Each week the Wyoming Medical Society receives a number of emails and letters offering its physicians webinars, conferences, or other information. In this section we share that information without endorsement.
Announcements
If you haven’t yet heard, Frontiers in Medicine, the Wyoming Medical Center-sponsored CME meeting will be vastly different this year. The conference is now called, Frontiers in Primary Care: 2017 and will be held April 20-21 in Casper at the Ramkota. More information is forthcoming, but if you like to save the date for important events, here is your chance.
The Prevention Management Organization of Wyoming sent a reminder to WMS and others this week regarding the locations of all of the Prescription Drug Donation Drop boxes in the state. They can be found here.
Publications
The Official CMS news from the Medicare Learning Networks, also known as MLN Connects released a June 8 edition with posts on reducing legionella risk in water systems, hospice review of first provider reports and more. The June 1 edition of MLN Connects featured a post about new Medicare Cards offering more protection for patients and more.
RT Welter and Associates, a Denver-based healthcare services firm, offers its monthly newsletter with a post about the Social Security Number Removal Initiative for Medicare. The newsletter also touches on coding and offers tips for practices. RT Welter’s June 4 edition featured a small post on soft skills and Todd’s Tips on an honest Proforma.
Providers Clinical Support System has released two new podcasts on opioid abuse. One is the Non-Opioid Pharmacological Management of Chronic Pain and the other is Naltrexone as Treatment for Opioid Abuse Disorder. Click here to check them out.
In a blog that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nora Volkow. MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Francis Collins, MD, Director of the National Institutes of Health, reiterated the NIH’s commitment to not only addressing the opioid overdose epidemic, but also to finding alternatives to opioids for treating pain through increased research efforts.
The United Healthcare Network Bulletin is the organization’s monthly publication for participating care providers. In the latest edition they have posts on a new telemedicine policy, colorectal cancer screening webinars, and an important change for network DME providers.
Not to be out-done, Cigna also sent a provider communication piece in June regarding the WannaCry ransomware. It reads, “You may have received an email from Cigna@mail.hiperos.com with the subject line “Hiperos 3PM Cigna Survey: Cyber Threat.” Please note: This is a valid request from Cigna. If this is your first time using our automated survey system, you will receive an introductory email with your username and password. Cigna kindly requests that you complete the survey as soon as possible. Your answers will be held in strict confidence. If you received the Hiperos survey and are not the correct contact for your company, please forward the message to the correct contact. This malicious software attack has been detected across multiple sectors in more than 74 countries and affects several versions of the Microsoft operating system. It is crucial to patch all operating systems to prevent attacks and take steps to prevent the introduction and propagation of this malware.”
KEPRO, released its Case Review Connections a quarterly e-newsletter from your Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organization (BFCC-QIO). Click here if you are an acute care provider and interested in reading more. Click here if you are an post-acute provider.
Webinars and Conferences
The Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho chapters of the American College of Surgeons will have its annual meeting in Big Sky, Montana, Jan. 26-27. All specialties are welcome to attend. A registration link will be coming in October, but for questions or comments, email csportsman21@outlook.com.
If you haven’t yet heard, Frontiers in Medicine, the Wyoming Medical Center-sponsored CME meeting will be vastly different this year. The conference is now called, Frontiers in Primary Care: 2017 and will be held April 20-21 in Casper at the Ramkota. More information is forthcoming, but if you like to save the date for important events, here is your chance.
Mountain Pacific Quality Health and the American Cancer Society offers a webinar pointing out an evidence-based approach to improving your practice’s colorectal cancer screening rates. This is the first of a four-part webinar series and is presented by Dr. Durado Brooks, manager director of Cancer Control Intervention, Prevention and Early Detection at ACS. The webinar is set for noon-1 p.m. on June 20. For more information, contact Amber Rogers at arogers@mpqhf.org.
Mountain Pacific offers a number of upcoming webinars. On June 20 from 1-2 p.m. it offers Session Four of Creating a MIPS Action Plan. This session will include steps you can take to address MIPS, things to consider when pulling all four categories together and information to keep for audit purposes.
Session Five of its series on MACRA and MIPS is called Scoring and Submission Methods and will cover how each category of MIPS will be scored. That webinar is slated for June 27 from 1-2 p.m.
Finally, Session Six of the series is called Improving Your Score and will be offered July 11 from 1-2 p.m. This session will include information about using the eCQI process to select areas for improvement and how to use a methodology to guide the improvement process.
Remember the Face-off keynote from last week’s WMS Annual Meeting? His hospital in Boston – Brigham and Woman’s Hospital along with Harvard Medical School offers a CME called Healthcare Quality and Safety 2017 Oct. 16-17 in Boston. This is a conference for those who plan, manage, or support quality and safety initiatives.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs, the Army Medical Command and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury present a webinar on Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain: Understanding Updated Guidelines on June 22 from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The new guideline, “Clinical Practice Guideline for Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain,” includes evidence-based information to help providers manage all aspects of patient care. It also supports the Military Health System goal to improve patient health and well-being Sign up for the webinar at http://dcoe.cds.pesgce.com.
The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense also offer a Suicide Prevention webinar on June 13 from 1-2:30 p.m. Click here for more details.
The American Association of Addition Psychiatry reminds folks that its 28th Annual meeting and Scientific Symposium will take place in San Diego, Dec. 7-10. Dr. Michael Scimeca along with Dr. Thomas Penders and Dr. Brian Hurley will present a case focusing on synthetic cannabinoid abuse and Dr. Corneliu Stanciu will be the fellow. The overall goal of the Case Conference is to reveal the thinking, reactions, and clinical approaches our experts personally bring to treating patients with substance use disorders and to stimulate attendees to become as involved as our presenters in responses and discussion.