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SIGN UP FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING:
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Registration is now open for the Annual Meeting on Wednesday, October 24, 2012, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at The Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC. To register for the Annual Meeting, please click here.
Highlights of the meeting program include:
- What the 2012 Election Will Mean to Physicians. Robert A. Berenson, M.D., F.A.C.P., is a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute with a focus on policy research on Medicare-related issues, including physician payment reform, chronic care management, contracting with private plans, coverage and payment policy for new technology, health delivery system reform options; and malpractice issues. He has worked in the Carter and Clinton White Houses and will answer the question, "What will the 2012 election mean to physicians?"
- Installation of the President-Elect, Daniel Perlin, M.D.
- Socializing with local physicians of all specialties
- Drinks and heavy hors d'oeuvres
Following are additional details about the upcoming meeting and venue.
Parking
Valet parking is available at the Club, with limited on-street parking.
About The Metropolitan Club
The Metropolitan Club is made available through the courtesy of Dr. James C. Cobey. Please observe the dress code: coat and tie for gentlemen, commensurate attire for ladies. You may not use cell phones or personal communications devices in the meeting room, but you may take and make calls in a separate "Communications Room".
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September 24, 2012
| Vol. 19, No. 20
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| Upcoming Events | |
MSDC 2012 Annual Meeting & Reception
October 24
Metropolitan Club
Washington, DC
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2011-2012 Board of Directors
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Catherine S. May, MD
At-Large; Chair of the Board
James C. Cobey, MD
President
Daniel I. Perlin, MD
President-Elect
Joseph Gutierrez, MD
Treasurer; AMA Delegation Chair
Reginald Robinson,MD
Secretary; At-Large
Peter E. Lavine, MD
AMA Delegate
J. Desiree Pineda, MD
AMA Alternate-Delegate
Laura L. Tosi, MD
AMA Alternate Delegate
Julian R. Craig, MD
Frederick C. Finelli, MD
John W. Larsen, MD
Barry Lewis, MD, MBA
At-Large
Joan B. Loveland, MD
Carla Sandy, MD
At-Large
Stuart F. Seides, MD
At-Large
K. Edward Shanbacker
Executive Vice President
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The Medical Society of DC is on Facebook!
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Contact the MSDC Office
| 1250 23rd Street, NW
Suite 270
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 466-1800 (phone)
(202) 452-1542 (fax)
info@msdc.org
www.msdc.org |
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| It's time to renew your license! |
 As a reminder, the physician license renewal cycle will begin on October 1, 2012 and to inform you that there are some very important changes that will affect the upcoming licensure renewal period.
This year all licensees will be required to undergo a criminal background check (CBC).* You must first complete the renewal application online to be eligible for your CBC. To learn more about the CBC process you may visit http://doh.dc.gov/service/criminal-background-check or call 202 442-9004.
Also, this year, we will be conducting phase 2 of the physician and physician assistant workforce census survey. For physicians, the questions will be incorporated into your renewal application and physician profile. The survey questions are part of our ongoing effort to capture and analyze critical demographic and practice information data we began collecting in the 2010 renewal cycle in order to measure current, and determine future, physician and health care professional workforce needs in our nation's capital. We appreciate how busy you are but ask for your continued cooperation as we collect this very important data.
Complete the renewal process as soon as it begins in October and by no later than December 1, 2012, to avoid any potential delays in your license renewal.
If you currently have any District of Columbia tax liens/fines, or holds on your license because you failed to respond to correspondence sent to you by the Board of Medicine requiring an action on your part you will be barred from renewing online until the matter is resolved.
Please remember that only CME's (50 AMA PRA Category 1 credits) obtained in the two years immediately preceding the application date will be accepted. If you have an active DC license you are required to fulfill the CME requirement for renewal. CME audits will be conducted immediately following the renewal period.
To process your renewal application online you must have Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher. All licenses will expire on December 31, 2012.
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District News: Reforming Prior Authorization; HBX Executive Board; Avoiding sequestration; Dr. Perlin wins service award
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MSDC's Prior Authorization Bill introduced in the DC Council
Over the past several months, MSDC has been working with community stakeholders to introduce a bill in the DC Council that addresses our members' concerns about prior authorization requirements. Last week, Councilmember Yvette Alexander introduced the "Uniform Electronic Prior Authorization Form Amendment Act of 2012" to the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs.
The bill as written will:
- require a standard Prior Authorization Request form developed by the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking to be used by all insurers that have a prior authorization process for prescribed therapies,
- limit the length of the form to two-pages,
- require a response to the request within three days, or if no response is given, deem the request as granted
To read a current copy of the bill, please click here.
Health Benefits Exchange Executive Board meeting today, September 24
The Executive Board of the Health Benefit Exchange Authority, pursuant to the requirements of Section 6 of the Health Benefit Exchange Authority Establishment Act of 2011, effective March 2, 2012 (D.C. Law 19-0094), hereby announces a public meeting of the Executive Board. The meeting will be held today, September 24, 2012 at 5:30pm at the Department of Health, Room 407 at 899 North Capitol Street, NW, Washington, DC 20002.
The Executive Board meeting is open to the public. The topics to be discussed on the agenda include a Welcome and Overview of Agenda Topics, Approval of Minutes from the September 5, 2012 meeting, Presentation and Public Comments on the Insurance Subcommittee Essential Health Benefit (EHB) Recommendations, Update on the Exchange Certification Process, and Board Working Committee Updates.
Interested individuals may sign-up for the Public Comment on the EHB Recommendations either at the meeting or in advance by contacting Rekha Ayalur at (202) 724-8853 or rekha.ayalur@dc.gov.
If you have any questions, please contact Bonnie Norton at (202) 724-4312.
Check the health reform website calendar for details about future HBX meetings.
MSDC, and Federation partners pressure Congressional leadership to remove the SGR and sequestration cuts to Medicare totaling over 29%
MSDC, the AMA, and Federation partners sent a letter to the House and Senate leadership on Sept. 12, urging Congress to pass legislation avoiding
the Medicare physician payment cuts called for under last summer's budget deal sequestration provision and the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. Following the 27 percent cut in Medicare physician payments caused by the SGR, the 2 percent sequestration cut would devastate patient access to care and inject additional uncertainty into the health care system.
 Daniel Perlin, MD, incoming MSDC President, recognized for service to the community in addressing drug and alcohol addiction
The Caron Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Community Service Awards Breakfast pays tribute in a tangible and meaningful way to individuals, organizations & institutions that have made an outstanding contribution in the ongoing battle against alcohol and drug addiction in the community. This year, our own Daniel Perlin, MD will be recognized for his commitment to addressing these concerns through our Physician Health Committee and his work done throughout the community. Congratulations, Dr. Perlin!
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| Medicare News: CMS has authorized RAC auditing for Virginia |
CMS has approved the Medicare Region C Recovery Auditor(RAC) Connolly to begin conducting audits of coding for E&M services in physician offices, specifically CPT code 99215. We have been informed that in the next several weeks, Connolly will begin complex medical review of CPT code 99215, and will be permitted to extrapolate their findings based on a statistical sample of such claims. Connolly is the Medicare FFS RAC contractor who conducts RAC audits in AL, AR, CO, FL, GA, LA, MS, NM, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, it has not yet been announced if all or only a subset of these states will be under review. As of this writing, Connolly has not posted this information and other details of the review on its website. However, these reviews are expected to begin imminently in Region C and, according to CMS, are likely to be approved in other Medicare regions in the near future.
The RAC auditor for DC and Maryland (Region A) is Diversified Collection Services. The RAC auditor for Virginia is Connolly - a company currently conducting these audits.
For more information, please click here.
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| From the AMA: Forcing Insurers to adopt transparency; Enhancing your practice's reputation |
AMA instrumental in HHS' adoption of unique health plan identifier final rule, bringing increased transparency to the industry
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a final rule adopting a unique health plan identifier (HPID), one of the rules required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to cut red tape in the health care system, which could save the health care system up to $6 billion over 10 years. The AMA welcomes the adoption of a national unique HPID as a first step toward a streamlined billing system. The AMA strongly advocated for including the provision requiring a national unique HPID in the ACA after the failed attempts to adopt this standard, as mandated in the 1996 HIPAA regulation. The AMA also pressed HHS to expand the scope of the HPID to include each payer and other entity involved in the health care billing and payment process, so our members (physician-led practices) will know with whom they are actually working - including the payer, benefit manager, rental network PPO, third-party administrator, etc. Before AMA involvement, the HPID was only expected to be useful in routing transactions.
The standard identifier for health plans will serve as the foundation for the "one-stop, automated billing process." The AMA also continues to encourage HHS to adopt two critical pieces to further increase transparency - a patient-specific benefit plan identifier and a standard fee schedule identifier format. The focus of the HPID must be shifted from the payer-centric system of today to a system that provides patients and their health care providers with the information they need to know to navigate each encounter. This will enable consumers to truly shop for health insurance like they do for other major purchases, and eliminate the extraordinarily high administrative overhead physicians, hospitals and other health care providers incur today as they grapple with the multitude of different systems the various health insurers have established.
Just as physicians and other health care providers must clearly identify themselves on all health care transactions, health plans and their agents must be required to clearly identify them if we are ever to fully automate the administrative aspects of the health care system. The AMA calls on the health insurance industry to use the opportunity presented by the new HPID to provide complete transparency as to the entity involved in each transaction, whether itself, its subsidiary or a contracted intermediary.
Additional information is available in a fact sheet, and the final rule itself may be viewed online.
New AMA resource helps physician practices learn how to achieve and maintain a stellar reputation among patients and potential patients
Many physician practices wonder what their patients say and think about their practice, and what the practice can do to improve and maintain its reputation. Physician practices are a business and, like any business, their success depends on creating and maintaining customer (i.e., patient) satisfaction and loyalty. It is important for practices to be aware of, and responsive to, patient needs and preferences. The new AMA resource, "Managing your reputation," offers physician practices steps to help ensure that the practice achieves and maintains an excellent reputation among patients, their friends and family, and other potential patients.
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| ONC releases first web-based security training game |
The Office of the National Coordinator's (ONC) Office of the Chief Privacy Officer (OCPO) today announced the release of its first Web-based security training module, CyberSecure: Your Medical Practice. The security training module, which was developed with the assistance of the Regional Extension Center Program's Privacy and Security Community of Practice, uses a game format that requires users to respond to privacy and security challenges often faced in a typical small medical practice. Users choosing the right response earn points and see their virtual medical practices flourish. But users making the wrong security decisions can hurt their virtual practices.
The use of gamification by ONC is an innovative approach aimed at educating health care providers to make more informed decisions regarding privacy and security of health information.
The security training game can be accessed on www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/privacy-security-training-games.
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| Are your patients neglecting their prescriptions? |
A poll from WebMD suggests more people forgo filling prescriptions due to cost.
WebMD (9/14, Mann) reports that "more than 80% of Americans who don't have prescription drug coverage are not filling their prescriptions, skipping medical tests, passing on doctor's appointments because of cost, or cutting corners elsewhere, a new Consumer Reports poll shows." The article points out that "nearly half of the adults polled did not fill a prescription because of cost in the past year, compared with 27% last year." Lisa Gill, the editor of prescription drugs for Consumer Reports, remarked, "the jump from one year to the next was massive, bordering on a crisis."
The New York Daily News (9/14, Furman) reports that the poll found that "overall, a whopping 81% said that over the past 12 months they have been trying to cut corners to cope. That's up from 65% last year." According to the article, "problems paying for medical bills and medications is the No.1 financial woe Americans face today - more than meeting mortgage payments or paying big household bills, Consumer Reports said."
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| Gittleson-Zuppas partners for new medical office building |
 Lerner Enterprises, Washington, D.C.'s largest private real estate developer announced it has awarded the firm Gittleson Zuppas Medical Realty, Inc. the exclusive agency assignment to market Lerner's newest project, Fallsgrove Plaza. Lerner has also announced that it has selected HITT Contracting of Falls Church, Virginia as the general contractor with construction proposed for fall 2012.
Nicholas M. Zuppas and David A. Gittleson of Gittleson Zuppas Medical Realty will head the leasing effort for the new building. The firm specializes in leasing to firms in the medical field throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in addition to representing numerous medical practices.
The proposed five-story state of the art Class A 110,000 square foot medical | office building will be located at the intersection of Shady Grove and Blackwell Roads in Rockville, Maryland within the award-winning Fallsgrove master planned community, strategically located near Shady Grove Adventist Hospital and the Life Science Corridor. The Donnally Vujcic Associates (DVA Architects) of Gaithersburg, Maryland designed building is proposed to achieve LEEDŽ Gold Certification.
The new building will be within walking distance to Lerner's other projects including the award-winning Fallsgrove Village Center (FallsgroveVillageCtr.com), a community shopping center featuring Safeway plus 30 shops and restaurants; the award-winning fully leased Class A
Fallsgrove Village Office Center (FallsgroveOffice.com); and the Fallsgrove HiltonŽ Garden Inn (RockvilleGaithersburg.HGI.com)and Fallsgrove Homewood Suites (RockvilleGaithersburg.homewoodsuites.com) hotels. These projects are located across from the region's leading hospital and life science centers, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital and the Life Sciences Center.
For more information, please click here.
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| National Drug Takeback Day Scheduled for September 29 |
 The US Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) fifth semiannual National Takeback Day program will be held Saturday, September 29, 2012, from 10 AM to 2 PM local time. At the last event, in April, 276 tons of unused, expired, or excess medication was collected, bringing the total for the four events held to over 1.5 million pounds (774 tons).
The American Academy of Pain Management and MSDC encourages its members to make patients aware of these events. Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicate that about 70% of the time someone misuses a prescription opioid medication, the source of that medication is family or friends-often from home medicine cabinets.
Please help your patients eliminate unwanted or unneeded medications from their homes so we can reduce the risk of diversion, misuse, and abuse. To find out where your local event will be held, visit the DEA website. Enter your location, and a list of Takeback Day event locations will appear.
On the Academy's website (www.aapainmanage.org), under the Advocacy tab, you will find three .pdf files containing flyers you can complete, print, and give to your patients. Each of these is set up so you can type in the location, then print the flyer and either post it in your offices or give it to patients.
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| Strengthen Your Practice Immunization Performance |
 Primary Care Physicians are in the best position to improve adolescent and adult vaccination rates. Immunization for Flu, Pneumococcal, Shingles, and Tdap vaccines continue to fall short of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services objectives.
Fortunately, the Medical Society of DC has a strong partner in providing our members the resources and support to cost-effectively improve immunization rates, and in turn, strengthen your practice. Atlantic Health Partners, the nation's leading vaccine buying group, offers you the lowest vaccine prices and finest customer service to improve the performance of your immunization initiatives. Atlantic even has a program that enables you to provide vaccines like Zostavax (Shingles) and Adacel (Tdap) to Medicare Part D patients.
MSDC members that currently participate with Atlantic are very satisfied with the savings and support. We encourage you to contact Atlantic at 800-741-2044 or info@atlantichealthpartners.com to better determine how they can benefit your practice.
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| Save up to 75% using MSDC's Drug Discount Program Card |
 As a physician in Washington, DC, you and your patients have access to a FREE Prescription Drug Card program. The Medical Society is please to offer the DCRx CARD. Your patients can save up to 75% on precriptions, selected eye-wear, vitamins and other products. The card is accepted in pharmacies in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
The Medical Society of DC has received a shipment of these cards and have 250 cards available to each Society member who requests them. please e-mail Pia Duryea at duryea@msdc.org and ask for the cards for your patients.
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| Classified Ads |
Retiring Physician Seeking Family Physician to Take Over Practice
Retiring family practice physician looking for interested physician to take over practice of 25 years, DuPont Circle area. Please contact 202-365-2344
Washington DC/Bethesda Border - Spring Valley Location
Medical Office sublet available. Prime location in beautiful Spring Valley section of Northwest DC. Spacious office with 5 exam rooms. EMR with computers in all rooms. Available for full-time or part-time lease. Large convenient parking lot located behind building and plenty of additional street parking. Walking distance to Metro and Metrobus. Short distance from both Sibley Hospital and Suburban Hospital. Please call Maria at 202-237-0808 for additional details.
For Sale: Tropical/Travel Medicine Practice
Long established and nationally recognized private practice serving Washington, D.C. and surrounding areas. Includes consulting practice in tropical medicine; travel clinic seeing over 7,000-8,000 clients per year; and diagnostic parasitology laboratory. It is in an excellent central city location. This is a unique opportunity for a physician with a passion for tropical/travel medicine and infectious diseases. Send expressions of interest to: tmsdc@verizon.net
Plan Now for a Fun, Restful Vacation!
The Medical Society and Alliance Foundation (MSAF) owns a timeshare, available at The Historic Powhatan Resort, Williamsburg, VA. From September 9 to September 16, two adjoining yet distinct units, each with one bedroom and 1.5 baths, await you, family and friends. Managed by Diamond Resorts International, on-site amenities include outdoor and heated indoor swimming pools, fitness center, cycling/bike rental, fishing, tennis, racquetball, putting green/mini golf, game room, playground, restaurants, and concierge services. Housekeeping services are available. Explore nearby attractions such as Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Jamestown, wine tasting, golf, spas, antique stores, and outlet shopping. This relaxing vacation can be yours for $1200, less than $200 per day! For more information, please contact Rose Smith at (202) 466-1800.
Office Furniture for Sale
Retired Physician has office furnishings for sale. Beautiful executive desk and credenza. Reed chairs and small table. Numerous other items suitable for office or apartment. Offering reasonable price for complete lot but willing to negotiate separate items. To review, please call 301-656-6309 or 301-656-3977
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