Gov. Baker wins prestigious AMA award; Network with colleagues at upcoming events

News and announcements

Nominee Gov. Charlie Baker wins prestigious AMA award

Gov. Charlie Baker pictured with MMS President Alain A. Chaoui, MD

 

Earlier this week, The American Medical Association presented Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker with the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service. Gov. Baker, who was nominated by the Massachusetts Medical Society, has been a bipartisan leader and innovator, particularly on the issue of opioids, where he took decisive and meaningful action by convening a multi-stakeholder working group to develop a comprehensive plan to fight the epidemic.

"As the opioid epidemic grips our country, Gov. Baker has been one of the most innovative, forward-thinking, results-oriented leaders in confronting this challenge,” said AMA Board Chair Jack Resneck Jr., M.D. "In just five years as governor, Gov. Baker has secured comprehensive legislation to combat the crisis, expanded access to naloxone for vulnerable populations, and worked with the Massachusetts Medical Society and the state’s medical schools to enhance physician competency for the prevention and management of prescriptions drug abuse.”

Connect with physician colleagues

 

Physicians and their guests gathered in Hyannis for hors d’oeuvres and drinks, hosted by the MMS

The Massachusetts Medical Society invites you to join colleagues and friends for an evening of professional networking and cheer at one of our upcoming events! Connect with physicians from across organizations and specialties, catch up with colleagues, make new professional contacts, and meet members of the MMS leadership. Professional networking, complimentary hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and good fun! 

• Thursday, March 21, 2019, 6:30–8:30 p.m. Samuel’s, Springfield, MA
• Thursday, March 28, 2019, 6:30–8:30 p.m. The Cove Restaurant, Fall River, MA

RSVP no later than two weeks prior to each event at sfrazier@mms.org or mjussaume@mms.org. Questions — (800) 944-5562

Upcoming Events

International development, health and environmental justice symposium (Northeastern University)

Is global development at odds with environmental justice and health equity? The industries that have historically fueled economic growth have also accelerated climate change and exacerbated issues of global health. How might those interested in both economics and justice reconcile such a tension?

The College of Professional Studies M.S. in Global Studies and International Relations program at Northeastern University, with the Boston Network for International Development (BNID), will host a free symposium at 7:00 PM on Thursday, March 7, 
to address these very questions. Via a panel discussion, symposium participants will glean knowledge of ongoing initiatives that strive to halt existing environmental and global health dangers.

Register

2019 annual meeting: Hotel deadline reminder

This year's annual meeting is scheduled to take place May 2-4 at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center in Boston. The MMS hotel deadline is Friday, March 22. Please visit www.massmed.org/am19reservations to make your reservations today.

Important *NEW* registration information

The annual meeting website will launch in late February/early March and will include online registration. We are pleased to announce that we are using a new registration system for the 2019 annual meeting. Please view this flyer to read more and please view www.massmed.org/annual2019 for important dates and deadlines and a schedule at a glance. The upcoming 2019 annual meeting is sure to be an exciting event and we hope you can join us.

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Renew your membership by March 8

A Friendly Reminder: If you haven’t renewed your membership, now is a good time to do so. Valuable member benefits will be suspended March 8th.  

Avoid missing out on key medical discoveries and important health care information with your free subscriptions to the New England Medical Journal, NEJM Journal Watch Online, and Vital Signs (over $320 in value)   

Log in to your account now. 

It takes less than 4 minutes to renew your membership with the MMS – the support you need and the network you want.

Need help? Call 800-322-2302, ext. 7495  or call 800-322-2303 ext. 7311

Renew Today

Get involved

MMS committees form the backbone of the MMS, where the important work of the Society is accomplished. Do you have a special interest or desire to make a difference in organized medicine? Or, to assist in achieving the greater goals of the Society? Joining a committee is one way to get involved. MMS is currently seeking interested members. Applications are due March 1; more info and applications.

Educational programs and events

Live CME activities

Managing Workplace Conflict – Improving Leadership and Personal Effectiveness
Thursday, June 6, 2019, 7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. 
Friday, June 7, 2019, 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

More live CME

Featured online CME: Online multi module courses

MedPEP, Medical Professionals Empowerment Program (19 episodes)

Shared Decision Making: Essential Skills for Prostate, Lung & Breast Cancer Screening (4 Modules)

The Promise and Pitfalls of Transforming Health Through Technology and Information (6 Modules)

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

More online CME

Quote of the week

"All of these systems that are supposed to be caring for children often times are not talking to each other. A lot of times kids fall through the cracks and families are not getting the appropriate support they need.”

—  Dr. Barbara Robles-Ramamurthy, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio   (CNN)

Tweet of the week

@choo_ek

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.

Malpractice case involving death of liver donor goes to trial (Boston Globe)
Leonard Glantz, a retired professor of health law and ethics at Boston University, told the jury that he does not believe doctors sufficiently informed Hawks about Wilson's medical situation. While doctors are obligated to clearly tell patients about the risks and benefits of any medical procedure, they need to be "especially careful'' with living organ donors because they are not sick and "there is no physical benefit'' to the major surgery they will undergo. It's an act of charity,'' Glantz said. "One of the key parts,'' he said, "is that they have a realistic understanding of the benefits. What are the chances of saving another person's life?  

Judge critical of Mass. mental health services for children (AP)  
A federal judge has criticized Massachusetts for being too slow to provide mental health services to low-income children. The Boston Globe reports U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor in Springfield rebuked the state in an order Thursday and denied its request for those services to be removed from court oversight. The judge wrote the state has repeatedly violated its own standard of providing certain mental health treatment to seriously ill children on Medicaid within 14 days. He says thousands of children have waited weeks for services and were at risk for "devastating setbacks." 

Mass. opioid deaths fall for second straight year (Worcester Business Journal)

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported Wednesday opioid deaths fell for a second straight year in 2018, a promising sign that initiatives put in place may be keeping the death rate from rising further. Opioid prescriptions in the fourth quarter of 2018, for example, were down 35 percent from three years prior, according to the DPH. Last August, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill creating new standards for care in emergency departments and state houses of correction. The Baker Administration's proposed fiscal 2020 budget calls for $266 million in substance abuse treatment and services. State funding for such services has more than doubled since the 2015 budget. The state has also mandated addiction education curriculum in medical, dental and social work schools.  

Baker's tax could drive vapers back to cigs, doctors say (Boston Herald)
The governor proposed the new tax on e-cigarettes — one of the most effective methods of quitting — in his budget at a time when cigarette smoking in the country has reached the lowest level on record. "I don't think this is an appropriate proposal from a public health perspective," Boston University professor of community health sciences Michael Siegel, MD, told the Herald. "Typically, the main reason why we use taxation in public health is as an incentive to change behaviors. The reason why we imposed cigarette taxes is to decrease cigarette consumption," Siegel said, citing the same for alcohol taxes. "So it doesn't make sense to impose a tax which, as a fact, is going to lead to more people smoking."