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Minority Medical Mentoring Program Hope Banquet (5/22)
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The Minority Medical Mentoring Program allows high school seniors to shadow medical providers as student interns.
There is a serious need to increase the numbers of underrepresented minorities in the health professions in order to promote culturally consistent care. We invite you to join us in the effort of growing our future leaders in healthcare that will potentially come back to practice in Western North Carolina. Your donation and attendance will contribute to the sustainability of this program as well as provide scholarships to program participants.
Location: MAHEC, Blue Ridge Room, 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville
Time: May 22, 2014 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
Faculty: Larry Rosenberg, MD
RSVP ASAP.
This program is a collaboration of: Asheville-Buncombe Institute for Parity Achievement (ABIPA), the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), Mission Health and the Western Carolina Medical Society (WCMS).
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12th Annual HeartStrings Family Fun Challenge Supporting WCMS' Project Access (5/25)
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What: Heartstrings Family Fun Challenge at Mountain Sports Festival
 When: Sunday, May 25 from 1pm to 4pm at Carrier Park Why: To raise funds to support WCMS's Project Access® Program, which provides uninsured, low-income individuals annually with the critical healthcare they need and enrolls eligible uninsured into the health insurance marketplace.
Where: Heartstrings Family Fun Challenge will be part of Asheville's popular Mountain Sports Festival held over Memorial Day Weekend at Carrier Park.
www.mywcms.org/HeartStrings2014
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Women in Medicine Affinity Group (5/29)
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Join the WCMS Women In Medicine Section on Thursday, May 29th at 5:30pm at the Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar, downtown Asheville.
Come join us for a relaxing evening of good wine, good food, and great conversation with your fellow women in medicine.
Bring a non-member physician along!
Two Free tickets to see "Driving Miss Daisy" will be given to anyone who brings at least one non-member physician to this gathering "Driving Miss Daisy" is scheduled for August 7th at the Asheville Community Theatre.
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Meet & Greet with US House Representative Patrick McHenry (6/2)
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When: June 2, 2014 @ 5:30pm Where: Highland Brewing Tasting Room A message from Dr. Frank Moretz, past president of WCMS and legislative physician advocate: "I want to invite and encourage WCMS physicians to meet Congressman Patrick McHenry from the North Carolina 10th Congressional District that includes most of the City of Asheville and Biltmore Forest to a "meet and greet" at the Highland Brewing Tasting Room on June 2, 2014 from 5:30-7:30 pm. This is a unique opportunity for physicians to speak with a sitting member of Congress with no strings attached. Contributions would be appreciated but are not required. Patrick has been a strong supporter of physicians, but he can only be so if he speaks with physicians from different practices, and he is probably tired of hearing from me. He needs to hear from primary care physicians, specialists, solo practice, group private practice, and employed physicians as to what your concerns are. As an additional incentive, AllCare Clinical Associates will provide one free beverage for each attendee. Thank you for your consideration, and I hope to see you on June 2." - Frank H. Moretz, MD Click here for more information.
Disclaimer from Miriam Schwarz, CEO of WCMS: This is not an endorsement of the candidate by WCMS. However, during election years, WCMS is committed to encouraging all incumbents and candidates to make WCMS aware of any fundraising events where they would like the support of physicians. We will share this information, when made available to us, on our website. Click here for a complete list of our legislative activities. If you are aware of other political meet and greet events/fundraisers, let WCMS know and we will post these events.
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The ABCs of 2014 Clinical Quality Measures (MAHEC Event) (6/5)
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Beginning in 2014, the reporting of clinical quality measures (CQMs) will change for all providers. Eligible professionals (EPs), which include physicians, mid-level providers, dentists, podiatrists and chiropractors, will be required to report using the new 2014 criteria regardless of whether they are participating in Stage 1 or Stage 2 of the Medicare or Medicaid Incentive Programs.
MAHEC encourages a minimum of two persons per practice to attend this timely look into CQMs. They are offering a "Tag Team Special" registration fee of $175 for two participants from the same practice. Additional registrants from the same practice or individual registrants may enroll for $115 per person.
When: Thursday, June 5, 2014
5:30pm (Registration & Dinner)
6:15pm (Program)
Where: MAHEC Education Building
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How to Get Patients Actively Engaged and Accountable (6/11)
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Please join us for an educational presentation by Susan Childs on "How to Get Patients Actively Engaged and Accountable". Physician members and their practice managers are encouraged to invite non-member physicians to attend as their guest. This event is free to attend.Speaker: Susan Childs, Evolution Healthcare Consulting
When: Wednesday, June 11th
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Where: MAHEC Education Building
Blue Ridge Room A
Other: Heavy hors d'ouevres and beverages will be provided. Register Now
A necessary qualifier in new guidelines is that patients are required to be actively engaged in their healthcare decisions. This meeting will show how you and your staff can imbed processes that support these initiatives at every level of care throughout the entire practice.
Click here for more information. Sponsored by:
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WCMS Foundation Counsels 111 Project Access® Program Patients About The Health Insurance Marketplace
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Between January 1 - March 31, 2014, WCMS's 1.5 Certified Application Counselors (CACs) who were fully trained as Health Insurance Navigators, provided 'inreach' counseling to current Project Access® patients about the Health Insurance Marketplace (HIM), outreach counseling about the same to the patients of physicians throughout WNC, and counseling to the general public. During the first three months of 2014, WCMS CACs reached out to 698 Project Access® (PA) patients who were thought to be potentially eligible for HIM. Well over 1,000 "touches" were made through mail and multiple telephone calls, while WCMS CACs conducted 150 face-to-face interviews with 111 individual Project Access® patients from our pool of 698 eligible PA patients. Read more.
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Mission Health Announces Leadership Appointment to Oversee Health Plan Solutions
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"This role will focus on creating the infrastructure and associated product offerings for Mission Health's at-risk operations, which have been under development for some time." Continue reading.
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From NCMS: Governor Recommends Elimination of 3 Percent Medicaid Rate Cut
| "The Governor recommended, in his 2014-2015 Budget Recommendations, to rescind the rate reduction due to the complexity of implementing the budget provision authorizing the cut."
Read article.
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CMS Proposes Stretching Stage 1 in EHR Incentive Program
| "Healthcare providers will have one extra year to use 2011 Edition software in their electronic health record systems to under the federal incentive program for health IT under a proposed rule the CMS issued Tuesday. Providers scheduled to jump to the program's Stage 2 criteria will have another year to stay at Stage 1."
Continue reading.
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Combatting Costs
| 5/19- CMS finalized rules for the Medicare Part D program that it says will reduce fraud and abuse and save $1.6 billion over 10 years. Under the new rules, physicians must now register with Medicare to prescribe drugs to Part D beneficiaries. In addition, CMS also will revoke Medicare enrollment for providers who have a history of misbehavior. The measure also stipulates that Medicare will release new data on physician billing practices. (Sources: The Hill, 5/19; Modern Healthcare, 5/19; USA Today, 5/19)
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Member Announcements
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Are you a WCMS Member who is opening a new practice? Are you a 100% Member Practice who has hired a new physician? Send us your announcements and we will post them for you in our new Member Announcements section of Vital Signs to keep other members informed about what's happening in our WCMS community! Contact Kristina Isenhour, Member Services Coordinator at kristina@mywcms.org. |
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Job Board & Classified Ads
| Job Board:
Certified Application Counselor (WCMS)
Executive Assistant (AllCare Clinical Associates)
To find out how you can post a Job or Classified Ad Click here. |
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WCMS is a thriving 700-plus member professional association of the physicians of western North Carolina and a chartered component medical society of the NC Medical Society and the AMA. The WCMS is an organization run by physicians for physicians.
Our Mission
The WCMS is the physicians' voice advocating for the health of the medical profession, the health of the patient, and the health of the community.
Our Vision
To be a dynamic physician community dedicated to a healthy, vibrant Western North Carolina.
About WCMS
The purpose of WCMS is:
- To strengthen the voice of WNC physicians in advocating for the health of the medical profession, the health of the patient, and the health of our region
- To inform, educate and prepare physicians for rapidly occurring changes in health care at national, state, and local levels
- To share legislative and policy information and advocate on behalf of physicians in areas of mutual interest
- To share available resources in areas of mutual interest
- To promote physician-to-physician communication and dialogue in an open, honest and safe environment
We hope you enjoy our weekly e-newsletter. If you have questions or suggestions please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
 | | Miriam Schwarz |
Miriam Schwarz, MPA
WCMS CEO/Executive Director
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