The CMS Board of Directors met on Friday, May 3. Here are the highlights.

• The Board discussed a report by the Expert Panel on Wellness, the Larimer-Weld component society merger, anticipated legislative outcomes, updates from the Executive Committee, an update on the Board work plan, and the newly redesigned CMS.org website. See more information on these items below.
• The Board approved minutes from the March 15, 2013 meeting, the Finance Committee report, and a consent calendar. A written update on the strategic plan was provided to the Board in writing. All of these materials are available upon request.

Please contact us about any of the items in this newsletter. Your comments are important to us!

Past President Brent Keeler, MD, gave a brief summary of a report submitted by the CMS Expert Panel on Wellness. In the report, the panel gave four recommendations: that CMS strongly support Gov. John Hickenlooper's health agenda, "The State of Health: Colorado's Commitment to Become the Healthiest State;" that CMS deploy a number of tactics to support his vision to make Colorado the healthiest state; that CMS staff develop and maintain a section of the CMS.org website dedicated to physician wellness; and that the Wellness Panel continue to advise the board on this issue. The CMS Board of Directors approved the report.

During the last board meeting, the board directed the CMS Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs to process the proposal for the Weld and Larimer county medical societies to merge into a new entity called the Northern Colorado Medical Society. Past President Lynn Parry, MD, reported that CEJA unanimously approved the merger and presented a timeline that moves the components one step closer to completing the merger. The board recommendation will be posted online and made available to be vetted by the other component societies and the full CMS membership, and a resolution will be presented to the House of Delegates in September.

As the 2013 general session of the Colorado General Assembly nears its close, CEO Alfred Gilchrist gave a report on happenings at the Capitol so far. He presented good news on several fronts including successful efforts to protect Colorado's medical liability climate, support a 2 percent across-the-board increase in Medicaid physician payment, ensure physician rights in fraud investigations, support increased funds for mental health, champion a new body of law designed to streamline the process for prior authorization of mediations, and ensure funding for the Clean Claims Task Force. CMS will publish a full legislative report in the next issue of Colorado Medicine and will include items from the report in the next full-state member recruitment drive.

The board of directors, in previous meetings, directed the Executive Committee to review the processes, governance and structure of the Council on Legislation and to review the process for evaluating the performance of the CEO. The review of the CEO evaluation process was initiated in November 2012 when current CMS CEO, Alfred D. Gilchrist, accepted a five-year extension on his contract with CMS. The review of Council on Legislation governance and processes was initiated at the March 2013 meeting of the board of directors after a lengthy board discussion on legislation to regulate Naturopaths. Click here to read the Executive Committee's preliminary report to the board of directors on a revised CEO evaluation process and click here to read the preliminary report on processes and governance for the Council on Legislation.

Mr. Gilchrist gave an update on the current CMS work plan, which includes items approved by House of Delegates in September 2012, those referred to the Board by the HOD, or those created by the Board since September. The complex matrix touched on efforts on a range of issues, including Medicaid expansion and reform, Choosing Wisely, Maintenance of Licensure, the All-Payer Claims Database, hydraulic fracturing, prior authorization, prescription drug abuse, and more. Each project is progressing and the Board commended the volunteer physician leaders and CMS staff for their hard work. Click here to review the board of directors work plan and click here to read Mr. Gilchrist's update.

The board got a sneak peek at the newly redesigned CMS.org website, which will launch mid-May. Staff began preparing for the redesign in late 2011 with the goals to help CMS achieve strategic goals, ensure relevancy to all audiences, provide better navigation and presentation of resources, and foster member engagement. Features will include a robust member portal allowing for online due payment, contact information updates and password-protected members-only content; better navigation and organization; full access to Colorado Medicine articles and CMS Bylaws and Policies; and site-wide search functionality.

• June 15-19 - AMA Annual Meeting - Chicago, Ill.
• Sept. 20-22 - CMS Annual Meeting - Vail, Colo.
• Nov. 16-19 - AMA Interim Meeting - National Harbor, Md.