"News You Can Use" <> October 28, 2014 October 28, 2014 Prop 46 Prop 46 0 CONTENTS Early Renew SDCMS-CMA Membership and Save 5%! Top Docs Gala at the Birch Aquarium This Saturday One Week Left to Ensure Prop. 46 Is Soundly Defeated — Pick Up Your No on 46 Yard Sign at a Location Near You Your Member Services Quiz Please Take This Two-question Survey on a Possible New Member Benefit Nominate Your Office Manager for SDCMS’s 6th Annual “Outstanding Medical Office Manager” Contest Follow SDCMS’ Twitter Feed and Get a Treasure Trove of Healthcare News Delivered Daily to Your Smartphone Is Your Office Manager / Practice Administrator Using SDCMS’ Online Forum? CMS Reopening Meaningful Use Hardship Exception Deadline Small Subset of Physicians Participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program May Get Hit With Medicare Penalties in 2015 Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) Continuing to Require Physicians to Revalidate Their Medicare Enrollments CMA Publishes Duals Project FAQ State Issues Report Cards for HMOs, PPOs and Large Medical Groups What Has the SDCMS Foundation Done for San Diego County Lately? We Are Looking for Two Physicians to Fill Vacancies on the Health Services Advisory Board Anthem Blue Cross Contracted Provider Information Exchange Seminar on Nov. 13, 8:30am–12:00pm Family Medicine / General Internal Medicine Physicians Needed UCSD PACE Program Is Recruiting Practicing Physicians Above Age 50 for a PACE Aging Physician Assessment (PAPA) Pilot Study Spread the Message of Health! Fallbrook Hospital to Go Outpatient Only ABOVE THE FOLD Early Renew SDCMS-CMA Membership and Save 5%! If you are paying full, non-discounted dues and are with a medical group of 150 or fewer physicians, you will receive a 5% discount on your 2015 SDCMS-CMA dues if you renew and pay in full before October 31, 2014. Click Here to Renew Online Today Top Docs Gala at the Birch Aquarium This Saturday: FABULOUS venue, great company … on November 1. Click Here for Details and to Purchase Your Tickets! One Week Left to Ensure Prop. 46 Is Soundly Defeated — Pick Up Your No on 46 Yard Sign at a Location Near You: Chula Vista, Coronado, Encinitas, Escondido, Hillcrest, Kearny Mesa, La Jolla, La Mesa, National City. Click Here for Specifics. Yard signs matter — this is how elections are won, i.e., with relentless pressure. Send us a picture of a creative use of a yard sign. Most innovative use wins a free SDCMS membership for 2015! TOP YOUR MEMBERS SERVICES QUIZ Question: If a patient comes into my office with an injury caused by domestic violence, but does not want the authorities notified, do I still have an obligation to report this? Click Here for the Answer TOP BENEFITS / PRACTICE MANAGEMENT Please Take This Two-question Survey on a Possible New Member Benefit: Finding that right employee fit is often the challenge in smaller practices. If SDCMS collected names of potential candidates (from referrals by physicians) and made that list available to members, would that be useful to you? Click Here to Respond Nominate Your Office Manager for SDCMS’s 6th Annual “Outstanding Medical Office Manager” Contest: Nomination Deadline November 1, 2014. Click Here for Details Follow SDCMS’ Twitter Feed and Get a Treasure Trove of Healthcare News Delivered Daily to Your Smartphone: Click Here Is Your Office Manager / Practice Administrator Using SDCMS’ Online Forum? Click Here to Join TOP FEDERAL CMS Reopening Meaningful Use Hardship Exception Deadline: CMS announced that it is reopening the submission period for meaningful use hardship exception applications so that physicians can avoid the 2015 payment penalty. The new deadline will be November 30, 2014. Click Here Small Subset of Physicians Participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program May Get Hit With Medicare Penalties in 2015: CMS authorized an expanded set of hardship exemption categories in August, but its attestation system was not updated with the expanded hardship exemptions before the October 1 deadline to apply for them. Click Here for Details Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) Continuing to Require Physicians to Revalidate Their Medicare Enrollments: Revalidation notices have been sent out and will continue to be sent out until March 23, 2015. Click Here for Further Information TOP STATE CMA Publishes Duals Project FAQ: Click Here State Issues Report Cards for HMOs, PPOs and Large Medical Groups: Click Here TOP LOCAL What Has the SDCMS Foundation Done for San Diego County Lately? While the SDCMS Foundation is best known for the work of its Project Access San Diego (it changed the lives of 39 people at this past Oct. 25 Surgery Day), it is also involved in many other health improvement initiatives: Its colorectal cancer screening program assists community health centers to boost their screening rates; one of the clinics boosted from 16% to 55% in one year. It has provided more than 2,000 free clinical breast exams and mammograms to uninsured women in the past 12 months. Last flu season, 500 people received free flu shots; the Foundation’s goal this season is 750. It is launching its Jump Start for Health diabetes prevention program aimed at pre-diabetics presenting at UCSD emergency department. Medical students and new residents at UC San Diego School of Medicine receive support from the SDCMS Foundation through small scholarships and trips to Sacramento for advocacy training. 360 private practice physicians received technical assistance to adopt EHRs and achieve Meaningful Use Stage 1. Retired physicians continue to earn CEUs and maintain professional relationships through its Retired Physicians Society. Newly discharged military needing assistance to navigate the healthcare system are paired with retired physicians through its Physician Advocates for Veterans (PAVE) program. We Are Looking for Two Physicians to Fill Vacancies on the Health Services Advisory Board: SDCMS and the County of San Diego are looking for two physicians to fill upcoming vacancies in Districts 1 and 4 of one of the most important advisory boards to the county government, the Health Services Advisory Board. Click here for details. If interested, contact Tom Gehring at (619) 206-8282 or at Gehring@SDCMS.org. Anthem Blue Cross Contracted Provider Information Exchange Seminar on Nov. 13, 8:30am–12:00pm: Providing updates on BlueCard, Interactive Care Reviewer, Medicare Advantage, Provider Access, Provider Claim Escalation Process, Provider Dispute Resolution Process, Secure Messaging, the Availity Web Portal, and more. Click here for details. Click here to register. Family Medicine / General Internal Medicine Physicians Needed to serve as role models and teachers to UCSD first- and second-year medical students in their Ambulatory Care Apprenticeship Program. Click Here for Details UCSD PACE Program Is Recruiting Practicing Physicians Above Age 50 for a PACE Aging Physician Assessment (PAPA) Pilot Study: Anyone interested in participating should click here, complete the form, and return it to pdreid@ucsd.edu; for any questions, contact Patricia Reid, MPH, at (619) 471-0569. David E.J. Bazzo, MD, Director, PACE Fitness for Duty Program, is heading this effort. Compensation for your time is offered. Spread the Message of Health! The SDCMS Foundation is partnering with the County of San Diego to educate community members on how to improve their lives and take charge of their health by launching a Live Well Physicians’ Speakers Bureau. Will you make brief presentations at your neighborhood school, community center, or place of worship? Your voice is important as we collectively work together — “Physicians United for a Healthy San Diego.” Contact Barbara.Mandel@SDCMS.org to say YES, you will volunteer just one or two times a year, quarterly, or however your schedule allows. Fallbrook Hospital to Go Outpatient Only: Click Here TOP “For want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for want of a Horse the Rider was lost; being overtaken and slain by the Enemy, all for want of Care about a Horse-shoe Nail.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) Comments are closed.