Deductible Relief Day; Dr. Nahill named district Community Clinician of the Year

News and announcements

Payer watch

Deductible Relief Day: How rising deductibles are affecting people with employer coverage
Despite employer-offered healthcare coverage, many recipients are facing a steep rise in their deductible. In 2018, 85 percent of covered workers enrolled in a plan with a deductible, compared to only 59 pecent a decade earlier. These out-of-pocket payments are becoming a financial burden to insurance subscribers, many of whom are also responsible for copayments.

The deductible cost for an individual’s plan has risen steadily over the last few years, forcing subscribers to wait longer before their insurance coverage takes effect. Just a decade ago, the average deductible was $533 per person, but has now risen to $1,350 per person—a 150 percent increase. Average out-of-pocket spending has increased considerably, from $493 in 2007 to $792 in 2017. Ten years ago, Deductible Relief Day (the average day when an individual paid off their deductible) occurred two months earlier. This year, it is slated to occur on May 19th, 2019.    

Deductible Relief Day is calculated using collected data from IBM’s MarketScan Research Database. Because some patients have more health care spending than others, the calculation does not include conclusions or data regarding specific plan design. Deductible Relief Day is a way to consider the successes and pitfalls of rising deductible costs on American citizens.

Kaiser Family Foundation/LA Times reports that affordability is emerging as a larger problem for health insurance plan subscribers. Those with the highest deductibles generally express affordability concerns; fifty-three percent of high deductible subscribers report having less in their savings account than what their deductible costs to recoup.

Dr. Nahill honored by Plymouth District Medical Society as Community Clinician of the Year

The Plymouth District Medical Society recognized Dr. Robert G. Nahill as their 2019 Community Clinician of the Year. Dr. Nahill was commended for initiating the pulmonary department at Plymouth’s Jordan Hospital, conducting decades of patient care, hospital work, mentoring of new physicians, and participating in community service.

Dr. Nahill, a pulmonologist based in Plymouth, is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area including Boston Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Plymouth. 

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. 

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.  

National Gun Violence Awareness Day

Friday, June 7 marks the 5th National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Supporters are asked to wear orange, the color of the gun violence prevention movement. For more information on MMS initiatives and programs on firearm safety and gun violence prevention, please visit www.massmed.org/firearms. #ThisIsOurLane.

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.

Benefit buzz

Adding a new physician to your group? Contact the Physician Practice Resource Center and learn how best to onboard a new provider in an efficient and comprehensive manner including, but not limited to, operations, marketing, and credentialing. Our goal is to provide you with the support and information you need to maintain a thriving practice.

Feel free to contact us today at PPRC (781) 434-7702 or email us at pprc@mms.org.
 

CME education programs & events

Featuring CME live activities

Managing Workplace Conflict – Improving Leadership and Personal Effectiveness

• Thursday, June 6, 7:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
• Friday, June 7, 7:30 a.m. -4:00 p.m.  
  

MMS and RIMS 2019 Annual Accreditation Conference

• Thursday, June 6, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
  

Featured online CME course

Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Clinical Practice NEW

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.

Upcoming events and trainings

June 19: MMS Board of Trustees Meeting (by invitation only - MMS Headquarters)  The next Board of Trustees Meeting will be held on June 19 from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the MMS Headquarters.

July 9: You Can Do It: Buprenorphine Prescribing in Primary Care (MMS Headquarters)
This program aims to allow physicians in the primary care setting who have successfully made opioid use disorder (OUD) care a part of their daily practice to share their experiences, resources they have used along the way, and empower attendees to start prescribing lifesaving buprenorphine therapy more regularly in their practices. 

Quote of the week

"Our goal is to protect children. But if we fail them, we sure as hell want to leave a written record for history that documents who is notified of an impending harm to children -- and who did nothing about it."

—  Dr. Scott Allen, who was charged with inspecting the facilities where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains immigrant families.  (CNN)

Tweet of the week

@WHOWPRO
The WHO Western Pacific Region works w/ gov'ts & partners in Asia and the Pacific to improve the health & well-being of nearly 1.9 billion men, women & children.

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.  

MGH finalizes deal to acquire second New Hampshire hospital (Boston Business Journal)

Massachusetts General Hospital has signed a definitive affiliation agreement to acquire a second New Hampshire health system, launching a new regional system under the Partners HealthCare umbrella. In May 2018, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) announced plans to acquire Exeter Health Resources in New Hampshire. MGH planned to incorporate Exeter into a regional non-profit system with Wentworth-Douglass, a hospital in Dover that MGH acquired in 2016.  

Recovering addict chooses amputation over pain meds, potential relapse (WWLP)

At just 10 months sober, Michael Quinones suffered a horrible injury that would almost certainly send him back into the harrowing grips of addiction...if he decided to keep his foot. Quinones was working a landscaping job in 2017 when a mower slid down some wet grass, slicing open the back of his heel and destroying his foot and ankle bone structure. "They were amazed that I was still alive when I got to the hospital because I guess I should have bled out," Quinones recalled. The freak accident came at a time where things were finally looking up for the recovering addict, who had been through countless rehab programs and a recent incarceration. Doctors told him if he kept his foot it'd most likely mean undergoing multiple surgeries and a lifetime of pain medication prescriptions. Three days later, he went through with the amputation.

Baystate Health plans ICU closures (MassLive)

Baystate Health plans to close underutilized intensive care units in Westfield and Palmer and convert the six beds at each hospital to regular medical-surgical use with a lower level of care. It has also asked the state Department of Public Health to take the six pediatric beds at Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield off the institution's license and close that ward, said spokeswoman Shelly Hazlett.  

Grant seeks to reduce Gloucester opioid deaths by 40% (Daily News)

Gloucester will participate in a new federal research study aimed to cut opioid overdose deaths by 40 percent over the next three years. Boston Medical Center researchers are among four recipients to receive grant money for the federal research study. As part of the $350 million grant, BMC was awarded $89 million in April and selected 16 communities across Massachusetts to participate in the study. The researchers chose North Shore Community Health, a patient-centered medical home with three family practice sites – at 302 Washington St. in Gloucester, as well as Peabody, and Salem – to be part of the study, and Gloucester and Salem to be two of the 16 communities.