SORRY WE'RE A DAY LATE!  A power outage at Constant Contact knocked their system out all day on Friday.  We apologize for the delay.

Membership renewals Please don't go! 

2014 Membership Cancellations are just weeks away!  We want you to stay!

• Members who have not reported the required number of CME for re-election year 2011-2013 will be cancelled May 1^st.   
• Members who have not either paid their 2014 dues or signed up for the installation program will be cancelled May 2.   
• Members that fall into either or both of these categories will be receiving notices.  At any time before May members can either pay dues or report their CME hours to the AAFP Contact center at contactcenter@aafp.org or 800-274-2237. 

 Did you know you can pay your dues to AAFP early? If you need to use or lose membership funds from your employer, or the timing is just better for you, you can arrange to pre-pay your annual dues directly with AAFP.  Simply reach out to the AAFP Contact Center or call 800-274-2237 to set up a credit to your account that will be billed with the dues in September. 

Congratulations to Illinois newest Fellows of the AAFP

AAFP has notified us of two members who earned the Degree of Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians in March.  Congratulations to:

Angela E Papassavas, MD, FAAFP and

Kathleen Therese Rowland, MD, FAAFP

All Illinois fellows will invited to receive convocation at the Illinois AFP annual meeting on November 8th at Key Lime Cove in Gurnee.  

Baseball season is here!  

Illinois leaders on Capitol Hill

IAFP leaders ready to start their day on the hill

Illinois AFP continued our tradition of representing you in Congress with a strong showing at the AAFP annual Family Medicine Congressional Conference April 7-8.  Attendees spent a day of learning and updates, including a panel presentation with IAFP vice president of external affairs Gordana Krkic, CAE.  Armed with current information and AAFP position papers, they headed to Capitol Hill for individual and group meetings with lawmakers and staff.  Much more information to come in the May issue of Illinois Family Physician.  Representing Illinois were: President Edward A. Blumen, MD; President-elect Janet Albers, MD; Second Vice President Deborah Edberg, MD; Resident board member Monica Fudala, MD; past presidents David Hagan, MD and Steven Knight, MD and IAFP members Thomas Cornwell, MD; James Valek, MD; Santina Wheat, MD; resident/fellow Emma Daisy, MD and resident Stephanie Gadbois.

IAFP leader testified on Capitol Hill for Teaching Health Center

Dr. Edberg has a well-timed opportunity to also testify live before the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging in support of reauthorizing and fully funding Teaching Health Centers.  Edberg is program director for the Northwestern-McGaw Family Medicine Residency program at Erie Family Health Center on Chicago's Northwest Side, one of the first 11 federally funded THCs in the nation. 

She said, in part: These talented doctors increase our nation's capacity to provide care in underserved communities. But they are also the leaders of tomorrow.  In addition to direct experience, the McGaw program provides a rigorous academic curriculum that emphasizes leadership in health policy, community engagement, and research. The Teaching Health Center program invests in students, patients, communities and long-term solutions to some of the most critical challenges facing our health system and our society.

Read her full testimony here

  Here's a Match statistic for you:  of the 33 M4s who attended the 2013 Family Medicine Midwest conference whose Match results we've been able to confirm - 27 of them matched into family medicine.  That's an 82 percent success rate! Let's build on that momentum.

Contribute to our region's premiere family medicine collaborative event - Family Medicine Midwest 2014 - October 10-12 in Minneapolis, MN.

Submit an Abstract.  All submissions must be entered through the online form.  The deadline for presentation abstracts is May 19.  Prior to submitting, please review the following documents:

2014 FMM Call for Abstracts  Information

2014 FMM Poster Presentation Guide

Donate to the scholarship fund:

Student scholarships are available with free registration and a stipend to help fund travel expenses and hotel stay.  Scholarships will be limited by the total funds available.  Help send more Illinois students to this conference.  You can support students from the school of your choosing.  Link to a donation form here.

Prime Care Community Health

Multiple positions available with teaching opportunities

Gibson City

Family Physician with ED experience needed for immediate opportunity

Rush-Copley Family Medicine Residency

Opening for faculty physician at this program in Aurora

PCC Wellness Center

PCC has openings for physicians at their clinics on the Near West Side and in Oak Park

Family Medicine Osteopathic Full Time Faculty Member 

Adventist Hinsdale Hospital Family Medicine Residency is seeking a full time osteopathic faculty member for our dually accredited ACGME/AOA program.

Family Medicine Residency Program Director

The Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford is seeking an Assistant / Associate Professor of Clinical Family Medicine for the Program Director for the core family medicine program in Rockford along with its two affiliated rural programs. 

Site Medical Director-Waukegan

Opening July 2014 - Apply at www.eriefamilyhealth.org. 

Statehouse Update

Spring Session in Springfield: The General Assembly reconvenes on April 28^th after a two week Spring Break.  Upon their return, five weeks remain until their scheduled adjournment on May 31^st. The next deadline in the legislative process is May 16^th for both House and Senate committees to pass the opposite chamber's bills.  To date, Cook-Witter has tracked more than 200 bills for IAFP; many with 3-4 amendments as they've moved through the process.  The list below highlights a few bills that IAFP is either actively supporting

Funding the Poison Control Center (IPC): SB 2674 Harmon/ HB 4230 Lilly. IAFP supports these bills which would reallocate two cents of an existing wireless surcharge to fund the IPC. Without long-term sustainable funding, the IPC is facing an impending closure date of June 30, 2014.  SB2674 is moving and is on 3^rd reading in the Senate. The fact sheet includes IAFP.

Opposing dentists vaccinating: IAFP is working to oppose SB 3409, the synopsis of which reads as follows: Provides that a dentist enrolled in a medical network or enrolled as a Medicare or Medicaid provider may administer vaccinations for influenza to patients enrolled in the same medical network or enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid upon completion of appropriate training. Further provides that vaccinations shall be limited to patients 18 years of age and older pursuant to a valid prescription or standing order by a physician and requires notification to the patient's physician and appropriate reporting and record retention. Effective immediately. This bill has passed the Senate and is waiting assignment in House rules. The fact sheet enumerates providers' concerns.

Psychologists Prescribing: SB 2187 passed the Senate last session and remains in House rules but the psychologists have been lobbying House members and it is still alive.  The bill, opposition, and fact sheets all remain the same. However, this year, the IL Psychiatric Society is taking a greater lead by hiring a public relations firm which created a website, http://coalitionforpatientsafety.com/home and is coordinating efforts for the opposition.

Redistricting Amendment There is a campaign to place an amendment on the ballot for the November General election to establish an independent commission the independent Commission which would draw district boundariesfor redistricting. Here is the link: http://independentmaps.org/amendment

Medicaid Reform Rollout

Illinois Medicaid members in the five managed care regions (see Care Coordination Expansion map) will join a managed care entity.  This means that most children, families and newly eligible ACA adults will receive care coordination services in the 5 managed care regions primarily from one of three types of managed care entities.  Counties not included in the 5 managed care regions will continue to include Illinois Health Connect as a plan choice for most individuals enrolled in the HFS Medical program.  Learn more in the Illinois Health Connect Provider Newsletter

Possible Medicaid recoupments coming

Physicians who received PCIP bonus payments in late 2013 and early 2014 may find themselves receiving recoupment notices from IDHFS. It appears that a programming error affected bonus payment calculations and instead of eligible physicians only receiving PCIP bonuses for Title XIX recipients (those with health coverage funded by the federal government), providers were paid for all patients covered under Medicaid. As you will recall, only those services for recipients with benefits funded through the federal government are eligible for PCIP bonus payments.

The department is now recouping bonuses that were incorrectly paid for those patients whose benefits are state-funded only. For more information on this matter, please refer to the IDHFS' Recoupment of Affordable Care Act (ACA) Primary Care Increased Payments notice.  

Federal Update

In January, AAFP staff sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (2 page PDF) (CMS) asking whether a physician could bill Medicare for a Part B covered service provided by a pharmacist in the practice, if all of Medicare's "incident to" rules were met. AAFP staff sent the letter in response to a related member inquiry and in recognition of the fact that family medicine practices are employing pharmacists as part of the care team, especially in the context of a patient-centered medical home. In March, CMS responded (2 page PDF), affirming AAFP's interpretation of the Medicare rules.

Access all our FREE self-study CME that meets your needs! Log on at with www.iafp.com/education

April Lunch and Learn Webinar - Diabetes Group Visits   Presented by: Alvia Siddiqi, MD, FAAFP, Illinois Health Connect PCCM, Automated Health Systems and IAFP Vice President
Thursday, April 24, 2014 12:00-1:00pm CST  The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians and Illinois Health Connect (IHC) are pleased to co-host April's Lunch and Learn Webinar on Diabetes Group Visits.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this session, participants will: 

• Understand how to promote and improve awareness of diabetes group visits as an innovative method to improve diabetes patient care.  Attendees will
• Learn the steps needed and resources available for how to conduct successful diabetes group visits. 
• Discuss the strengths and limitations of diabetes group visits.

Register Online

May Lunch and Learn Webinar - HFS Medicaid Care Coordination Roll-out: What You as a Primary Care Provider Need to Know

Presented by: Alvia Siddiqi, MD, FAAFP, Medical Director, Illinois Health Connect Primary Care Case Management Program
Thursday, May 21, 2014, 12:00-1:00pmCST

• Be able to increase awareness among the Primary Care Provider community of the upcoming changes in the Illinois Medicaid program.
• Discuss key updates with regards to the HFS Medicaid care coordination roll-out of families and children slated to begin in July, 2014, including Illinois Health Connect PCCM's role in the HFS Care Coordination Roll-out.
• Understand how to contract with Accountable Care Entities (ACE), Care Coordination Entities (CCE), including Children with Complex Medical Needs (CCMN), and Managed Care Organizations (MCO) in order to promote continuity of care for your Medicaid patients

More Upcoming Illinois Health connect CME webinars for providers

Use this link to view the full schedule and register for any of the free webinars

05/29/14 at noon -  HPV Screening

05/22/14 at noon -   Lead Screening

E-cigarette Webinar on Talking with Patients

E-cigarettes are a hot topic.  So you may be interested in this free webinar, "E-cigarettes: Challenges for Clinicians" on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 at Noon Central Time (90 minutes).  

This webinar gets to the nitty gritty of what healthcare providers can do when their patient brings up the subject of e-cigarettes. The presenters will offer up various clinical scenarios. Participants who join the LIVE session, on April 23, 2014, can claim CME/CEU credit for $35 per certificate

REGISTER HERE

Summit for Healthcare Providers:  Strategies for Pediatric Obesity Prevention and Control

Wednesday, May 14, 2014 from 7 am - 11 am (Presentations are 7:30 - 10:30 am)

Medinah Shriners, 550 Shriners Dr, Addison, IL 60101 (near I-355 and Army Trail Rd)

Free CME, Breakfast Provided

Presentations will cover communicating more effectively based on the patient's culture, ethnicity and socioeconomic status; taking a multidisciplinary approach to address patient overweight or obesity; and becoming an advocate for widespread change in the overweight/obese pediatric population.  Local clinical and community resource providers for pediatric overweight or obese patients will be present.  Please see the attached flyer for more details.

Register for this free CME event at www.dupagehealth.org/summit.

For more information, contact FORWARD at forward@dupagehealth.org or (630) 221-7146.

MEMBER BENEFIT

Fluzone Prebook extended - Join Atlantic Health Partners and Prebook by April 30th 

IAFP members that join Atlantic Health Partners and order Sanofi's Fluzone by April 30 and/or Medimmune's Flumist by April 18th will receive the lowest prices and best terms.  Atlantic also offers the most favorable prices and terms on the entire portfolio of Sanofi and Merck vaccines.

Participation with Atlantic will help you better prepare for flu season, save you money on vaccines throughout the year, and enhance patient satisfaction with your practice. 

Join the thousands of physicians that are saving dollars and receiving high quality customer service from Atlantic.   Contact Cindy or Jeff at 800-741-2044 or info@atlantichealthpartners.com to see how Atlantic Health Partners (www.atlantichealthpartners.com) can benefit your practice.

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

Kohar Jones, MD and Univ of Chicago - Pritzker School of Medicine student Tom Couri, along with others hosted a live radio program on WVON-AM on March 29 on the topic of bullying and violence in Chicago communities. Stay tuned for updated on future scheduled broadcasts.  Learn more on Dr. Jones' blog.

Baseball season is here!  

IPHCA Call for Speaker Proposals

The Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA) will be hosting its 2014 Annual Conference at The Ritz-Carlton Resort in St. Louis, Missouri. Attached, please find the 2014 Speaker Request for Proposals and Proposal Submission Form. Conference sessions will be held Wednesday, October 1 through Friday, October 3, 2014. Download documents: Call for proposals, Topics to consider and Speaker Application