The CMS Board of Directors met on Friday, Nov. 8, and approved the 2013-2014 Board work plan and the council-committee-work group rosters. The board also discussed topics of great importance to CMS including Medicaid payment reform for specialists. See more on these items below.

Additionally, the Board addressed organizational matters, approving minutes from the Sept. 20, 2013 meeting, the Finance Committee report, and a consent calendar. 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!

The CMS work plan is a comprehensive document outlining the tasks before the board as directed by the House of Delegates. It will guide the work of CMS staff and committees this year, with many items requiring reports back to the HOD at the 2014 annual meeting.

Here are the highlights:

• The board will work to implement the Medicaid Reform report as a high priority, giving special emphasis to the urgent need to increase access to specialty care, while lobbying the congressional delegation to maintain Medicare parity for primary care payments. CEO Alfred Gilchrist will make routine progress reports to the BOD.
• The Council on Legislation (COL) and government relations staff will continue to aggressively lobby the Colorado congressional delegation to repeal and replace the SGR and assist the AMA in their efforts.
• The Committee on Physician Practice Evolution (CPPE) will continue to execute a multi-media information and education campaign regarding new payment models, delivery system changes and transparency initiatives to help physicians prepare for and adapt to new systems of care.
• The COL will work to protect the liability climate and the confidentiality of professional review in the Legislature and in the courts, placing immediate emphasis on Colorado Medical Board vs. Office of Administrative Courts pursuant to the Sept. 20, 2013 BOD action.
• The Workers' Compensation and Personal Injury Committee (WCPIC) will prepare members for the release of revised care guidelines and reimbursement reforms to be proposed by the Colorado Department of Workers' Compensation.
• The Committee on Employed Physicians (CEP) will implement CMS policy on anti-competitive conduct and report to the board on progress. The committee will complete model staff bylaws and perform the first of two surveys of hospital CEOs.
• CEP will also implement the policy on non-compete/liquidated damages clauses in physician employment contracts, communicating the request to hospitals to remove these provisions and assessing the need for legislation based on their response.
• CPPE will assess the feasibility of mandating through state law the standardized use of performance measures across entities that rate or report physician performance in Colorado.

Click here to read the entire work plan.

CMS bylaws provide that the president and/or president-elect shall appoint members of councils, committees and other work groups with ratification by the Board of Directors. President John Bender, MD, FAAFP, and President-elect Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD, coordinated their recommendations and the board approved the rosters of all CMS councils, committees and work groups.

CMS President Bender presented his platform on Medicaid specialist payment reform. His three asks are for Medicaid to pay for telemedicine in all its forms; allow for more direct RCCO contracting with specialists who agree to integrated care delivery with health information exchange, referral tracking, etc.; and to pay for procedures performed in ambulatory surgery centers.

The board voted to support this platform and to place a high priority on access to specialty care in the Medicaid Accountable Care Collaborative Program while advocating to maintain primary care reimbursement at least at Medicare parity levels.

Please be advised that the date of the 2014 Spring Conference in Vail has been revised. The event will be held May 16-18, 2014, at the Sonnenalp Resort in Vail.

• Nov. 16-19, 2013 - AMA Interim Meeting - National Harbor, Md.
• May 16-18, 2014 - CMS Spring Conference - Vail, Colo.
• June 7-11, 2015 - AMA Annual Meeting - Chicago, Ill.
• Sept. 19-21, 2014 - CMS Annual Meeting - Vail, Colo.