From the Newsroom: MCMS Executive Director, Jay Conyers, featured in KJZZ interview.
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Earlier this month, California became the fifth state in the nation to legalize physician-assisted suicide for residents who are terminally ill. There doesn't seem to be momentum at Arizona's Capitol to move forward with similar legislation, but we decided to survey members and find out what they thought. Jay was interviewed on the results.
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Final Two-midnight Rule Dismisses Suggestions on 'Physician Judgment'
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is standing by the controversial two-midnight rule and will not implement changes proposed by industry stakeholders, including a popular suggestion to create a one-midnight rule. The agency will also allow physicians to exercise judgment in admitting patients for short hospital stays.
CMS finalized its two-midnight policy in the 2016 hospital outpatient prospective payment system and ambulatory surgical center payment system payment rule released Friday.
The two-midnight rule, which was created in 2013, calls for Medicare's payment and audit contractors to assume a hospital admission was legitimate if it spans two midnights. Shorter stays are assumed to be more appropriately billed as outpatient observation care.
The rule is meant to correct a spike in observation stays after hospitals feared Medicare audit contractors would challenge admissions. As a result, many patients found themselves ineligible for skilled nursing after spending days in the hospital because their stay had been billed as observation.
Some stakeholders have been very critical of the changes to the rule, especially the "physician judgment" exception, because the agency did not provide explicit instructions on when physician judgment overrides the official rule. The CMS disagreed that more instruction on clinical judgment was needed, however.
Read the full article >>
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AOMA's 35th Annual Fall Seminar: Mind. Body. Spirit.
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November 7 & 8, 2015
Hilton Tucson El Conquistador
Tucson, Arizona
An anticipated 12.5 AOA Category 1-A CME credits. Application will also be filed for AAFP Category 1 prescribed credits.
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Clinical and Laboratory Update in Thrombosis and Anticoagulation
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November 18-20, 2015
FireSky Resort & Spa4925 N. Scottsdale Rd.Scottsdale, AZ, 85251
This conference will focus on clinically applicable and cutting-edge methods used in the evaluation and treatment of patients with arterial and venous thrombotic disorders including the increasing integration of novel anticoagulants.
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MEDICAL OFFICE SUITE TEMPE-MESA AREA
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For lease in beautiful garden office complex. Includes covered doctor parking. Excellent location with easy access to 101 & 60 freeways & close to Desert Samaritan & Tempe St. Luke's Hospitals.
Contact 602-625-6298.
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Curso Intensivo de Diabetes, Endocrinología y Enfermedades Metabólicas
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December 9-12, 2015
The 17th Annual Davidson-Mestman Intensive Course on Diabetes will be held this December in Miami Florida .
This meeting is presented entirely in Spanish and typically draws an average of 375 attendees. This is a 4-day program for endocrinologists, Internists, family physicians and AHPs, and attendees will be from the U.S. and Latin and South America.
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SUBLEASE SPACE IN LARGE DERMATOLOGY OFFICE AT HAYDEN/SHEA IN SCOTTSDALE
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Fully furnished private wing of three exam/procedure/consult rooms plus office for practitioners of all types. Motorized chairs in all three rooms. Very private wing with your own bathroom and check-in/check-out counter. Perfect Scottsdale location with ample parking. Shorter terms available for added flexibility.
Call 480-694-1456
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Collaborative Care in Chronic Disease
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March 11-12, 2016
We-Ko-Pa Resort & Conference Center,10438 N Fort McDowell Rd.,Scottsdale, AZ 85264
17th Annual Southwest Nephrology Conference & 4th Annual Convention of Cardio Renal Society of America
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UP TO 5,050 CONTIGUOUS SF AVAILABLE FOR LEASE IN A 10,275 SF BUILDING FOR SALE
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Sunrise Medical Plaza is located less than one mile East of Banner Estrella Medical Center and has signage along Thomas Road. Contact Tracy or Autumn
602/277-8558 at Ensemble
Real Estate Solutions.
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Don't Let Your MCMS Membership Lapse!
Please Remit Your 2016 Dues by December 31, 2015
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Thank you for your continued support of the Maricopa County Medical Society. As the Society embarks on another year of serving you as the unified voice of medicine throughout the Valley, we hope that you will continue your membership with us.
As a physician member of the Society, you will continue to receive numerous discounts and services from local businesses through our Preferred Partner Program, and will continue to receive our monthly magazine, Round-up, as well as this e-newsletter. You will continue to benefit from our education and advocacy initiatives and will be invited to attend various events throughout the year.
Active physician members will also continue to receive referrals through the Society's patient referral service. Last year, the Society made nearly 10,000 referrals to member physicians, and has expanded our marketing efforts to better advertise the service throughout the community. We are also working on a process to provide referral line participants with caller (potential patient) information through quarterly reporting. We will keep you "InforMED" on our progress. If we have your practice information on file, then you're already included in our referral network. (Be sure to updated your demographic information if you have moved in the last year!).
Please take the time to renew your membership at this time. We look forward to seeing you at one of the many events planned for 2016, and thank you again for your continued membership in the Society.
Renew now >>
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| Midwestern University Receives Initial Accreditation to Sponsor Postdoctoral Programs for DO and MD Graduates | | Midwestern University is pleased to announce that the Midwestern University Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institute (MWU/OPTI) has been granted Initial Accreditation as a Sponsoring Institution by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The ACGME has entered into an agreement with the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) to create a Single Accreditation System (SAS) for graduate medical education and training in the United States.
Read the full article >>
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| Mountain Vista Medical Center to Hold Free Orthopaedic Seminars | |
Mountain Vista Medical Center will hold a series of FREE orthopaedic events in the East Valley during the next few months, offering the opportunity to learn more about overcoming joint pain and fighting osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis in the U.S., which is also referred to as "wear and tear" arthritis. MCMS Member Brian McWhorter, DO and Tim Bert, M.D., will lead the three specialized seminars. For more information, days and times, click here >> |
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| MCMS Member Kimberly Yeung-Yue Joined Southwest Skin Specialists | | |
Dr. Yeung-Yue, an Arizona native, joined Southwest Skin Specialists in 2015 after already establishing an excellent reputation within the Dermatology community of Phoenix.
Dr. Yeung-Yue attended the University of California, San Diego before acquiring her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She completed her internship at the University of Texas - Houston and a residency in Dermatology at Wayne State University in Detroit, where she served as Chief Resident. She also participated in dozens of research trials, publications and presentations.
She practices general Dermatology for patients of all ages and is accepting new patients at both locations: - 11130 N. Tatum Boulevard - Suite 100 / Phoenix, AZ 85028
- 10200 N. 92nd Street - Suite 205 / Scottsdale, AZ 85258
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Meritus Placed on Suspension and Drops Out of Health Insurance Marketplace (healthcare.gov)
Originally posted October 30, 2015
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| Currently providing healthcare benefits to nearly 60,000 in Arizona, Meritus is the nation's latest CO-OP to fail.
After 2015's enrollment growth of nearly 93 percent, Meritus CEO Tom Zumtobel spoke earlier this month of needing to figure out how to grow Arizona's only CO-OP more conservatively.
On October 29 , independent insurance agents learned Meritus would not be offering its 26 HMO plans on the HIM when open enrollment began yesterday. A review of plans available in Arizona through healthcare.gov confirmed the insurer's absence on the marketplace.
The Arizona Department of Insurance issued a press release stating that Meritus Health Partners and Meritus Mutual Health Partners declined to accept terms of supervision and were suspended from offering new plans for 2016 or renew existing plans. CMS removed the plans from healthcare.gov.
Read the full article >>
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New AMA-Medstar Scorecard on EHR Usability Testing
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In a statement released to county medical societies by the American Medical Association (AMA) to promote transparency around how electronic health records (EHRs) are designed and user-tested, and to drive improvements in clinician satisfaction and patient safety, the AMA and MedStar Health's National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare have developed a comparative EHR Usability Framework that shows many EHR vendors are not meeting basic standards for user-centered design and formal usability testing processes. Read the full release >> |
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| New Medicare Rule Authorizes 'End-of-Life' Consultations | | |
Six years after legislation to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a furor over "death panels," the Obama administration issued a final rule on Friday that authorizes Medicare to pay doctors for consultations with patients on how they would like to be cared for as they are dying.
The administration proposed the payments in July, touching off none of the rancor that first accompanied the idea during debate on the Affordable Care Act in 2009.
Dr. Patrick Conway, the chief medical officer at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Friday that the final rule was similar to the proposal earlier this year.
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| Drug Makers Buy Pricey Vouchers to Speed Products to Market | | There is a new price surge in the pharmaceutical industry - not for medications, instead for a limited number of government-issued vouchers that drug makers, including AbbVie Inc. and Sanofi SA, are buying to speed products to market.
Legal provisions enacted in 2007 and 2012 require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue "priority review vouchers" as rewards to developers of drugs for rare pediatric conditions or tropical diseases, such as malaria. Congress intended the vouchers to encourage more research into underfunded diseases. Companies receive them when the FDA approves their drug for sale and can redeem them to speed FDA consideration of a subsequent drug for any disease.
The vouchers require the FDA to shorten its decision deadline to six months from the standard 10 months-potentially giving companies an extra four months' worth of sales. The voucher doesn't guarantee the FDA will approve the drug.
Read the full article >>
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