Vaping Forum Announced; Gun Safety CME

What’s up in advocacy and policy

Summer review: Catch up on MMS advocacy work

The Massachusetts Medical Society has been in the thick of the action in what has been an important summer on the advocacy front. Our collective voice was heard on health care-related issues that have a direct impact on physicians and their patients.

We thank you, our members, for taking action with us to ensure that the physician perspective was heard and considered.

Click "read more" below to review our advocacy efforts and positions on some of the issues most relevant to physicians and patients.

Reminders: Stuff you should click on

Casual networking events coming to your area!
Please join your colleagues and friends for one of our upcoming networking events. Physicians (members and nonmembers) and your guests are welcome.   

Upcoming events:

• October 24, 6:30–8:30 p.m., Hotel on North, Pittsfield
• Springfield, Peabody 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

Join our AMA Delegation - Deadline is this month

The MMS Committee on Nominations is seeking candidates for nomination to the Massachusetts AMA Delegation. Visit www.massmed.org/amanoms to learn more about the qualifications and submit your application. The application deadline is Monday, August 20.  

Interviews with the Committee on Nominations will be held at MMS Headquarters, Waltham, on Thursday, September 20, 2018, 4:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m. Applicants should plan to be available on this date. Questions? Please contact Linda Healy (800) 322-2303, ext. 7008 or lhealy@mms.org, or Karen Harrison at ext. 7463 or kharrison@mms.org.

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.

Tobacco Free Mass Policy Forum 
"Vaping: Recent Developments and Emerging Issues"

Join Tobacco Free Mass on Thursday, September 6 at the Massachusetts Medical Society in Waltham for a policy forum focused on vaping. 

National experts will address e-cigarettes and vaping from different angles, all with an eye to policy change.  Dr. Lisa Henricksen of Stanford will speak on point-of-sale issues and youth-focused marketing.  The CDC’s Michael Tynan will discuss the intersection of vaping nicotine and vaping marijuana. Dr. Youn Lee of RTI will talk about emerging nicotine products that will shape policy moving forward. The forum will be moderated by Tobacco Free Mass vice-chair, Dr. Lauren Smith, a pediatrician, Co-CEO of FSG, and former Commissioner of the MA Department of Public Health.

Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and the program runs from 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. . Register online at TobaccoFreeMass.org.  Tickets are $100 per person.

Educational programs and events 

Live events: Leadership development

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

Visit www.massmed.org/cme/events to view our full calendar of upcoming live CME activities.

Save the date!

Conference on Universal Health Care
Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Featured online CME: Patients and gun safety

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

For additional online CME activities, visit www.massmed.org/cme

Quote of the week

"Taken together, these statements by the greatest performer and the greatest female athlete of our time, respectively, are challenges to the toxic body-shaming of women during and after pregnancy that our society urgently needs to hear."

—  Rebecca Bodenheimer, CNN opinion writer, on Beyonce and Serena speaking candidly on postpartum depression ( CNN)

Tweet of the Week

@kennedyCHC
Since 1972, Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center has been helping people live healthier lives.

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.

Clinic to pay back patients illegally charged cash for Suboxone  (Boston Globe)

The owners of a North Andover mental health practice have agreed to pay $612,000 in restitution to 232 patients who were illegally charged cash for opioid addiction treatment even though the patients were covered by the state's Medicaid program. Attorney General Maura Healey planned on Thursday to announce the settlement with the Center for Psychiatric Medicine and its owners, Dr. Thomas J. McLaughlin and Joseph Campione, calling it part of an ongoing effort to police Medicaid fraud in the addiction treatment business. 

Behavioral health group says ballot question would force closures (SHNS)

The Massachusetts Association of Behavioral Health Systems said its study shows that passage of Question 1 would increase the "boarding" of mental health patients in hospital emergency rooms and decrease access to recovery services, exacerbating the state's opioid crisis and straining the care system.

Immigrant health care 'moochers'? On the contrary, researchers say (WBUR)  

Dr. J. Wesley Boyd, a psychiatrist and ethicist at Harvard-affiliated Cambridge Health Alliance, says many Americans "just have this sort of general conception that foreigners who are coming across our borders trying to get a better life for themselves...[are] all just moochers." Boyd spends a lot of his time advocating for immigrants — in particular, testifying on behalf of those seeking asylum. 

Opioids have sparked an HIV outbreak in Massachusetts (Huffington Post)

Despite robust local health systems, the industrial cities of Lowell (population 110,000) and Lawrence (population 80,000) - just 9 miles apart near the New Hampshire border - have both seen a surge in new HIV cases among people who use intravenous drugs. Between 2015 and 2018, there were 129 new HIV cases linked to drug use in the two cities, according to preliminary results from a joint investigation by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Deadly fentanyl forces sites to call professionals (Boston Herald)  

Police dealing with the aftermath of an overdose that could involve fentanyl are exercising extreme caution, donning protective gear and making sure they have naloxone, an opioid-overdose antidote, on hand. "We treat every scene as though there may be fentanyl," said Chelsea police Chief Brian Kyes. "Do we always know if it's fentanyl? No. But we have to be prepared as if it is."