MMS NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Provider Price Variation Commission Issues Report
The Special Commission on Provider Price Variation,
a multi-stakeholder group comprising government, hospital, and payer
representatives tasked with evaluating variation in prices negotiated by
providers, released its final report this week. The Commission worked
to identify warranted and unwarranted factors for price variation,
though it did not detail how these factors should be used for future
price variation containment, and addressed “out-of-network billing,” an
issue on which MMS provided comment
to the Commission. MMS is reviewing this report and will continue to
engage with legislators and other stakeholders on these issues. Read the report here.
Changes to Primary Care Clinician
Online Service Center Referrals
Effective March 27, 2017,
primary care clinician (PCC) referrals made by a community health
center, hospital-licensed health center, hospital outpatient department
or group practice PCC entity/service location will not be processed
unless an enrolled, on-staff individual practitioner is selected from
the Individual Referring Provider pop-up search tool on the Provider
Online Service Center (POSC) referral information panel. The PCC
referral letter has been updated and will now include the referral
number, the referring provider as well as the individual referring
practitioner’s name and NPI, so that the billing provider of the
referred service will have all required information for the claim.
Visit Provider Bulletin 265 for detailed information on these new requirements.
MMS Alliance Celebrates National Doctors’ Day
MMS Alliance invites all
members and their families to celebrate National Doctors’ Day, Friday,
March 31, honoring physicians for their dedication and service. The free
event will take place at the College Club of Boston, 44 Commonwealth
Ave., Boston from 6:00-9:00 p.m. An open dinner buffet will be provided.
For more information and reservations contact
jcricones@mms.org at (781) 434-7372.
Disaster Psychiatry Course Offered
The Massachusetts Psychiatric
Society, in collaboration with the American Red Cross, is offering a
CME-certified Disaster Psychiatry Training Course on April 8, 2017, from
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at MMS headquarters.
Click here to register.
2017 Annual Meeting: Important Deadlines!
This year's Annual Meeting will
take place April 27-29, 2017 at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade
Center in Boston.
Please note that the MMS hotel room block deadline is today. Several nights in the room block are sold out and the hotel is nearing capacity. Please visit
www.massmed.org/am17reservations to make a reservation or
www.massmed.org/annual2017/hotel
for more hotel information. Please contact Paggy Chen pchen@mms.org or
(781) 434-7007, for additional assistance and to be wait listed or if
you are planning to cancel your current reservation.
Click here for online registration.
What’s Your View on Data Sharing?
Sharing clinical trial
data is a complex issue. Should data be shared broadly? What is the
data’s real value? How do we align incentives and rewards? Join your
peers and participate in an online conversation among patients,
trialists and analysts at a free web event hosted by the New England Journal of Medicine on April 3-4, 2017. Click here to register.
Last Chance to Register for
Mindful Practice in Medicine Workshop
A Mindful Practice in Medicine
workshop is planned for March 18 and 19 at MMS Headquarters, followed
by four consecutive Wednesday webinars. The workshop focuses on
developing a capacity for self-awareness in stressful and demanding
situations and building resilience in community.
Click here for information;
click here to register.
Benefit Buzz: PQRS Reporting Deadline Extended, Webcast and Special Member Discount
The deadline is extended until
today, March 17, 2017, for submitting your 2016 Physician Quality
Reporting System (PQRS) measures to CMS. Members receive 33 percent
savings using the PQRSwizard to validate, report, and submit data to CMS
with 99.5 percent success rate. Avoid payment adjustments and
penalties. Check out the Resource Center to access PQRS-related archived
webcasts and educational resources.
Click here for more information.
Your Membership Counts – Renew Today!
The MMS is a proactive
advocate representing the voice of physicians and their patients. The
Society will propose no less than 20 pieces of state legislation on
Beacon Hill this year, and has recently testified before the Board of
Registration in Medicine against proposed regulatory changes ranging
from expanding the grounds for filing complaints leading to disciplinary
action, to more onerous credentialing requirements, to additions to
informed consent provisions. Please
renew
your MMS membership for 2017 and support the Society in its mission to
ensure the perspective and expertise of physicians is reflected in
regulatory proposals.
Benefit Buzz: Legal Advice with Board of Registration in Medicine Issues
Retaining an attorney to
respond to a Board of Registration in Medicine (BRM) matter can cost
thousands of dollars, and additional legal assistance could raise the
cost even higher. The Legal Advisory Plan (LAP) is a member-only,
low-cost legal service, designed to effectively respond to BRM issues at
a fraction of the cost of hiring an attorney. safeguard your license in
the event of a Board of Registration (BRM) investigation. Enrollment
for 2017-2018 plan year is available.
Click here to learn more. Questions? Email lap@massmed.org, or call (781) 434-7311.
Women's Health Forum to Present Awards April 21
At the Women’s Health Forum
on April 21, Robert H. Young, M.D., will be presented with the 2016
Women’s Health Research Award; Barbara L. Smith, M.D., will receive the
2016 Women’s Health Award; Fatima Cody Stanford, M.D., will receive the
2017 Women’s Health Award, and JoAnn E. Manson, M.D., will receive the
2017 Women’s Health Research Award.
JoAnn Manson, M.D. will
deliver the morning keynote address. Dr. Manson is a physician at
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of
Women's Health at Harvard Medical School. Barbara L. Smith, M.D. will
deliver the afternoon keynote speech. Dr. Smith is director of the
breast program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
The Women’s Health Forum,
provided by the Massachusetts Medical Society and its Committee on Women
in Medicine in collaboration with the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Mary
Horrigan Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology, features
a lecture and panel on transgender health, a session on the effect of
hormones on metabolism and weight regulation, and a discussion on the
evolution of breast surgery by faculty from the Massachusetts General
Hospital (MGH).
For registration, visit
www.massmed.org/whf2017 , or contact Erin Tally at etally@mms.org.
Educational Programs and Events
Unless otherwise noted, all events
are held at MMS headquarters, 860 Winter St., Waltham, MA. Visit
www.massmed.org/cme/events to view our full calendar of upcoming live CME activities.
13th
Annual Public Health Leadership Forum: Social Determinants of Health -
Improving Population Health through Prevention Based Care
Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Women’s Health Forum – Hormones: Do They Define Us?
Friday, April 21, 2017, 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Ethics Forum
Thursday, April 27, 2017, 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Annual Education Program – The Winding Road of Addiction: Hope on the Horizon
Friday, April 28, 2017, 8:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
MMS Annual Meeting, Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center, Boston, MA or Via Live Webinar
Shattuck Lecture and Luncheon – Personalize Medicine or Precision Medicine
Friday, April 28, 2017, 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
MMS Annual Meeting,
Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center, Boston, MA
Directors of Medical Education Conference – Advancing Collaboration and Compliance
Thursday, May 18, 2017, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The above activities have been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
SAVE THE DATE
The Many Facets of Men’s Health: Clinical Conversations Impacting Your Patients
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Featured Online CME Activities – Risk Management Credit
•
Helping Patients with COPD Breathe Easier
The above activities have been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
For additional risk management online CME activities, visit
www.massmed.org/cme.
This Week in Health Care
State Commission Issues Report on Financing for Private Hospitals
Joint Commission on Health Care Financing
is recommending more state involvement in addressing health care
pricing disparities for private hospitals and laid out specific factors
that should and should not be included in insurance reimbursement rates.
Baystate Franklin Nurses Authorize Strike
Baystate Franklin Medical Center
nurses in Greenfield have voted to give their union leaders the right
to call a one-day strike — signaling the latest escalation in the
ongoing contract negotiations.
Marijuana Advocates Fight against Legislative Changes
Proponents of the Yes on 4
marijuana campaign said they are prepared to spend money in
Massachusetts to make the case that legislative changes violate the
voter-approved law.
UMass Medical Tops Harvard in Survey
University of Massachusetts-Worcester Medical School
rated higher than Harvard University in the latest U.S. News &
World Report rankings of medical school programs for primary-care
physicians.
Pittsfield Awaits Medical Marijuana Dispensary
Pittsfield’s Berkshire Roots is one of three medical marijuana dispensaries to open in Berkshire County in 2017.
South Coast Suburbs Respond to Opioid Epidemic
South Coast suburban Massachusetts residents, responding to the region-wide problem of opioid addiction, have begun to form support groups in their towns.
Baker's Health Insurance Assessment Gets Support
Close to two dozen groups voiced support
for Gov. Charlie Baker's controversial proposal to levy per-employee
assessments on businesses that don't meet proposed health insurance
requirements in a Wednesday letter to House and Senate budget writers.
