On Monday, March 8, Mayor Vincent C. Gray swore in and convened the first meeting of the Mayor's Commission on HIV/AIDS. Mayor Gray created the Commission to help end the HIV epidemic in the District of Columbia. The Commission will focus on treatment, the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS, and prevention to stop new infections.  Included in the commission members are MSDC President Frederick C. Finelli, MD, and MSDC members Jeffrey Akman, Janelle Goetcheus and Bruce Rashbaum, MD.

     At the first meeting, Gray charged the Commission with three core responsibilities aimed at providing the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration (HAHSTA) with guidance towards the development of a strategic plan: 

• Develop evidence-based HIV/AIDS policy recommendations to help reduce HIV infection rates;
•  increase HIV testing utilization;
•  improve access to quality medical, substance abuse, mental health treatment, and housing for all persons with HIV/AIDS; 
• and to determine the best way to achieve "treatment on demand" in the District.

     In concert with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the commission will develop recommendations regarding coordination of the District's HIV/AIDS Strategy which will include: a) providing recommendations for public-private partnerships to address the continuum and capacity of health care delivery, programs, and related services; and b) providing recommendations regarding coordination and collaboration across jurisdictional and international boundaries. The overall goal of the commission is to develop recommendations to control the epidemic, while simultaneously creating training and employment opportunities within the District.

     The Mayor's Commission on HIV/AIDS Members include:
Vincent C. Gray, Mayor, Chair

Allen Lew, City Administrator

Beatriz "BB" Otero, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services

Dr. Mohammad Akhter, Director, DOH, Co-Chair

Councilmember David Catania, At-Large

Councilmember Jim Graham, Ward 1

Dr. Gregory Pappas, Senior Deputy Director for HAHSTA, Secretariat

Steve Baron, Director, Department of Mental Health (DMH)

Deborah Carroll, Interim Director, Department of Human Services (DHS)

Kaya Henderson, Interim Chancellor, DC Public Schools (DCPS)

Thomas Hoey, Interim Director, Department of Corrections (DOC)

Marco Aguilar, Vice President and Chief of Staff, DC Chamber of Commerce

Jeffrey Akman, Interim Vice Provost for Health Affairs, GWU

Cornelius Baker, National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition

Sharon Baskerville, DC Primary Care Association

Don Blanchon, CEO, Whitman Walker

Dr. Frederick Finelli, President, Medical Society of the District of Columbia

Isaac Fullwood, Chairman, US Parole Commission

Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, Associate Professor of Medicine, Howard University

Janelle Goetcheus, UNITY Healthcare

Dr. Bruce Rashbaum, Private Practice, Internal Medicine

     Washington, D.C. suffers from the most devastating HIV epidemic in the United States, with 3 percent of the general population and 6 percent of prison inmates being infected. Now, researchers from Yale, along with colleagues from George Mason and Howard Universities in the Washington area, have received a $4.2 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to study access and adherence to HIV treatment among infected drug users involved with the criminal justice system in the nation's capital.

     In the United States and many countries around the world, HIV and concurrent substance disorder rates are extremely high among prison populations. The study aims to identify, treat and retain HIV-infected persons involved in the front and back ends of the criminal justice system - from time of arrest to parole - where defendants are supervised in community settings. Transition times like this, and after release from prison, are when inmates are most vulnerable to abandoning treatment.

     As part of this study, pre-trial and adjudicated defendants who are opioid dependent will for the first time be offered immediate access to supervised withdrawal, sometimes called  "detox," using the replacement medication buprenorphine. During this period they will also be tested for HIV, other infections and mental illness, and offered treatment.

 

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     On March 11, MSDC, MedChi, and the Physicians Advocacy Institute, Inc. requested that the compliance process outlined in the Blue Cross Blue Shield settlement be extended beyond the May 31, 2011 deadline.

     MSDC has encouraged CareFirst to continue seeking positive relations with physicians, and consider voluntarily extending provisions outlined in the settlement.  A formal meeting with CareFirst leadership and staff is currently being worked out. Once plans are finalized for future arrangements between CareFirst, MSDC and District physicians, they will be publicized accordingly.

     MSDC, alongside many other state and national medical societies, has written to Congressional leaders of both the Senate and the House urging them to begin working in a bipartisan, bicameral manner to enact legislation that will repeal the flawed Medicare physician payment formula.  Physicians are committed to taking a leading role in developing and testing different payment models that can provide a foundation for improving Medicare physician payment.  This year presents the best opportunity to get corrective reforms enacted, and adequately protect the access to high quality physician care seniors, the disabled, and military families need from their physicians.

     To read a copy of the letter sent to the US House of Representatives, please click here.

     To read a copy of the letter sent to the US Senate, please click here.

A New Webinar to Help Make Complex Patient Collections Function More Smoothly

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011, 12:15 PM 
Register Here Today!

     Handling self-pay issues within a medical practice has its challenges. In light of the highly personal relationships health care providers have with their patients, handling self-pays can be dicey. But many practices find the patient collections process to be more successful and less time-consuming with the help of electronic patient communications and collections tools and services. When properly designed and integrated into a practice's daily workflow, these tools and services relieve staff of much of the self-pay workload and make the process more efficient and effective.
     In this Webinar we will provide the guidance your practice needs to streamline this process by sharing:

• What your practice should do from pre-visit to follow-up
• What your vendor should do from providing a patient web portal to ensuring statement posting
• The 7 practical tips for establishing and maintaining a successful patient collections process that will not overtax your staff· 

To understand what your practice can do-and how we can help you-please join athenahealth Wednesday, March 23rd at 12:15 for a live Webinar.
Register Here Today!

     Please join the Washington Psychiatric Society and their president, Elizabeth Morrison, M.D., for the  WPS President's Event on March 19, 2011. Richard Kogan, M.D., concert pianist and psychiatrist, will present "The Mind and Music of George Gershwin." His presentation will include playing selections from "Porgy and Bess" and "Rhapsody in Blue."

For more information, please click here.

To register, click here: Online Registration Form.

NIDA Hosts the Addiction Performance Project

     The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) presents an innovative CME program, Addiction Performance Project, which offers healthcare providers the opportunity to help break down the stigma associated with addiction and promote a healthy dialogue that fosters compassion, cooperation, and understanding for patients living with this disease. This project is part of NIDAMED, NIDA's outreach to practicing physicians, physicians in training, and other health professionals.

     The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) will be hosting an event at its annual conference on Saturday, April 16, 2011, at 6:30pm in Washington, DC. Addiction Performance Project is free of charge and open to physicians, medical school faculty members, residents, other healthcare providers, and guests. For more information and to register, please visit www.drugabuse.gov/nidamed/APP.

    This activity is jointly sponsored by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

 

National Hispanic Medical Association's Annual Conference

     The NHMA's 15th Annual Conference, "Health Care Reform Implementation for the Hispanic Community" on March 17-20, 2011 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC. MSDC members have been invited to attend and join their colleagues, nurses, health professionals, government and industry leaders as well as residents and medical students at the conference. Topics will include federal health policies and their effect on states, insurance companies, medical schools, accountable care organizations, medical homes and clinicsh.  Clinical updates on heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, dementia, depression, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS will be offered, as well as medical education leadership sessions, cultural competence curriculum and tools for practices.  For more information on the conference and registration, please click here.