Vaping public service announcement now live; Safety tips to share with patients during extreme heat

News and announcements

Vaping public service announcement now live
The Massachusetts Medical Society teamed up with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to encourage physicians across the Commonwealth to speak with patients and their families about the dangers of vaping.

Click the video thumbnail below to watch and share! 

Get Outraged, a quit-smoking campaign launched by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, provides fact sheets to learn about vaping risks and other downloadable resources to share with patients.

Quitworks, a free, evidence-based stop-smoking service developed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in collaboration with all major health plans in Massachusetts, can connect your patients with proven tobacco cessation services.

(Left-right) MMS Vice President Carole Allen, MD, MBA, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Monica Bharel, MD, MPH, and MMS President-Elect David Rosman, MD, MBA.

MMS and NCQA meet to discuss quality measures in health care

The MMS delegation, which included President Dr. Maryanne Bombaugh, Immediate Past President Dr. Alain Chaoui, and Director of Practice Solutions & Medical Economics Yael Miller, spoke at the Digital Quality Summit in Boston last week. The summit, hosted by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and Health Level Seven (HL7), brought together thinkers in health care tech to discuss strategies for improving electronic quality measurement.

Dr. Bombaugh, Dr. Chaoui, and Yael Miller presented on physician burnout, the importance of quality measurement, and the need for burden reduction—findings echoed by the MMS/Massachusetts Hospital Association Task Force on Physician Burnout.

(Left-right, bottom row) Yael Miller, MBA, Alain Chaoui, MD, and Maryanne Bombaugh, MD, MBA.

MMS members convene at Mayflower Brewing Company

Dr. Nongnooch Poowanawittayakom & Jimmy (our tour guide)

(Left-right) Ms. Joselie Louis (student), Kerry Girard, MD, and her daughter Kelsey, Maryanne Bombaugh, MD, and Jimmy.

(Left-right) Javed Hussain, MD, Sadia Hussain, MD, Katherine Murray-Leisure, MD, Donald Ross, MD, and wife Nancy Faye Glass.

On Thursday, July 11, the MMS hosted a physician networking meetup at Mayflower Brewing Company in Plymouth, MA. Following hors d'oeuvres, a tour of the brewery, and a few craft drinks, members were able to catch up with friends, connect with colleagues, make new professional contacts, and meet MMS leadership.

MEMA: Safety tips to share with patients during extreme heat

Hot temperatures and high heat indices, like those seen this weekend, can lead to serious heat-related illnesses. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) circulated a list of tips to recognize and respond to heat-related illnesses, including:

• Heat cramps are muscular pains and spasms caused by heavy sweating.
  • Symptoms: Muscular pains and spasms that usually occur in the legs or abdomen
  • Treatment: Get the person to rest in a comfortable position in a cooler place. Give the person water or fluids with electrolytes help them rehydrate.
• Heat stroke is the most serious heat emergency and is life-threatening. Heat stroke develops when systems in the body begin to stop functioning due to extreme heat. Heat stroke may cause brain damage or death if the body is not cooled quickly.
  • Symptoms: Extremely high body temperature, hot and red skin (dry or moist), loss of consciousness, changes in level of responsiveness rapid and weak pulse, rapid and shallow breathing, vomiting, confusion, and/or seizures
  • Treatment: A person suffering from heat stroke needs immediate assistance. Call 9-1-1 and move the person to a cooler place. Immerse the individual in a cool bath, wrap in cold wet sheets, or cover the person in bags of ice.

To view all of MEMA's safety tips, click here . For more information about heat-related illnesses and graphics to share with patients, click here.

MMS Minority Affairs Section – Join us!!

Past MMS President Ron Dunlap, MD, At-large Seat, with Nidhi Lal, MD, Chair 

The Massachusetts Medical Society’s Minority Affairs Section (MAS) offers a forum for addressing the unique needs and concerns of underrepresented minority physicians and the delivery of health care to minority patients and communities. The Section’s priorities include the development of policies and initiatives that provide career advancement and leadership opportunities for minority physicians and increases participation and mentorship of underrepresented minority physicians and students in the MMS.

The Section also offers members a chance to participate in organized medicine at both the local (MMS) and national (AMA) levels. Membership in the MAS is open to any MMS member physician or medical student with an interest in minority physicians or minority health issues.

For more information or to become involved, contact Bill Howland via email at bhowland@mms.org.

Join our AMA delegation

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 Friday, August 30.

Interviews with the Committee on Nominations will be held at MMS Headquarters, Waltham, on Wednesday, October 2, 4:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Applicants should plan to be available on this date. Questions? Please contact Linda Healy at (781) 434-7008 or lhealy@mms.org, or Karen Harrison at (781) 434-7463 or kharrison@mms.org.

Application for MassHealth Provider Access Improvement Grant Program

Earlier this month, MassHealth released the application for the Provider Access Improvement Grant Program, which aims to increase access to health care and improve health outcomes among MassHealth members with disabilities or for whom English is not a primary language, and is one of the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) Statewide Investments.

The Grant Program will provide funding to selected MassHealth providers to purchase medical diagnostic equipment and other resources that help them better serve these populations. Grant awards of up to $25,000 will be made to selected MassHealth providers, totaling up to $2.07 million for this grant cycle ending December 31, 2019. Applicants must be actively enrolled MassHealth physicians, dentists, or other health care providers working in a medical setting that is not a hospital or owned by a hospital.

For more information about the program, please click here . Proposals are due no later than July 26, 2019. Please direct all questions to the "Contact Us" page on the website.

Benefit buzz

Safeguard Your Medical License and Career

Make sure you are not at a disadvantage if you are notified of a Board of Medicine in Registration investigation. The Legal Advisory Plan (LAP), an MMS members-only service, provides expert advice from the Plan’s legal counsel committed to protecting your rights and interests, helping you avoid pitfalls and common mistakes for a successful outcome. Enroll or renew for July 2019 – July 2020 coverage now for a nominal fee $70 - a fraction of the cost of hiring an attorney. You must be enrolled at the initiation of an investigation to avail yourself of plan services. Questions? Email lap@massmed.org or call (781) 434-7311.

Member verdict:
"When I received the Board complaint, I tried to sign up for the LAP. It was too late. It cost me thousands of dollars for an attorney to resolve the issue. Don't wait. The plan is an incredible bargain.” --MMS Member

Assessing the needs of patients calling the practice is extremely important— office phone lines are a key point of access for patients. At PPRC, our consulting team provides patient experience training for your frontline staff. You have the opportunity to:

• Help patients access necessary services
• Improve office efficiency
• Help physicians work more effectively

Call us today to learn more about our reasonably priced training. In addition, PPRC is here to help you address day-to-day issues in less time with less stress and with better outcomes. Feel free to contact us today at (781) 434-7702 or email us at pprc@mms.org.
 

MMS Individual Claims Consultation Days: Spaces are limited!

The Massachusetts Medical Society is hosting in-person Insurance Claims Consultation (ICC) days. ICC days are designed to allow MMS member physicians and/or their practice staff to schedule 30-minute appointments with health plans to focus on the adjudication of troublesome claims. Available in three locations, representatives from health plans will be on-site to review claims with you to facilitate claims processing.

Schedule your appointment at massmed.org/ICC2019.

Payer watch

Health Care Spending, Utilization, and Quality 8 Years into Global Payment

Alternative Quality Contract slowed the rate of medical spending growth by up to 12% while improving patient care over the course of eight years, Harvard Medical School researchers report in a landmark study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study compared patients covered under the Alternative Quality Contract (AQC) of Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts to comparable populations within a traditional fee-for-service model. The AQC is one the largest and longest-running private payment innovations in the country. The Harvard Medical School study found the original 2009 AQC physician groups yielded average savings on claims costs over eight years, from 2009 through 2016, with savings accelerating over time. The average annual claims by patients with doctors in the AQC were $461 less than those of the control group, an average claims savings of 11.7% per patient. Physician practices that entered the AQC in later years experienced smaller or comparable savings on claims. The study also found that the AQC improved the quality of patient care across several measures compared to New England and national averages, including those managing chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. To learn more about the study visit, https://aboutus.bluecrossma.com/affordability-quality/alternative-quality-contract-aq 

Stay connected with all your payers’ updates by contacting our Practice Solutions and Medical Economics at (781) 434-7702 or email us at pprc@mms.org.

Educational programs and events

CME education programs & events

Featured NEW online CME course

• Restoring the Fine art of Medicine: The Power of Physician Wellness - The 2019 Education Program
• Future of Care: A Call to Collaboration – The 2019 Shattuck Lecture

July 31: Transitioning Into and Within the Medical Device Industry (Regis College)
This networking event is for anyone seeking to enter or move laterally within the medical device industry. Our panel of industry veterans will talk about their varied experiences with transitions and provide insights to help you in your career. Additionally, several past speakers are invited back as special guests. The event will take place on Wednesday, July 31 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.

September 7-8: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery: Providing Evidence-Based Care in the Multidisciplinary Setting Course and Workshops (MMS Headquarters)   Dedicated to addressing topics related to understanding all components of ERAS, including preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative Phases, the course and workshops consider evidence-based best practices for each component according to the various levels of care across different medical specialties. Participants will learn the value and implications of ERAS as a relatively new holistic approach to patient care.

September 8-10: Schwartz Center’s Compassion in Action Healthcare Conference (Westin Boston Waterfront)
This unique conference brings together clinicians, health system leaders, and others who are committed to making compassion a priority in their organizations and communities. Through interactive experiential sessions with experts from diverse care settings and communities, this conference will provide cutting-edge programs, strategies, and tools to help healthcare professionals across all roles and disciplines create and sustain cultures of compassion.

Quote of the week

"Space causes a loss of plasma volume that is accentuated by the re-entry process. Exercise keeps the heart size and function intact and fluid fills it in preparation for Earth's gravity."

—  Dr. Benjamin Levine, who is studying the prevalence of fainting among astronauts returning to earth and parlaying his findings toward helping medical ailments of non-astronauts. (CNN)

Tweet of the week

@MassMedical

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.

Mass. medical board approves rules on simultaneous surgeries (Boston Globe)

Surgeons will have to document each time they enter and leave the operating room, and who took over in their absence, under a rule approved Wednesday by the state medical board amid controversies over doctors who perform more than one surgery at a time. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine unanimously passed that rule and another requiring that patients be told the names of junior doctors who will participate in their operations. Massachusetts is the first state to approve such requirements, according to board members. A spokesman for the Federation of State Medical Boards, which represents the nation's 70 state medical and osteopathic regulatory boards, said it was unaware of any other states with similar regulations.

DPH demands Baystate explain plans to close ICUs, pediatric unit (MassLive)

The intensive care units at Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield and Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer, along with a pediatric unit at Noble, are essential services "necessary for preserving access and health," the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has ruled. That means that Baystate Health must submit detailed information before it can move forward with plans to close the three units at the end of August. The state is asking for information on patient travel times, transportation needs, language difficulties and other factors.

'More training is needed' for doctors to treat opioid addiction (WBUR)

Bombaugh also cited a program launched in May, the Massachusetts Consultation Service for Treatment of Addiction and Pain, that could deliver much-needed support to longer-tenured physicians with less training in how to treat OUD. "This may provide that education, that peer-to-peer support consultation, that physicians who have been in practice longer than 10 years can avail themselves of," she said. "It has the opportunity to revolutionize the way patients are cared for with substance use disorder in Massachusetts." The biggest challenge moving forward, says RIZE's Burns, is getting providers comfortable with treating a very complicated disease in opioid addiction.

After $60M loss, New England health system plots plan for profitability (BBJ)

New England health care system Covenant Health hopes to be operating in the black by 2020, after reporting a $60.9 million operating loss in 2018 and taking two hits to its bond rating. The most recent year of operating losses was the fifth consecutive year in the red for the Tewksbury-based health system, which includes three hospitals in New Hampshire and Maine and seven nursing homes in Massachusetts.