Events, Publications, and Announcements, March 14

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

Please save the date for CMS Regions’ VII and VIII Stakeholder Webinar scheduled for Wednesday, March 29 from 12:00PM to 1:00PM MT.  Follow the instructions below to register for the event.  Once your registration is accepted, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the session. To register, click here. As always, CMS asks for your help in developing an agenda that includes topics of interest to you.  Please respond to this email and let us know what you want to hear about.  Look for the final agenda a few weeks prior to the webinar.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently confirmed that the HHS OIG Hotline telephone number is being used as part of a telephone spoofing scam targeting individuals throughout the country. These scammers represent themselves as HHS OIG Hotline employees and can alter the appearance of the caller ID to make it seem as if the call is coming from the HHS OIG Hotline 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477). The perpetrator may use various tactics to obtain or verify the victim’s personal information, which can then be used to steal money from an individual’s bank account or for other fraudulent activity. HHS OIG takes this matter seriously. It is important to know that HHS OIG will not use the HHS OIG Hotline telephone number to make outgoing calls and individuals should not answer calls from 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477). We encourage the public to remain vigilant, protect their personal information, and guard against providing personal information during calls that purport to be from the HHS OIG Hotline telephone number. CMS also reminds the public that it is still safe to call into the HHS OIG Hotline to report fraud. CMS particularly encourages those who believe they may have been a victim of the telephone spoofing scam to report that information to CMS through the HHS OIG Hotline 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477) or spoof@oig.hhs.gov. Individuals may also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

WYhealth has enlisted OptumHealth Education (OHE), an accredited medical education company, to help plan relevant and FREE CE activities. PLEASE let us know which topics we should offer—those that will help you in your work and management of patients. If you haven’t done so already, please complete this brief survey by Friday, Mar. 17, 2017.

Publications

SourceMed’s Heather Keidel Hayes, CASC, Director of Client Services penned a column called, “How Do I Manage an IT Disaster in My ASC?. A very digestable read.

The CMS MLN Provider Connects newsletter for this week offers posts on Social Security Removal Inative, new release of PEPPER for short-term Acute Care Hospitals and an average sales price file for April 2017.

The American Academy of Family Physicians’ publication, Family Practice Management for March is available. Look for posts on Managing Behavioral Health Care, HIPAA Security and more.

Webinars/Conferences

Our friends at Mountain Pacific Quality Health offers a webinar called, HIPAA PASS Privacy and Security Considerations from 1-2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28. Join Susan Clarke, Health Care Information Security and Privacy Practitioner, Health Technology Services department at Mountain-Pacific Quality Health, to gain important insights on safeguarding your organization from becoming the next easy target.

AAAP members and its affiliated societies, students, faculty, health professionals, clinicians and researchers are all encouraged to participate in the AAAP Annual Meeting and Scientific Symposium. Individuals who would like to submit a symposium proposal for the AAAP Annual Meeting and Scientific Symposium should submit a completed proposal form by 11:59 PM PT on Monday, March 27, 2017.

Becker’s Hospital Review offers a webinar called A proven strategy to reduce Surgical Site Infections, minimize the risk of Wrong-Site Surgeries and improve OR Efficiency Thursday, March 23 at 11 a.m. Attendees will learn: How to use RVA to improve compliance with established protocols for OR case cleaning and terminal cleaning; How to use RVA to improve compliance with OR safety checklists while also improving OR throughput; How to determine the financial impact of reducing Surgical Site Infections at their facility; and How to use RVA outside of the OR to reduce the risk of other Hospital Acquired Infections.