MMS and coalition fight federal gagging of physicians

What’s up in advocacy and policy

MMS and coalition fight federal gagging of physicians

A coalition of physician organizations organized by the MMS is strongly opposing proposed changes to the federal Title X program, describing them as a “dangerous and unwarranted” government intrusion into medical care. For physicians, the new rules would “constitute an unconscionable violation of our oaths.” The program funds family planning for low-income women. The changes would prohibit physicians who practice at facilities that receive Title X funds from referring their patients to institutions or colleagues that provide abortions, with far-reaching implications.

In a letter to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the seven signatories said the proposed changes would censor physicians, undermine the trust built on open communication between physicians and patients, compromise patients’ access to a range of health care services, and discriminate against vulnerable populations. The letter states: “The precedent that this proposal would set is untenable — that the federal government could prohibit access to necessary and legal health care based on religious or political bias.” 

A separate comment from the MMS highlights the ways that the proposed changes directly conflict with the Society’s policies, including opposition to political limits on physicians' right to free speech.

Ongoing effort to preserve office-based surgical care

The Society has concerns that the health care costs bill being finalized on Beacon Hill, as currently written, could make it more difficult and expensive for physicians to provide office-based surgical procedures to their patients. The Medical Society has been fighting these provisions since they were first proposed. Now the Boston Globe and the Boston Business Journal have come out against them too. Read Dr. Chaoui's latest update outlining the risk to office-based surgical care (click the button below).

MMS feedback to legislature on CARE Act reconciliation

The Society this week commended both branches of the legislature for developing bills that would address many areas of dire need in the Commonwealth’s response to the opioid epidemic. In particular, the MMS welcomed the provisions that would shore up the statewide standing order for Naloxone, improve the process allowing for the partial fill of opioid prescriptions, and develop and fund innovative peer-to-peer physician education programs for pain management and opioid use disorder (OUD). The Medical Society is proud to have partnered closely with the legislature on both the partial fill and the peer-to-peer education programs. In addition, the Medical Society supports proposals in the Senate’s version of the bill that seek to provide flexibility in the transition to the electronic prescribing of controlled substances, create a state-led commission to study Supervised Injection Facilities, and improve access to medication treatment among incarcerated individuals with OUD. 

News and announcements

Benefit Buzz

Legal Advisory Plan: Enrollment deadline JULY 31
If you do not have a MMS Legal Advisory Plan in place when you undergo a Board of Registration in Medicine investigation, it is too late to take advantage of expert attorney representation for a successful outcome at a fraction of typical legal fees. Enroll or renew for July 2018–July 2019 coverage for $70 a year. Groups of five or more get an additional discount. Questions? Call (781) 434-7311 or email lap@massmed.org.

Member verdicts:

"Wished I had signed up for the Plan when I received the Board complaint. It costed me thousands of dollars for an attorney to resolve the issue. The Plan is certainly a bargain."

"The LAP newsletters were very helpful. Made me aware of situations to avoid that could impact my medical license and, more importantly, how to avoid them."

Reminders: Stuff you should click on

SATURDAY: Casual networking event on the Cape

Please join your colleagues and friends for an evening of professional networking, with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drinks, on July 28, 6:30-9:30 p.m., at Cape Cod Beer, 1336 Phinneys Lane, Hyannis. Physicians (members and nonmembers) and your guests are welcome.

Upcoming events:

• October 24, 6:30–8:30 p.m., Hotel on North, Pittsfield
• Springfield and Fall River; check future emails for details 

Please reply to  sfrazier@mms.org or  mjussaume@mms.org.  The MMS plans to bring fun, convenient, and casual networking events to all parts of the state. Connect with physicians from across organizations and specialties, make new professional contacts, and meet MMS leaders. Questions? Call (800) 944 5562.

Photo: Splatter Painted Boat by Arthur T. Skarin, MD, Norfolk district

Claims: Are you having problems getting reimbursed?

Looking for an efficient way to resolve unpaid insurance claims? The MMS is hosting three Individual Claims Consultation days this summer and fall. These are opportunities for you and/or your practice colleague to meet with representatives from insurance companies to troubleshoot specific claims. The events will be held in Waltham (Aug 16) and Lakeville (Sept 20). Click below.

Educational programs and events

Live events: Leadership development

Managing Workplace Conflict: Improving Leadership & Personal Effectiveness
Thurs. & Fri., November 1–2   

The Heller School’s Executive MBA for Physicians (EMBA)
January 2019 – May 2020: 25% discount for MMS members
Brandeis University, Heller School of Social Policy and Management

Featured online CME: Firearm safety

Talking to Patients About Gun Safety 
Firearm Violence: Policy, Prevention & Public Health (6 Modules)
Initiating a Conversation with Patients on Gun Safety

Quote of the week

"I have caught up to 1,300 leeches in 10 minutes. I used to be able to do that when I was younger, but I got repetitive strain in my leech-catching fingers so I can only do 600 or so.”

— Carl Peters-Bond, biology manager at Biopharm, a Welsh company that cultivates medical leeches  (STAT)

Tweet of the Week

@UMassMedical
Official Twitter home of University of Massachusetts Medical School; pioneering education, research, and health care delivery.

What’s new in health care

Check out the most clicked-on stories from this week's MMS Media Watch. Sign up for daily Massachusetts media roundups by email. Some publications are fully accessible only to their subscribers.

Springfield hospital cited for lapses in treating high-risk pregnant patients (Globe)

When her condition rapidly deteriorated, the Springfield community hospital did not transfer her to a medical center specialized in treating complex maternity patients, even though Mercy is not designated by the state to care for high-risk pregnancies. Hours after undergoing a caesarean section, the woman suffered a fatal cardiac arrest. 

Three health care leaders to leave their positions (Worcester Business Journal)

Three women — Joyce Murphy, executive vice chancellor for Commonwealth Medicine at UMass Medical School; Frances Anthes, the president and CEO of Family Health Center of Worcester and Antonia McGuire, the CEO of the Edward M. Community Health Center, all high-profile health care leaders in Central Massachusetts — will step down over the next several months. 

More gyms are junking weight machines. But should they? (WBUR)

"Our studies have shown that the basic exercises" — like leg or shoulder presses on machines — "improve function as well as anything else you can do, and actually quite a bit better." 

Antibiotic-resistant infections after surgery — transmitted by leeches? (STAT)

Leech guts, like ours, are crawling with bacteria, so the team had pumped the patient full of ciprofloxacin before allowing his blood to be sucked. That should have stopped any infections before they started. 

Scientists explore new immunotherapy to treat autoimmune diseases (STAT)

Scientists have begun to explore a spin-off: using similar immune cells to treat autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and prevent rejection of transplanted organs.  

What you need to know ahead of Biogen's big Alzheimer's reveal (STAT)

Partners Biogen and Eisai shook up the drug industry this month with the surprising revelation that an in-development drug for Alzheimer's disease showed unprecedented promise in a clinical trial. 

Mass. health care groups come out against plan to help small hospitals (WBUR)

Some Massachusetts health care industry groups are coming out strongly against bills approved by the House and Senate designed to support small community hospitals.