From left to right: Rep. Dan Pabon; Sen. Linda Newell; Rep. Dave Young; Gov. John Hickenlooper; CMS President John L. Bender, MD; and Larry Wolk, MD, MSPH

Gov. John Hickenlooper has signed several bills into law this month that impact physicians and their practices.

He signed HB14-1283: "Modify Prescription Drug Monitoring Program" on May 21. HB14-1283 updates the PDMP, bringing it up to national best practice standards demonstrated to decrease doctor-shopping and reduce prescription drug abuse.

The bill will help prescribers and pharmacists make more informed decisions when considering prescribing and dispensing controlled substances to patients, said CMS President John L. Bender, MD, in a statement. "This includes allowing a prescriber to designate up to three qualified staff to access the PDMP, which will streamline the process in physicians' offices and result in better usage of the system."

He also signed HB14-1207: "CDPHE Household Medication Take-back Program" on May 21. This bill creates a permanent infrastructure to collect and dispose of unused household medications.

"HB14-1283 and HB14-1207 are consistent with CMS' long-term goals to assure access to compassionate, evidence-based care for patients who suffer from acute and chronic pain while significantly reducing the potential for medically inappropriate use and diversion of prescribed medications - that is, to help prevent the medical, psychological and social consequences, including addiction, overdose and death," Bender said.

The governor signed SB14-159: "Implement Medical Clean Claims Recommendations" into law on May 29. This bill advances the process for the standardization of claims edits. It extends the work of the Clean Claims Task Force by two years as CMS and other stakeholders work to federalize the project under the Affordable Care Act.

CMS hopes the culmination of the work of the task force - a huge undertaking involving millions of edits - will save physicians' time and money by reducing transaction costs and increase physician satisfaction.

First-time participants in the Medicare and Medicaid meaningful use electronic health records (EHR) program should begin the 90-day reporting period no later than July 1 to avoid payment penalties in 2015.

Physicians who attest to meaningful use for the first time by Oct. 1 are eligible for an incentive payment and can avoid payment penalties for the following year. Physicians who miss the Oct. 1 attestation deadline but still attest to meaningful use in 2014 are eligible for an incentive payment, but will be subject to a 1 percent payment adjustment in 2015.

Those who begin the meaningful use program after 2014 are not eligible for any incentive payments. Starting in 2014 all physicians, no matter when they began the meaningful use program, must use Version 2014 of certified EHR software, otherwise they face a penalty.

Physicians who begin participation in the program this year can earn up to $11,760 if they demonstrate 90 days of Stage 1 meaningful use. Successful demonstration of meaningful use each year, beginning in 2014, could earn a physician up to $23,520, according to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Click here to visit the AMA's Medicare/Medicaid EHR incentive program webpage to learn more about meaningful use and access resources that can help you get started. Click here for additional resources from the federal CMS, including an interactive eligibility assessment tool, a Stage 1 attestation calculator and timelines.

The American Medical Association is conducting a brief physician survey regarding the impact on practices of health plans' use of virtual credit card payments.

Virtual credit cards are an increasingly utilized, electronic form of payment whereby a payer will send a physician practice (via fax, mail, or e-mail) information that needs to be punched into a credit card POS system in order to receive contractual payments. The effect of health plan virtual credit card payments on physician practices details potential concerns regarding virtual credit cards and provides useful information about the benefits of standardized electronic funds transfer using the automated clearinghouse network.

Click here to take the survey or paste this link into your browser: www.surveymonkey.com/s/MXCBH7G. The data from this survey will support the AMA's advocacy efforts in this area and allow the association to more clearly define the scope and impact of the virtual credit card issue. The survey will close on Monday, June 2, at 11 a.m. MST.

Additionally, the AMA has created a resource detailing the effects that virtual credit cards can have on physician practices. Click here to access this resource. Note: Access to this document requires the creation of a free AMA profile.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's eighth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on April 26, 2014, brought in the largest amount of unused drugs in Take-Back history. The level of consumer participation in the event shows the continued need for a means of safe, legal disposal of unused medications, including prescription controlled substances. The Colorado General Assembly signed a bill into law this month that will create a permanent take-back program in Colorado for year-round collection.

More than 6,000 locations were provided during the eighth Take-Back Day, and 780,158 pounds (390 tons) of unneeded medications were collected, according to the DEA. The eight Take-Back Days combined collected a total of 4.1 million pounds (2,123 tons) of unneeded prescription drugs, helping to prevent diversion, misuse, and abuse of the drugs. The DEA has been holding two nationwide take-back events each year since 2010.

Within the Denver Field Division, 31,500 pounds (15.75 tons) of prescription drugs were collected at 256 collection sites manned by 203 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in the division's four states of Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. When added to the collections from the division's previous seven Take-Back Days, more than 189,973 pounds (94.98 tons) of prescription medication have been removed from circulation. Colorado alone accounted for nearly 23,000 pounds of the total for the division.

After you awoke this morning, how long did it take for you to begin multi-tasking? Were you getting ready for work and thinking about your schedule, patients and duties? This pattern of living is supported and even reinforced by our society. Such productivity is recognized and rewarded, but at what cost?

A life of well-being - living in a manner that is consistent with your values - requires commitment, awareness and intention. Mindfulness, a way of being that enables one to attend to their experience, supports well-being by "paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally." The goal of mindfulness is to (1) maintain open awareness of one's experience to support emotional balance and well-being and (2) recognize habitual thoughts and behaviors that do not support well-being, which allows for new and different ways of being.

Research has found that physicians who practice mindfulness show improved overall well-being and effectiveness in clinical practice. They also found that physicians who practice mindfulness experience increased attentiveness to the presence of stress, understanding of the source of stress and capacity to mediate the effect of their stress.

Click here to read more about mindfulness in the latest physician wellness feature on CMS.org. We encourage you to comment on each installment of our series on physician wellness to shape a physician wellness toolkit in development by experts at the Behavioral Health and Wellness Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.