AAFP National Conference of Residents and Students

The future of family medicine convened in Kansas City last weekend for the annual AAFP National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students.  Illinois was well-represented by student and resident scholarship winners, residency programs and Illinois leaders. 

Some highlights:

-18 Illinois residency programs in the exhibit hall

-UIC student Mustafa Alavi was elected FMIG National Coordinator, following in the footsteps of UIC graduate Lauren Kendall, MD

-Our student delegate, Kristina Dakis of UIC, authored and passed a resolution asking AAFP to support including the humanities in medical school curriculum.

- AAFP Vice Speaker Javette C. Orgain, MD of Chicago supported the student and resident conveners in parliamentary procedures in running their respective Congress.

Next up! Put our IAFP annual meeting on your calendar

Annual Meeting - 2013 a.k.a. SAM-a-Rama!

Inspiration, Collaboration, Celebration & Camaraderie

November 7-9 at the Hilton Lisle/Naperville

Online Registration is COMING SOON at www.iafp.com

IAFP is dedicating more of our annual meeting to providing those SAMs workshops that family physicians need.  Stay current and tackle these tough issues in an interactive group setting with your family physician colleagues.  Our meeting is centrally located in DuPage County - easy to access and with FREE parking so that Chicago residents can enjoy the benefits of parking without paying!  Naperville also offers wonderful fun activities for families. Check out the schedule. Register online or download a printable registration form here.  

ICYMI:  Check out the July/August Illinois Family Physician

Just Released - Illinois Medicaid Fee Schedule for 2013-14 Primary Care

This is the new fee schedule for primary care Illinois Medicaid, under the Affordable Care Act.

The new schedule reflects the increases for Medicare-Medicaid parity required by the Act and funded by the federal government.

Medicaid Reform and Care Coordination

IAFP Second Vice President Alvia Siddiqi, MD is the new medical director for Illinois Health Connect (IHC), the Medicaid primary care case management program.  She has provided an update explaining IHC's new role in the Medicaid Care Coordination Entity (CCE) roll-out, as there has been confusion over Illinois Health Connect and Medicaid Care Coordination.

The coming months will bring several new models of care to Illinois Medicaid.  Such changes are likely to spark questions for both patients and provider offices.  Specifically, patients and providers familiar with Illinois Health Connect need to understand how the current care model will shift and how IHC will collaborate with the new models. 

The IHC program will continue to operate as a statewide mandatory health plan choice for those individuals that are not required to participate in an Integrated Care Plan (ICP), Medicaid Medicare Alignment Initiative (MMAI), or a Care Coordination Entity (CCE).  But the CCEs have a direct link to IHC.  Primary Care Providers who participate in a CCE are required to be enrolled as an IHC Primary Care Provider.  Additionally, patients who select a CCE will be enrolled not only in that CCE but also in IHC.  The CCE will collaborate with IHC to manage their panels and assure access to both the medical home and the continuum of services within the CCE.  The CCE implementation will roll out geographically over several months.  For more information, please visit the HFS Managed Care webpage and HFS Care Coordination webpage. 

Abortion Adult Notification Law takes effect Aug. 15

The Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act is due to go into effect August 15th. Family physicians in Illinois need to understand what the law will mean for patients. The law requires that an "adult family member" be notified about an abortion before it takes place if the patient is under 18. Adult family member is defined as a parent, a grandparent, a step-parent (if the step-parent lives in the same household), or her legal guardian. There are a few circumstances when a teen has an exception to the law - please see http://ilbypasscoordinationproject.org/ for details.

New Cartoon Video explains ACA Coverage

Are you looking for an easy way to summarize or understand the upcoming health care expansion (aka ObamaCare)?  Try sharing this cartoon from the Kaiser Family Foundation to explain it to your patients (or your kids, friends, anyone who needs a quick education on what's coming up in 2014!). When open enrollment starts on October 1, 2013, consumers will be able to apply, compare plans, and enroll. Coverage starts as soon as January 1, 2014. www.Marketplace.cms.gov  has new information such as brochures, fact sheets, videos, a postcard, resource card, and a checklist for consumers.

The Springfield State Journal-Register published a 5-part series on the Affordable Care Act implementation this week.  You can link to the full series here (http://extras.sj-r.com/static-pages/obamacare), but full access requires an online subscription. 

Have you contributed to FamMedPAC?

Illinois currently ranks #4 among AAFP chapters in total dollars contributed to the AAFP FamMedPAC.  Six Illinois members of Congress have received contributions from the PAC, usually delivered by an IAFP member. Less than two percent of IAFP members have contributed this election cycle.  Illinois member Ellen S. Brull, MD of Glenview is a new member of the FamMedPAC Board and would like to see our numbers go up!  Now is the perfect time to contribute online today! 

Did you see the NEW CME Connections E-Newsletter!

CME Connections has a new look and feature new and exciting content!  Keep an eye on your inboxes next month to discover the NEW CME Connections.  Link to the first new and improved issue!

Next IAFP Lunch & Learn Webinars

Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act - What Family Physicians Need to Know  Presented by: Debra Stulberg, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, The University of Chicago and Lorie Chaiten, Director, Reproductive Rights Project, Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU of IL
Thursday, August 29, 2013, 12:00-1:00pm CST

The Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act is due to go into effect August 15th. Now is time for family physicians in Illinois to understand what the law will mean for our patients.

Register Online

Malpractice Claims & Risk Management Update - Family Practice

Presented by: Laurette Salzman, MBA, CPHRM, Senior Risk Management Consultant, ProAssurance Companies
September 26, 2013, 12:00-1:00pm CST

Learning Objectives:

-       Examine claims data specific to family practice;

-       Discuss current & emerging trends;

-       List and apply practical skills when disclosing adverse outcomes

-       Implement loss prevention strategies designed for the office practice setting.

Register Online

IRHA Annual Education Conference

The Illinois Rural Health Association Annual Educational Conference will feature a variety of over 14 workshops including a key note presentation by Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services Deputy Director Jim Parker and Ken Ryan of ISMS on the Department's latest policies and initiatives including ACA implementation and Medicaid expansion. Link to the brochure

Navigating Through the Marketplace: 

A Positive Direction for Quality Healthcare in Illinois

Don't miss this opportunity to learn the latest information on what will drive quality health care through the Marketplaces on a national and state level.

Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council Conference Center

Thursday, September 19 from 8:00am to 1:00pm

222 South Riverside Plaza, 19th Floor Chicago, IL 60606

$35 Registration Fee (Breakfast and Lunch Included)

Click here for additional information and RSVP

Sponsored by: Automated Health Systems/Illinois Health Connect

For additional information contact: Paula Osman/Project Coordinator   posman@automated-health.com

Application for CME credit has been filed with the American Academy of Family Physicians. Determination of credit is pending.

Direct Primary Care Summit in St. Louis

Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a new model for financing and delivering primary care that is growing rapidly in popularity. We invite all those interested in this movement to join us for a national DPC summit that will be held at the Marriott St. Louis Airport in St. Louis, MO, October 11-12, 2013.

Register Now! 

Early Bird Registration: $300 (through August 15) then Registration: $350 (until September 30)

NRCME DOT Training

October 12 from 7:45am to12:30pm

Adler Auditorium at the Genesis Heart Institute

Davenport, Iowa

Register Online

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has established a National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners with requirements that all medical examiners who conduct physical examinations for interstate commercial motor vehicle drivers must complete a training course and pass a certification examination prior to May 21, 2014. Please contact the Iowa AFP at 515-283-9370 with questions.  Check out their ad with details

Opportunity for Meaningful Use Assistance from IL-HITREC

The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) has awarded a grant to the Illinois Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center based at Northern Illinois University (IL-HITREC/NIU) to assist with adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) for Medicaid providers in Illinois (outside the 606 zip code area).

The grant provides up to $2 million in funding to IL-HITREC to assist with increasing the awareness, adoption and meaningful use of EHRs.  NIU's College of Health and Human Sciences is a co-recipient of the grant and will assist in its implementation. IL-HITREC will assist Medicaid providers with the process of registering, attesting and verifying qualification in the EHR incentive program, as well as develop education and recruitment materials.

The HFS grant award was announced mid-July and the scope of work is still being defined.

IL-HITREC is creating materials to reach eligible providers and support staff at rural health centers, hospitals, federally qualified health clinics, professional organizations and other interested groups. IL-HITREC is headquartered at Northern Illinois University. For more information, visit www.ilhitrec.org.

The Illinois Department of Public Health's Disability and Health Program would like you to participate in an anonymous online survey on the potential access barriers in and around exam rooms as follows:

For each clinic (facility) in your organization, please identify a person (it could be you) most likely to know well about the physical features of an exam room and medical equipment being used in/around the exam room.

If you are going to identify a single person to represent multiple clinics (facilities), please ask him/her to answer to the survey once for each clinic (facility) s/he represents.

Please ask him/her to respond to the survey using the link below.

https://survey.dph.illinois.gov/survey/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.cgi?idx=2XD7D3

At the conclusion of this survey, a link to a guide on medical facility accessibility produced by U.S. Department of Justice has been provided.  Survey respondents are welcome to reproduce the document for further reference.   To further facilitate improvement of accessibility of medical facilities for patients with disabilities, the Illinois Disability and Health Program is collaborating with local disability organizations to offer your facility an onsite consultation by an accessibility expert at no cost.  If you are interested in this opportunity, or have any questions regarding this survey, please feel free to contact Carla Cox at 217-557-2939 or carla.cox@illinois.gov. 

If you have a news item to share, email it to Ginnie Flynn at gflynn@iafp.com.

Ravi Grivois-Shah, MD was the 2013 Outstanding Commissioner award winner for his work on the Board of Health and was honored at a special ceremony on July 29. 

IAFP 2012 President's Award honoree Russell Dohner, MD was named Grand Marshall of the Illinois State Fair parade on August 8 in Springfield.  The Rushville doctor has provided primary care and $5 office visits in Rushville for 58 years!

Lee Sacks, MD and Susan Vandenberg-Dent, MD were quoted in a Crain's Chicago Business article on July 22 that examined the track record of Chicago area teaching hospitals in producing primary care physicians.

Past President David J. Hagan, MD was quoted in an Aug. 5 Champaign News Gazette article about Illinois' new law legalizing medical marijuana.  Hagan does not plan to use marijuana in his treatment plans for patients. 

Improving the Health of your Patients and your Practice

According to the CDC, many seniors are still not being vaccinated for the potentially fatal conditions of influenza and pneumonia. Effectively addressing this problem is just one of the key reasons we are working with Atlantic Health Partners, the nation's leading vaccine buying group.  Atlantic offers our members the most favorable pricing and terms for Merck and Sanofi vaccines, along with outstanding customer service.  Atlantic's mission is to positively impact medical practice performance and public health outcomes by empowering physicians to more cost-effectively and efficiently provide immunizations to patients. Atlantic's program is especially effective for family physicians, and can help you with everything from back to school immunizations and the influenza season, to more effectively immunizing Medicare patients including vaccines covered under Part D.  IAFP members currently participating with Atlantic are most satisfied with the pricing, support, and ease of administration.   We strongly recommend you contact Cindy or Jeff at Atlantic at 800-741-2044 or email at info@atlantichealthpartners.com to better determine how Atlantic can help your practice.   You can also visit their web site www.atlantichealthpartners.com      

2013 Assembly in San Diego | Get Connected, Up-to-date, and Inspired

Join thousands of your colleagues for the 2013 AAFP Scientific Assembly, September 24-28, in San Diego.

Register by August 21 to save up to $100.*      

*This offer does not apply to Students, Residents, Inactive, or Life members.

AAFP Delivers Answers on Contracts and Collective Bargaining

AAFP's website now has best practices developed for employed physicians on contract negotiations and collective bargaining. A dual-resource guide entitled, "Five Key Elements of a Physician Employment Agreement and Collective Bargaining for Employed Physicians," empowers physicians to better navigate employment agreements and contracts. Just a hint: #1 is Salary and #2 is Benefits!

New AAFP PQRS Reporting Tool Available  AAFP has partnered with CECity to offer a discounted price for use of a web-based registry and reporting tool, PQRIwizard, which CMS has designated as a qualified registry for PQRS reporting. Through the AAFP website (aafp.pqriwizard.com), you can subscribe to the PQRIwizard for only $219, an $80 savings for AAFP members.

This online tool allows family physicians and their staff to enter data for one measures group into the registry program for the required 30 Medicare patients and receive validation alerts to avoid submission errors. PQRIwizard monitors your progress, calculates your measures, and provides a printable, real-time report of your performance rates.