Report from the Jan. 17 Board meeting

The CMS Board of Directors met Jan. 17-18 for a weekend of business and strategy to guide the direction of the society. An in-depth report of the board's recommended revisions to the strategic plan will be provided at a later date. Click here to read an all-member survey and click here to read an environmental scan used by the board during the planning retreat. This e-mail reports on business conducted at the regular board meeting Friday afternoon.

The board discussed recommendations for addressing direct primary care medical homes and medical treatment guidelines for workers' compensation, approved conflict of interest statements and standards of conduct for the Council on Legislation and the Workers' Compensation and Personal Injury Committee, and approved two rosters for two new committees. Additionally, CMS President-elect Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD, gave a preview of the upcoming Spring Conference; Michael Volz, MD, announced his intention to run for CMS President-elect; and CDPHE director Sue Birch has won the Nathan Davis award. See more on these items below.

The board addressed organizational matters, approving minutes from the Nov. 8, 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!


- CMS Speaker Robert Yakely, MD and Vice-Speaker Brigitta Robinson, MD
1. Board approves CPPE plan for DPCMHs

At the 2013 Annual Meeting, the House of Delegates referred two resolutions, 9-P and 11-P, regarding the direct primary care medical home (DPCMH) to the board of directors "for a decision." At the request of the board, the CMS Committee on Physician Practice Evolution met in November to discuss the resolutions and subsequently presented recommendations regarding three of the four resolved clauses found in these resolutions.

The board approved the following CPPE recommendations as CMS policy:

  • Encourage health plans to contract with physician practices that utilize a DPCMH model.
  • Refrain from pursuing legislation to establish that the DPCMH model is not health insurance and, therefore, not subject to regulation as a DPCMH already qualifies as a network provider that can contract with a health plan and DPCMHs cannot meet the federal essential health benefits requirements.
  • Refrain from pursuing legislation that would enable the sale and purchase of a DPCMH product on the exchange as a DPCMH is a provider network and not a qualified health plan.

The committee did not make a recommendation as to whether the Colorado delegation to the American Medical Association should be directed to bring a resolution to the AMA to allow for use of health savings accounts to help fund DPCMHs, given their other recommendations. Click here to read the complete CPPE report.

2. Board approves WCPIC recommendation
to testify on medical treatment guidelines

The Workers' Compensation and Personal Injury Committee approved unanimously, with one abstention, a recommendation that the WCPIC chair appear and speak at the Nov. 19 hearing of the Department of Workers' Compensation on proposed medical treatment guidelines and deliver a message that included the following.

  • A statement regarding the frequency of injections and their place in the routine treatment of an injured worker.
  • A request that all references be removed from the Indications sections of the guidelines and that the DOWC make certain that references are in the correct sections.
  • A statement that WCPIC supports amendments proposed by the International Society of Spine Intervention with the exception of one, which deals with a psychosocial screening.

The board approved this action as the testimony was in line with a November board motion that directed WCPIC to prepare physicians caring for injured workers for the DOWC release of revised clinical care guidelines and reimbursement forms.

3. Board approves COL and WCPIC codes of conduct

Based on the direction of the House of Delegates, the Council on Legislation and Workers' Compensation and Personal Injury Committee reviewed codes of conduct policies and procedures to ensure proper representation from all group members, including non-CMS-member consultants and advisors. The policies and procedures include conflict of interest statements, confidentiality clauses, attendance requirements, guidelines for staff interaction, etc.

Click here to review the COL conflict of interest and standards of conduct documents and click here to review the WCPIC conflict of interest and standards of conduct documents.

4. Board approves rosters for new committees

The board reviewed and approved the rosters for two new CMS committees. The CMS Prescription Drug Abuse Committee has been created to implement 2013 HOD policy on prescription drug abuse. This issue was formerly aligned under the jurisdiction of WCPIC but the increasing focus on prescription drug abuse in Colorado made the split necessary. (Click here to read the latest fact sheet on prescription drug abuse in Colorado.) This committee is still actively recruiting members, particularly those who practice pain management medicine. Physicians interested in joining the committee should e-mail Terry Boucher, CMS consultant staffing the committee, at [email protected].

The Committee on Medicaid Reform has been created to make recommendations to the board about transitioning Medicaid to a high-performing delivery system. The committee comprises the RCCO medical directors, practicing physicians and other experts in a consulting capacity. This committee also seeks additional members, primarily non-primary care specialists. Physicians interested in joining should e-mail Dianna Mellott-Yost, CMS director of professional services, at [email protected].

Click here to view the rosters of all CMS councils and committees.

5. Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD,
presents Spring Conference plan

The 2014 CMS Spring Conference will be held May 16-18 at the Sonnenalp Resort in Vail. The approach to this year's conference is unique. It will take the learning gained from presentations by high caliber faculty about some of Colorado's most important health care issues, and augment it with tangible storytelling skills and acumen delivered by a professional communications consultant. The intended outcome is to empower physicians to effect change when they return to their various communities in either the topics covered by the faculty or in an area that is meaningful to them.

Stay tuned for more details and mark your calendars to join us in Vail.

6. Michael Volz, MD, announces intention
to run for CMS President-elect

Michael Volz, MD, an allergy/immunology physician in Greenwood Village, has announced his intention to run for President-elect of the Colorado Medical Society. The election will take place at Annual Meeting in September 2014.

Dr. Volz has served medicine in many capacities over his more-than 30-year career including on the Clear Creek Valley Medical Society Board of Trustees and the American Lung Association of Colorado Board of Directors; as president of the Colorado Allergy and Asthma Society and CCVMS; and on numerous CMS committees. He currently chairs the CMS Constitution and Bylaws Committee and just completed a six-year tour of duty on the CMS Board of Directors.

"Medicine's many challenges change with time and demand attention by CMS and its experienced leaders," he wrote in a statement of intent. "I believe I have the necessary qualities to serve as your next president-elect and ask for your thoughtful support."

7. Sue Birch named recipient of Nathan Davis Award

CMS nominated Sue Birch, BSN, MBA, for the AMA's Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service and we are pleased to announce that she will be a 2014 recipient. Birch is the executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which oversees the state Medicaid and CHP+ programs. The awards are recognized nationally as one of the most prestigious honors extended to elected officials and government employees for outstanding endeavors that advance public health.

"We consider her among the country's most accomplished leaders in the kinds of community-based, patient and primary-care-centered innovations that improve outcomes and reduce costs," CMS wrote in the nomination letter. "She is held in the highest regard as a trusted and skilled leader who has pulled together the fragmented and dysfunctional Medicaid program into a viable, high-performing system that is at its epicenter homegrown and locally coordinated."

Congratulations to Sue Birch!

8. Upcoming CMS and AMA meetings
  • March 4-6, 2014 - National Advocacy Conference - Washington, D.C.
  • May 16-18, 2014 - CMS Spring Conference - Vail, Colo.
  • June 7-11, 2014 - AMA Annual Meeting - Chicago, Ill.
  • Sept. 19-21, 2014 - CMS Annual Meeting - Vail, Colo.
  • Nov. 8-11, 2014 - AMA Interim Meeting - Dallas, Texas
The Sounding Block is a periodic electronic publication from the CMS Speaker and Vice-Speaker of the House to members of the House of Delegates to keep you informed of the society's business and concerns throughout the year.

Questions? E-mail [email protected].

� 2014, Colorado Medical Society