OMSS) Interim Meeting will be held Nov. 10–11 in Honolulu. To accommodate member travel the AMA has rearranged its traditional meeting schedule by consolidating all events into two days, with no business events scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 9. Watch your email in coming weeks for more information about the meeting.
CMS is removing Social Security Numbers from Medicare cards to help fight identity theft and safeguard taxpayer dollars. In previous messages, we said that you must be ready by April 2018 for the change from the Social Security Number based Health Insurance Claim Number to the randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (the new Medicare number). Up to now, we referred to this work as the Social Security Number Removal Initiative (SSNRI). Moving forward, we will refer to this project as the New Medicare Card.
To help you find information quickly, we designed a new homepage linking you to the latest details, including how to talk to your Medicare patients about the new Medicare Card. Bookmark the New Medicare Card homepage and Provider webpage, and visit often, so you have the information you need to be ready by April 1.
The AMA-OMSS regularly reviews and comments on proposed revisions to Joint Commission and other accreditation organization standards. Assist them in their efforts to shape accreditation standards by completing a three-minute questionnaire regarding your experiences and areas of expertise.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is developing a quality measure of adverse outcomes following general surgery procedures performed at ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). We are inviting your comments on the proposed measure. Yale New Haven Health Services Corporation – Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) is leading the work under contract to CMS. Specifically, CORE/CMS are developing a measure of near-term hospital visits that patients experience following general surgery procedures performed at ASCs to better assess the quality of care provided at these facilities. CMS plans to use this measure to report on the quality of ASCs and prompt improvements in care for Medicare beneficiaries.
CMS will calculate the measure scores using routinely submitted claims. Therefore, facilities will not need to submit any new data to CMS for this measure. Please email your comments to ascmeasures@yale.edu. Comments on the measure must be received by 5:00 PM EST on August 7, 2017. If you are providing comments on behalf of an organization, include the organization’s name and your contact information. If you are commenting as an individual, submit identifying or contact information. Do not include personal health information in your comments. For more information and to access the above measure’s documents, please visit https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/MMS/CallforPublicComment.html. Please note that at the end of the public comment period, all comments will be posted on the website.
Publications
Vitals, which measure quality and cost of healthcare took a look at which states are seeing the highest rates of skin cancer each year and how access to prevent and treatment rank in those states. Wyoming ranked as the highest risk state. Over the past decade, the nation’s health agencies have stepped up to fight skin cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention creates community guides to help reduce cancer rates on local levels. In 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration placed rules on which sunscreens could be labeled “broad-spectrum.” More recently, the agency has proposed tighter restrictions on people under-18 accessing tanning beds.
The Doctors Company published a paper about ransomware in the medical field. In May, the world’s biggest ransomware attack crippled parts of Britain’s public health system and forced doctors to turn patients away. Cyberattacks are on the rise—and healthcare organizations are especially vulnerable. Read the post here.
CMS MLN Connects newsletter published July 20 includes posts on IRF Quality Reporting, Billing for Stem Cell Patients, and Medicare Part B Issues. The July 27 CMS MLN Connects offers stories on payment changes to Home Health Patients, and Quality Payment Programs.
AMA Advocacy Update is a bi-weekly newsletter featuring exclusive advocacy news and information on key national and state issues. Visit the AMA email preference center to subscribe to this newsletter and manage your AMA email subscriptions.
Denver-based healthcare services company RT Welter and Associates published its newsletter touching on the national healthcare debate, as well as items like professional development.
SourceMed offers its publication, Six Tips for Improving Managed Care Contracts.
Webinars and Conferences
CMS offers a Region VIII Opioid Summit Aug. 15-16 in Denver. The conference will offer key strategies to address the drug epidemic, and will engage key federal, state and regional partners from Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. The agenda will include presentations from state leadership as well as speakers and discussion focused on five strategic topics: Community Prevention; Crisis Services; Clinical Practice; Recovery, and Workforce Development. Registration is required but there is no cost. No food or beverages will be provided. Space is limited. To register go to: http://regionviiiopioidsummit.com.
Make plans to attend the first-ever 2017 American Conference on Physician Health, hosted by Stanford University School of Medicine in collaboration with the AMA and Mayo Clinic. Continue the conversation on the latest research and strategies that promote better physician health and well-being. Register now or email stanfordcme@stanford.edu to receive conference updates. Discounted early-bird rates are available for all physicians until Aug. 31. AMA members, residents and medical students enjoy additional discounted pricing.
The Breastfeeding: Baby’s Nature Choice Conference for Health Providers Conference takes place Aug. 23 in Omaha Neb. The keynote speakers will be Dr.’s Jane Morton and Alison Stuebe. Registration costs $140 for physicians and $50 for full-time students and residents.
The American College of Physicians will host Internal Medicine Meeting 2018, the premier meeting for internal medicine, in beautiful and sunny New Orleans, LA April 19-21, 2018. Internal Medicine Meeting 2018 is the only meeting of its kind—combining clinical skills with over 200 scientific sessions to update your knowledge in all facets of internal medicine and the subspecialties. ACP international members will be offered special discount rates for ACP Internal Medicine Meeting 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Mountain Pacific Quality Health offers a webinar from 1-3:30 p.m. on Aug. 9. The webinar is called Mastering Hypertension to Achieve Heart Health, which will review the Million Hearts priorities and resources for practice level changes that lead to improved blood pressure panels.
Becker’s Hospital Review offers a webinar called, Third Party Networks: Solutions for Payers, a Problem for Providers, at noon MDT on Aug. 17. The webinar will touch on specific pitfalls in these agreements; how these agreements reduce your reimbursements, and the important differences between third-party agreements and managed care contracts. For more information, contact egoodman@beckershealthcare.com.
The Health Resources and Services Administration offers a pair of webinars called Suicide Prevention in Primary Care, which will take place August 8 and 22. The target audience for the webinar includes HRSA-supported primary care providers and organizations, although other primary care entities in the region are welcome to attend. To join the webinar, click here and dial in at 1-800-857-9716 and use the participant code 6086132.
The Wyoming Primary Care Association in partnership with the Wyoming Department of Health is offering this Patient Centered Medical Home Summit Sept. 12 and 13 at Little America in Cheyenne to engage all Health Centers and other primary care practices in the 2017 PCMH redesigned recognition process and standards. This training will be facilitated by a nationally recognized PCMH expert, Shannon Nielson MHA, PCMH CCE of Centerprise, Inc. In addition, the State of Wyoming’s Medicaid PCMH team will provide program updates on how your practice can benefit from participating in the PCMH PMPM program and the Wyoming Department of Health will provide a brief update on their related programs.
Mountain-Pacific offers two webinars in August. At noon on Aug. 1, of offers a webinar to help practices develop a fluFIT workflow. Physicians will learn how to explain the patient flow for implementing fluFIT, describing the rationale for offering FIT before the shot, and discussing clinic-based versus screening event variations.
The second Mountain-Pacific webbing is called Systems to Support Patient Follow-up and is set for noon on Aug. 29. Physicians will be able to explain evidence-based interventions for increasing FIT kit returns; describe the clinical team member roles for FIT tracking and more.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Rocky Mountain Region, will be presenting FREE training on the Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules: HIPAA for the Small Provider in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. The purpose of the presentation is to help small health care providers that are covered entities understand their regulatory obligations under HIPAA. OCR will cover a number of topics such as an individual’s right of access, safeguarding protected health information, the business associate agreement requirement, and risk analysis/risk management.
Among the Rocky Mountain locations for this training are:
Aug. 31 – Cheyenne
8am-12pm
Joseph C. O’Mahoney Federal Center – Room 2115
2120 Capital Avenue
Cheyenne, WY
Aug. 10 – Billings
8am-12pm
Department of Interior Bldg
ISG Conference Room
2021 4th Avenue North
Billings, MT
Sept. 8 – Denver
8am-12pm
Byron Rogers Federal Bldg
Aspen/Pine Room, Floor 16
1961 Stout Street
Denver, CO