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Upcoming Events | |
EPCMS Membership Meeting and Physician Connection
January 18, 2012
5:30 PM
Cheyenne Mountain Resort
COPIC ERS Presentation "Difficult Patient Interactions in Medicine"
6:00 PM
RSVP 471-6991
New Realities In Health Care Event: Understanding the Pieces, Understanding the Whole: #7- Creating Our Medical Neighborhood
February 1, 2012
5:30 PM
Julie Penrose Health Education & Research Center
6071 E. Woodmen Rd., #200
RSVP 471-6991 | |
National Jewish Health Pulmonology & Allergy Update
February 1-4, 2012
Keysone, CO
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Public Health News
El Paso County Public Health has noticed a sharp increase in gastrointestinal illness in the community. This illness causes stomach cramping, vomiting and diarrhea and is likely due to an infection caused by 'norovirus.'
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New EVP Mike Ware Takes Post | | |
Michael Ware will enter the El Paso County Medical Society offices on January 3rd as the new Executive Vice President of the 132-year old organization.
Mike brings over a decade of experience to this position, having previously worked with both the Ohio State Medical Association and American Medical Association. He has a deep background in healthcare policy, advocacy for physicians, and coalition building which will serve EPCMS well into the future.
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CMS Member Poll
Your Voice Matters
Colorado Medical Society needs your participation
to help us tackle the
issues that are most
important to you
in the coming year. Please take less than 10 minutes to let us know what's important to you by completing an online survey. If you are a CMS member, you should have received an email from President@CMS.org with a customized web address for the survey. If you cannot locate this email message, then please
email and ask for the survey link. Be sure to include your name with the request. |
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Friends of EPCMS
When was the
last time
your practice
had a checkup?
Read more...
Email
or call 719.440.8027
Visit This Friend
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EPCMSnews
News & Information From El Paso County Medical Society
January 2012 |
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Greetings!
In with the new is what we have for you in this issue. |
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Time to Get to Work
By Mike Ware, EPCMS Executive Vice President
Taking over for a championship-caliber quarterback is never easy, though that's the experience I am fortunate to find myself in right now. For thirty-four years, Carol Walker led the El Paso County Medical Society in contributing to its over 100 years of success. During that time, she has worked with your elected leadership to make EPCMS one of the strongest county medical societies in the country. That's no small feat, and I'm honored to continue that tradition.
Health care is changing. In my eleven years in medical society management I've seen major changes: electronic health records are more prevalent; Medicare and insurer payments haven't kept pace with the cost of practicing medicine, putting more and more pressure on practices; the pace of new state and federal regulations is forcing physicians to spend more time on paperwork and less time doing what they do best, treating patients. And one thing has stayed the same - trial lawyers want to weaken our tort reforms.
I've dedicated eleven years of my life to making it easier for physicians to practice medicine. Whether lobbying for better health care legislation during my six years as a lobbyist and the political director for the Ohio State Medical Association, or my five years working with the American Medical Association to help strengthen state, county and national specialty societies, I have stayed passionate about these issues.
And, if you were in my shoes, who wouldn't be passionate and enthusiastic? I work for the good guys and gals. I get to work for the people that get up every morning and heal the sick, and it's a privilege to work for you.
So, here I am, taking over a county medical society during a time of great change. What's my plan?
Step 1: Listen. My grandfather used to say "keep quiet and you might learn something." It's good advice. As well as I know national and state health policy issues, you know El Paso and Teller County. You know where the holes in our system are, and how they can best be filled. You have a wealth of knowledge, and I welcome your input and feedback.
Step 2: Align the organization with the strategic plan the Board developed last year. Our goal is to maintain an organization that makes it easier for you to practice medicine.
Step 3: Get to know you. We have a great community here in the Pikes Peak region. I look forward to meeting all of you. And, if you're hikers or bikers, my wife and I will see you on the trails.
I look forward to working together to build a stronger medical community. We're going to build on EPCMS's years of success, and there's still more work to be done. Finally, I'm honored that the EPCMS Board has put their trust in me. As I said earlier, it's a strong organization with great members and great staff. I look forward to serving the physicians of El Paso and Teller County.
Time to get to work...
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New Step Forward for Healthcare Reform in Colorado
You may have heard of the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative recently launched by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)- a multi-payer initiative to foster collaboration among public and private healthcare payers to strengthen primary care for all Americans. Noting the vital importance of primary care to the health of U.S. citizens, CMMI is encouraging payers to provide enhanced compensation to primary care to facilitate an enhanced level of care for Medicare patients in five to seven geographic areas under a new payment model.
The Center for Improving Value in Health Care(CIVHC), in collaboration withHealthTeamWorks, is convening payers and other stakeholders to designate Colorado in their letters of intent to provide enhanced compensation. CIVHC is getting support from HealthTeamWorks, a Lakewood, Colo.-based nonprofit that helps primary care practices along the journey to the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). Six practices in El Paso County currently participate in HealthTeamWorks transformation programs. Call EPCMS if your practice wants to know more about this free service.
The Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative will test the patient centered medical home (PCMH) service-delivery model and the payment model simultaneously. The PCMH focuses on comprehensive primary care, characterized as having:
- Risk-stratified care management;
- Access and continuity;
- Planned care for chronic conditions and preventive care;
- Patient and caregiver engagement; and
- Coordination of care across the "medical neighborhood."
The payment model includes a monthly care management fee paid to selected primary care practices on behalf of their fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries. In years 2-4 of the initiative, these practices may share in any savings to the Medicare program. Practices will also receive compensation from other payers participating in the initiative, including private insurers and other health plans, which will allow them to integrate funding streams from multiple payers to strengthen their capacity to implement practice-wide quality improvement.
To date, CIVHC has convened one large and several small meetings to bring payers to the table. Participants include Anthem, Cigna, State Employee Health Benefit Plan,Colorado Access, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, San Luis Valley HMO, Medicaid and UnitedHealthcare. Other stakeholders include The Colorado Trust, the Colorado Medical Society, Colorado Association of Health Plans, Colorado Health Care Policy and Finance and the state of Colorado - one of the largest employers in the state. Health plans and payers, including large employers, must make the application; CIVHC is encouraging as many as possible to join the effort and improve the odds of Colorado being selected.
Colorado is well-positioned for the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative. The state has more than 600 physicians recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as PCMH providers. More than 2,250 providers are on track to attain government-mandated stage-one "meaningful use" of their electronic health records. Colorado has one of earliest national, multipayer PCMH demonstration pilots with seven health plans participating. Through the HealthTeamWorks PCMH Foundations program, more than 200 practices are well on their way to becoming medical homes. Colorado is piloting innovative bundled payment models, including the Prometheus plan in El Paso and Boulder counties, as well as the San Luis Valley. El Paso County is well-suited to be a serious contender for inclusion if Colorado is selected. Through grant funding, HealthTeamWorks offers PCMH coaching to primary care practices at no cost. A local HealthTeamWorks quality-improvement coach works with the El Paso County Medical Society to identify and assist practices seeking to evolve to PCMH. Those interested in preparing for the opportunities in the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative as well as future opportunities are encouraged to contact coach BJ Dempsey at (719)930-6175.
"The PCMH model represents the new standard of healthcare and the next step for healthcare reform," said Marjie Harbrecht, MD, HealthTeamWorks' CEO. "If CMS chooses our region for the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, we look forward to supporting medical practices in the new care delivery and payment models. Everyone - providers, payers and supporting organizations - needs to move in the same direction to maximize resources and realize the most value from this enterprise."
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New Order for Memorial
Voting on the five proposals for leasing Memorial Health System began December 16, with the City Council Task Force unanimously recommending the city lease the health system to University of Colorado Hospital. Read more...
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The failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to agree on budget cuts meant congressional action was the only thing that could stop Medicare from cutting physician payments by 27.4 percent on January 1st as mandated by the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula.
Physicians got a brief reprieve from the SGR pay cut December 23rd when the U.S. House of Representatives reached agreement with the Senate on a two-month extension, delaying the blow until the end of February.
Colorado Medical Society surveys of Colorado physicians estimate that more than half of physicians treating Medicare patients will be compelled to stop accepting new patients, and in some settings,
stop treating Medicare patients altogether if the SGR cuts go into effect.
The anticipated loss to the University of Colorado School of Medicine from the SGR mandated payment cut falls between $11.5 and $12 million. While Medicare and TriCare covers approximately 41 percent of the school's patients, the revenue generated by these patients is much less than 41 percent of the school's total revenue because those rates are low. Compare that amount to the total general fund allocation to the School of Medicine of nearly $10.5 million and the SGR-related loss would be the equivalent of the school losing all of its state funding.
A House-Senate conference committee will convene this month to work on a longer-term agreement to the SGR problem. At a press conference, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the goal is to extend the physician payment cut reprieve for two years. AMA President Peter W. Carmel, MD, called on Congress to "enact a real and fiscally responsible solution to this sorry cycle of scheduled cuts and short-term patches that compromises access to care for patients and drives up costs for taxpayers. Members of Congress need to use this time to work in a bipartisan manner to provide long-term stability for seniors, military families and the physicians who care for them."
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended the annual Medicare participation enrollment period through February 14, 2012. The effective date for any participation status change during the extension, however, remains January 1, 2012, and will be enforced for the entire year. CMS contractors will accept and process any participation elections or withdrawals made during the extended enrollment period that are post-marked on or before February 14th.
Evaluate Your Medicare Participation Here
 | | Grandma and the Big Bad SGR! |
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Sincerely,
EPCMS
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