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Medical Society of New Jersey e-Newsletter
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October Corporate Shopping Event: One Day Only - Thursday, October 15, 2015
Save 30% on all full priced Brooks Brothers purchases online and in Retail stores when using your Corporate Membership card.
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The New Jersey State Bar Association and HRET will host the "2015 First Annual End of Life Conference: Legal and Practical Issues and Advance Care Planning" on Monday, October 5 from 9:00am to 1:00pm at NJ Law Center. Hear from experts as they examine various scenarios and offer an assessment from points of view of the individual and the health care provider. This will be followed by a discussion of the legal tools presently available in New Jersey including the advanced health care directive, the durable power of attorney, physician orders for life sustaining treatment, and do not resuscitate orders. This activity has been approved for 3.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. More information and registration.
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PQRSwizard Live Demo
October 7 at 11:00am
CECity's PQRS experts will provide a guided tour of PQRS reporting using the PQRSwizard. Additional topics to be covered include site navigation, account creation and registration. Register. Learn more about PQRSwizard's MSNJ member benefit.
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MSNJ Corporate Partner, Brach Eichler will host a free seminar, "Is Your HIPAA Security Rule Compliance Missing the HITECH Express Train?" on Tuesday, October 27 from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at the Offices of Brach Eichler. Hundreds of covered entities and business associates will be targeted by the Office for Civil Rights. Brach Eichler will provide guidance on how to identify your areas of non-compliance and how to fix them. More information and registration.
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Omnia Education will host a free Women's Health Annual Visit® CME activity on October 30 from 7:15am to 3:30pm at the Hyatt at The Bellevue.
This full day CME activity focuses on disease prevention, treatment, and overall patient wellness throughout a woman's life span. Their faculty is comprised of experts who will address contemporary and controversial topics facing female patients and their health care providers. More information and registration.
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Novitas Solutions will host their 2015 Medicare Symposium in our area on the following dates:
- November 10, 2015 - East Windsor, NJ
More information.
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Legal Services:
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IT Solutions:
Priority One Group - Bronze Level Partner
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Member Resource Guide
Check out the current MSNJ Member Resource Guide! Inside, you will find a complete listing of partners by service/product category, along with contact information. Also, be sure to check out the individual Corporate Partner pages on our website as some offer additional discounts to members!
It is important to note that MSNJ does not endorse any vendor, service, or product. However, we encourage members to please consider our Corporate Partners first as the financial support received from these organizations is vital to our association. It is our hope that their investment in MSNJ will help keep your membership dues and programming affordable.
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Renew your dues ONLINE by October 15, 2015 and receive a 5% discount on your state dues!
When prompted enter discount code msnj5, then click "update price."
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MSNJ PSP meeting, October 22, 2015 at 5:30pm in MSNJ Conference Room
Please join us for a special presentation on the Horizon OMNIA announcement. Speaker TBA
In addition, we will discuss two recent New Jersey cases that will impact your practice.
- Morristown Medical Center Property Tax Case
- How will it affect the services you provide in hospitals?
- Corporate Practice of Medicine
- How will this case impact medical practices that engage management companies?
Guest speakers: John Fanburg, Esq. of the law firm Brach Eichler, LLC, an MSNJ Corporate Partner
Neil L. Prupis, Esq., Founding Member, Lampf, Lipkind, Prupis & Petigrow, PC
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Out of Network Legislation and OMNIA
We are watching very closely Horizon's Omnia announcement. We share the concern of many of the skeptics that this new product may not have meaningful access for patients in each tier, as far as geographic and cost considerations go. We already have network adequacy problems in this state; they are only exacerbated by narrow and tiered networks. We are urging policymakers begin to demand true access for all New Jerseyans and continue to oppose "out of network" legislation that punishes physicians who are excluded from networks. Read the latest news.
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NJ Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP)
The Governor has signed legislation that will improve the PMP, but also create a mandate for physicians to check the database. MSNJ urges physicians to learn about this new law. View our guidelines.
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Cardiac Training Module
Pursuant to a new law, any physician performing a youth physical (not just sports physicals) must complete this cardiac health continuing education module (just once). Those who perform athlete physicals should check the box at the bottom of the Department of Education form, indicating that the module has been completed. All physicians performing youth and athletic physicals should keep a copy of the certification of completion on file.
Read a bulletin regarding the law. Of note, physicians do NOT need to provide Certificates of Completion to schools. Access the module. Read the law.
While MSNJ opposed this law, this information aims to help physicians comply.
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News
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Healthcare Facilities have Duty to Ensure Physicians are Insured for Professional Liability
In Jarrell v. Kaul the New Jersey Supreme Court found that patients do not have a direct cause of action against physicians for failing to have professional liability insurance and that failure to inform patients of the lack of insurance does not give rise to lack of consent. The court did, however, find that healthcare facilities have a continuing duty to ensure that their physicians have professional liability coverage for all of the procedures that they perform. In this case, the physician did not have coverage for spinal surgery which was the surgery at issue, but did have sufficient personal assets to cover the judgment.
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NJ Neurologist Indicted for Accepting Kickbacks in Exchange for Referrals
An Atlantic County neurologist has been indicted by the New Jersey Attorney General for an alleged criminal scheme where he referred patients to an imaging company in exchange for monetary kickbacks amounting to almost $200,000. Among the charges are healthcare claims fraud, commercial bribery and money laundering.
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NCQA National Health Insurance Plan Ratings While healthcare premiums in New Jersey are among the highest in the nation, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) 2015-2016 Health Insurance Plan ratings place most New Jersey plans mid-range on a scale of 1 to 5, with no plan attaining the highest rating of 5. The rates are based on clinical quality, member satisfaction and NCQA Accreditation Survey results. In the commercial plans Aetna, Amerihealth, Cigna and Horizon's plans rated 3.5 while United Healthcare rated 3.0 and Oxford rated 2.5. In the managed Medicaid plans Amerigroup and Horizon rated 3.5 while United Healthcare rated 3.0. Medicare Advantage plans tended to rate higher.
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Consumers Pay More for Healthcare
Employer sponsored health insurance now covers more than half of the nation's non-elderly population. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that while annual average premiums for these plans increased by only 4% in 2015, workers' wages only increased by 1.9% not keeping pace. And, over the past decade there has been an 83% increase in the workers' contribution to healthcare coverage. Additionally, most workers face additional out of pocket costs, including higher deductibles. Read the Kaiser report.
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OIG Urges Strengthened Enforcement of HIPAA Violations
In two separate reports the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has urged the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) which is responsible for HIPAA enforcement to bolster its oversight of covered entities compliance with the Privacy Rule and to strengthen its follow investigations of breaches of PHI. In the compliance report the OIG found that the OCR has not developed an adequate audit program to proactively monitor compliance, instead acting reactively in response to complaints. Similarly, in the breach report the OIG found that only large breaches are addressed and adequately monitored through corrective action. Practices are urged to review their compliance status with the Privacy Rule and cautioned that smaller breaches may receive more attention from the OCR in the future. Expect more auditing and enforcement.
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Indiana Oncology Group Fined $750,000 over Stolen Backup Media
Cancer Care Group, P.C., a radiation oncology practice in Indiana, has been fined $750,000 and is instructed to implement a comprehensive corrective action plan in a settlement resulting from the theft of a laptop and backup media containing unencrypted patient information. Read more.
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Malnutrition Awareness Week
This week is Malnutrition Awareness Week™, which aims to raise awareness among healthcare professionals. The goal is to educate the public to encourage advocacy for optimal care. MSNJ is proud to shed light on this important healthcare issue. Read more.
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Practice Management
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Physicians are required to use ICD-10 diagnosis codes on claims with dates of service on or after October 1. Resources are available at www.msnj.org/ICD-10. Members are encouraged to report claims payment and payer system issues related to ICD-10 to MSNJ by emailing info@msnj.org.
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PQRS Informal Review Process
Next year, CMS will apply a penalty to individual eligible professionals, Comprehensive Primary Care practice sites, and group practices participating in the PQRS group practice reporting option for not successfully reporting PQRS in 2014. If any of the above believe they have been incorrectly assessed the 2016 penalty, you may submit an electronic informal review request between September 9, 2015 and November 9, 2015. All informal review requestors will be contacted by CMS via email with a final decision within 90 days of the original request. All decisions will be final and there will be no further review or appeal. Read more.
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Evaluating and understanding new payment model commercial payer contracts: What physicians need to know
The AMA has developed two new resources to help physicians adapt to and succeed in the new world of alternative payment models. These resources explain key issues physicians should consider when evaluating bundled or episode-based and pay-for-performance agreements.
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| Read First Healthcare Compliance's whitepaper, "HIPAA Breaches Continue to Rise: Avoid Becoming a Casualty."
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Medical Society of New Jersey
2 Princess Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
(o) 609-896-1766 e-mail:
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About the Medical Society of New Jersey:
Founded in 1766, the Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ) is the oldest professional society in the United States. MSNJ promotes the betterment of the public health and the science and the art of medicine, to enlighten public opinion in regard to the problems of medicine, and to safeguard the rights of the practitioners of medicine. The organization and its members are dedicated to a healthy New Jersey, working to ensure the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship. In representing all medical disciplines, MSNJ advocates for the rights of patients and physicians alike, for the delivery of the highest quality medical care. For more information visit our website or send us an e-mail.
"Your Partner in Practice... Your Voice in Trenton"
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2015 © Medical Society of New Jersey. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the Medical Society of New Jersey.
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