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News and announcements
Dr. Anthony Marks named Community Clinician of the Year by Norfolk South District Medical Society
Dr. Anthony Marks, a board-certified cardiologist in South Weymouth, was selected as the Norfolk South District Medical Society’s 2019 Community Clinician of the Year, an award recognizing his professionalism and contributions as a physician.
Dr. Marks is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Brigham and Women's Hospital and South Shore Hospital. He joined South Shore Hospital in the early 1990s, seeing an opportunity to bring technology and advanced cardiac care to communities outside Boston. Dr. Marks is presently chief of cardiology for South Shore Health.
Read More
MMS advocacy roundup: Recent events on Capitol Hill
MMS supports Sen. Warren’s, Rep. Kennedy’s mental health parity bill
- Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) reintroduced their
Behavioral Health Coverage Transparency Act last week, which would strengthen existing mental health parity laws and require insurance companies to cover behavioral health benefits for patients. As supporters of the legislation, the MMS believes that the
bill will "address gaps in transparency and in adherence to laws that afford patients the care and coverage they need."
- The House of Representatives passed the CREATES Act, which will stop the delay tactics used by some drug companies to keep generic substitutes out of the market. The bill also prohibits short-term insurance plans and increases funding for the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
- The MMS supported two bills belonging to Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) that require opioid labeling and all opioid prescribers to take accredited education on best practices for pain management and substance use disorder treatment. Physicians in states such as Massachusetts, however,
who are already required to take such courses for state licensure or their specialty boards, would not be subject to the additional educational mandates outlined in Markey's bill.
- This week, the House Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing titled, "Overcoming Racial Disparities and Social Determinants of Health in the National Maternal Mortality Crisis." The MMS signed on to a letter circulated by the Maternal Child Health Subcommittee of the American
Public Health Association, which was submitted to the committee in advance of the hearing.
- MMS President Maryanne C. Bombaugh, MD, praised MA Attorney General Maura Healey's leadership in filing a lawsuit—alongside 23 states, cities and counties—against the Trump administration's "refusal of care" rule.
The federal rule allows health care providers to refuse necessary services to patients based on religious or moral views. "While the MMS supports the traditional definition of the conscience clause," said Dr. Bombaugh, "the new rule expands the longstanding definition of the clause and threatens access
to care and the lives of our patients."
Mass. DPH releases new measles resources and upcoming webinar/training dates
CDC measles toolkits for health care providers and state/local health departments: CDC has recently developed web-based tools (posters, fact sheets, FAQs) for measles education and control.
They are available here and will have items added to them as they are developed. For up-to-date answers to questions, visit Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about measles in the U.S.
here.
Upcoming measles-related training: A CDC Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) conference call is scheduled on Tuesday, May 21, from 2-3 p.m. titled, "Most
Measles Cases in 25 Years: Is This the End of Measles Elimination in the United States?"
For more information, click here.
MDPH immunization updates: MDPH epidemiologists will also discuss measles at the regional immunization updates taking place this spring. There are still
in-person trainings and webinars available.
Stop the Bleed Month
May is Stop the Bleed Month featuring courses to teach bleeding control techniques to the public and empower them with skills to assist severely bleeding persons. If you are trained as a bleeding control instructor or wish to learn more about becoming a Stop the Bleed Instructor, please
contact Vanessa Kenealy at
vkenealy@mms.org. To learn more about the MMS’ bleeding control train-the-trainer project and Stop the Bleed awareness efforts, please visit
www.massmed.org/bleedingcontrol.
Health plan provider directory: Free webinar
In an effort to improve the accuracy of health plan provider directories, streamline the process across plans, and reduce the overall administrative burdens for providers, HealthCare Administrative Solutions and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts have both engaged
the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare's (CAQH) DirectAssure to develop an electronic solution for use in the Massachusetts market. The rollout of this new tool is expected to begin this summer, starting with individual and behavioral health providers.
The Massachusetts Medical Society would like to invite you to a one-hour webinar training session on updating provider directory information using the new CAQH Direct Assure tool. Training sessions will be held on:
- Monday, June 3, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
- Tuesday, June 18, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
To register, please contact us today and indicate which session you would like to attend at PPRC (781) 434-7702 or Bissan Biary
@bbiary@mms.org.
AAFP recruiting family medicine practices for electronic cigarettes prevention project
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is recruiting 20 family medicine practices to participate in an Office Champions quality improvement project. The project includes introducing systems changes, training, educational materials, and practice resources specific to
electronic nicotine delivery systems, with a focus on youth prevention and cessation. The AAFP will provide materials, education, and technical support to participating practices. Practices will receive $5,000 to cover time and administrative costs.
For more information, visit
http://bit.ly/2VvUo1h . The deadline to apply is May 31, 2019.
June 6-7: Managing workplace conflict: Improving leadership & personal effectiveness
This educational forum designed for physicians (in clinical practice, administration and leadership) will explore complex relationships within the medical work environment. Participation in this course will help
you develop techniques to address and resolve difficult relationships and stressful situations, as well as strengthen relationships with other team members and patients.
This two-part program will be held at the MMS headquarters in Waltham.
Click here to learn more and register.
Benefit buzz
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Achieve best practice by making sure that your practice’s staff understand how their jobs directly impact your patient’s health and patient satisfaction. Creating a positive environment for patients to receive care and physicians to practice medicine begins with engaged employees.
For more tips on staff engagement and promoting a healthy and safe work environment, contact PPRC today (781) 434-7702 or email us at
pprc@mms.org.
Payer watch
The Harvard Business Review recently reported that hospitals are collecting data on patients’ mental and psychological well-being and sociodemographic factors that contribute to their health.
Since only 20% of hospitals have the time to conduct these studies, researchers have started developing new resources to aid in data collection. While personal privacy concerns slow the research pace, many health care
providers place faith in these new options.
The first data collection method relies on smartphone apps. These apps allow patients to book appointments and input personal health data, and also allow hospitals to analyze environmental risk factors through GPS (proximity to crime, grocery stores, hospitals,
nature, etc.).
Hospitals have also started measuring patients' lifestyle choices by analyzing their credit card transactions. Finally, hospitals are also measuring patients' social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) using user-selected data on employment, food insecurity, and level of
exercise.
For more information about this trend in care.
Educational programs and events
CME education programs & events
Featuring CME live 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.
MMS and RIMS 2019 Annual Accreditation Conference
Thursday, June 6, 2019, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
More online CME
Featured online CME physician wellness and burnout
More online CME
NEJM Knowledge+ Pain Management and Opioids
Pain Management and Opioids, a new module from NEJM Knowledge+, will help you implement safer strategies for pain management and earn your state-mandated CME credits. More than 60 case-based questions, written by experts in pain management and addiction, reflect the types of cases
health care providers experience in daily practice and cover the FDA’s Opioid Analgesic REMS Education Blueprint for Health Care Providers Involved in the Treatment and Monitoring of Patients with Pain.
Pain Management and Opioids was created in partnership with Boston University School of Medicine’s SCOPE of Pain and is provided free of charge through an unrestricted educational grant. Registration is available through the
NEJM Knowledge+ website.
Quote of the week
"We must redirect every bit of energy we are putting into ineffective, potentially traumatizing nonsolutions toward addressing the root causes and conditions that are contributing to the unique epidemic of gun violence in the United States."
— Justin Parmenter, seventh-grade teacher, on lockdown drills and active-shooter training
(USA Today)
Tweet of the week
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@CindyFriedmanMA
Massachusetts State Senator proudly serving Arlington, Billerica, Burlington, Lexington, and Woburn.
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.
Former UMass doctor sentenced to jail for secretly photographing woman (MassLive)
Former UMass Medical School doctor
Marcus Cooper, MD, was found guilty of photographing a woman in a bathroom stall. The woman inside the courtroom was the victim in the case. The people were a jury. Cooper, 50, of Grafton, was sentenced to one year in jail with 60 days to serve after he was found guilty of secretly photographing an
unsuspecting nude person. The balance of the sentence was suspended for three years. Cooper will be on probation for those three years and must undergo mental health evaluations.
Americans under 40 suffering heart attacks at alarming rate (Boston 25)
Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital found young people are dying of heart attacks in growing numbers. Preventative cardiologist Dr. Ron Blankstein recently authored a study showing
the heart attack rate among Americans under the age of 40 is rising dramatically, even though the heart attack rates across the board have been falling. "These are often individuals when they have symptoms they may not think this is a heart attack, again it's not on their radar at all," Blankstein said.
Southcoast Health to establish trauma center at St. Luke's (Southcoast Today)
Southcoast Health announced Monday plans to establish a Level II Trauma Center at St. Luke's Hospital. "We all know how important every minute - every second - counts when someone is badly injured," said Keith Hovan, CEO of Southcoast Health, in a statement. "No one is more acutely aware of
this than our region's EMS providers, which is why I was delighted to share this information with them this morning." Hovan
made the announcement at Southcoast Health's annual EMS provider breakfast, which is held every year during National EMS Week to honor fire chiefs and other leaders of emergency medical services for their work in ensuring that the region has expert and timely emergency care.
57% of Mass. adults know someone struggling with opioid addiction (WBUR)
A new WBUR poll shows that the opioid epidemic is hitting more and more Massachusetts residents close to home. The survey of 660 adults (topline results, crosstabs) found that more than half (57%) say they know someone who has struggled with opioid addiction over the last year alone. Additionally,
53% of respondents say addiction in Massachusetts to heroin and other opiates, including prescription painkillers, is a "crisis," with an additional 39% saying the issue is a "major problem." The poll's release comes a day after state data showed that 2018 was the third straight
year of about 2,000 opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts.
