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 on CMS.org when available and in the March/April issue of Colorado Medicine. In the meantime, click here to read a summary of an all-member survey and click here to read an environmental scan used by the board during the planning retreat. This scan is a "must read" for physicians who have leadership responsibility for the evolution of a practice.

During their regular meeting on 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 CMS President John L. Bender, MD, shared the good news that CDPHE director Sue Birch has won the AMA's Nathan Davis award for which CMS nominated her this fall.

Click here to read more about the Jan. 17-18 board meeting and strategic planning retreat.

Congress is back to work on legislation to repeal Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate. As you'll remember, Congress passed a temporary patch at the end of 2013 to prevent the scheduled 24 percent payment reduction. It extends through March 31.

Now lawmakers must consolidate three versions of legislation passed out of committee last year. All eliminate the SGR but each contain slightly different provisions, according to the AMA.

Payment: The version passed by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee includes a 0.5 percent annual update for three years. The U.S House Energy and Commerce Committee's version provides 0.5 percent updates for the remainder of 2014 and in following years. The Senate Finance Committee's bill does not include automatic updates.

Incentive programs: Both Senate Finance and House Ways and Means call for consolidating and restructuring current Medicare quality incentive programs. Additionally, these proposals limit financial penalties from not meeting all the requirements for the reporting programs and provide bonuses to high-performing practices.

Medical liability reforms: Both House versions of the bill include provisions that would limit inappropriate medical liability claims, incorporated from the Standard of Care Protection Act introduced to Congress last year.

Click here to view an AMA fact sheet that compares current law with the components of the three SGR repeal bills.

The Miller Center at the University of Virginia has unveiled a new report, "Cracking the Code on Health Care Costs," which challenges states to take action to reduce health care costs. The report represents two years of work by the bipartisan State Health Care Cost Containment Commission, co-chaired by former Colorado governor Bill Ritter Jr.

Health care access, quality and cost have been the focus of the nation's public policy discussion for the past two decades. They wrote that health care reform is still in its infancy and that "we must go through a period of accelerated state experimentation" to determine what works.

"States need to lead this effort, because they have most of the policy levers and because reform must be tailored to the unique culture and health care market in each state," wrote Raymond Scheppach, project director.

Click here to read more on CMS.org.

The Colorado Medical Society is collaborating with the California Medical Association, the Medical Group Management Association and the CMA Foundation to bring you the 2014 Western Health Care Leadership Academy. The conference will be held at the San Diego Convention Center April 11-13, 2014, and features a keynote address by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

This conference is especially relevant to physicians and nurses in all practice settings, medical practice managers and administrators, and medical students and residents. Attend to prepare for changes affecting your practice, your profession and your economic future; learn techniques to minimize financial risks and boost the bottom line; acquire skills needed to excel as a medical practice or medical staff leader; and network with your colleagues.

CMS members can receive the early bird registration "physician member" rate of $795 until March 14, 2014. Registrations after this date are $895 for physician members. Discounts are available for multiple registrations. We want to make sure Colorado is represented! Click here for more information and to register.

In 2012, more than twice as many people in Colorado died from poisoning due to opioids than from drunk-driving related fatalities. This is just one fact from the newly updated Prescription Drug Abuse in Colorado fact sheet developed by Peer Assistance Services with support from the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention. Click here to view the fact sheet.

The Colorado Medical Society encourages all members to take advantage of education on prescription drug abuse developed by the Colorado School of Public Health. They present "The Opioid Crisis: Guidelines and Tools for Improving Chronic Pain Management," an online, evidence-based professional development activity that examines best practices and universal precautions for treating chronic pain.

An accompanying toolkit includes resources for clinicians to use to help them manage chronic pain patients including sample patient questionnaires and contracts, assessment tools, applications for calculating morphine equivalent doses, and more.

Click here to go to CMS.org to access the CME activity and the toolkit.

The Colorado Medical Society recognizes numerous studies showing the high prevalence and danger to patient safety of burnout among physicians, particularly in this time of great change in health care.

To help our members reflect on the meaningful difference you're making in the lives of your patients and community and to recognize extraordinary actions, Colorado Medicine has launched a new series, Physician Heroes. Each issue we'll profile a CMS member who has gone above and beyond in the profession to help his or her colleagues or community. We hope you'll see your own values reflected in these stories and remember the joy of medicine.

The first hero is Frank Dumont, MD, an internal medicine physician in Estes Park who coordinated the medical response to the September floods. "I got to witness this wonderful sense of medical community where people came together and made things happen that we never thought we would have to do. ... To watch that happen with everybody so focused is one of the highlights of my career."

Nominate yourself or a colleague by contacting Dean Holzkamp at dean_holzkamp@cms.org or (720) 858-6318.