|
September 18, 2009
MAFP E-BULLETIN,
September, 2009, VOL.3, NO.9
In this issue:
Do You Have
Political Insurance?
Register Now for
H1N1 Vaccine and Supplies
Exposure Prophylaxis
Regimen for Rabies
MAFP Partners with
TransforMED
MAFP Members Save on
"Prescribers Letter"
Graham Center
One-Pager
Watch for Member
Survey Next Month
Do
You Have Political Insurance?
Friends, colleagues, supporters of
Family Medicine: The first eight months of the year are over,
and the summer noise from both ends of the political spectrum
has quieted down. Congress is back in session and now the Health
Reform game really begins.
We now face the actual "sausage-stuffing" phase of the
legislative process. New bills will be written, language
approved or deleted and, to paraphrase AAFP Past President and
FamMedPAC President Dr. Michael Fleming, if we family doctors
are not at the table, we WILL be on the menu…
You purchase a car and homeowner’s insurance. You have Business
Overhead, Medical Liability insurance... but do you have
POLITICAL INSURANCE? Family Physicians MUST be able to access
Senators Mikulski, Thomas Harkin, Michael Enzi, as well as
Senators Baucus and Dodd, as well as other members of the
critical committees as the Senate has not yet finalized
anything. We still have a little time while the “gang of six”
hammers out a deal.
In the House we again need access to Rep. Charlie Rangel in Ways
and Means, as well as Rep. Henry Waxman (Energy) and Rep. Miller
(Labor) from California, as it is likely that H.R. 3200 will be
radically changed after the recent Summer Town Hall fiascos.
The FamMedPAC has given our AAFP leaders access to these
legislators this year BUT WHERE IS MARYLAND?? The PAC has a goal
of 1 Million dollars for the 2009-2010 election cycle. 1 Million
dollars ~ and Maryland? LESS THAN 4% of our active members have
contributed!! Less then $ 5,000--
Total contribution: $4,705; Number of donors: 28; Average
contribution: $200; Chapter participation: 3.94%... Pitiful!
If things do not turn out the way we want politically we can
only look in the mirror, look at ourselves, for the reason. I
urge each of you to follow this link:
www.aafp.org, go to the bottom right of the page, click on
FamMedPAC, click on Donate Now (members only) ONLY AAFP members
can contribute to this PAC. Complete the form to spend the most
important $500 dollars you will spend this year. If strapped for
cash, you could spend $365 and simply join “Club George.” Do it
TODAY. No, do it NOW!
The stakes are too high. No matter where you are on the spectrum
of political opinions we need access to the Congress people who
hold our professional future in their hands. If we are not able
to get to the players, Family Medicine runs the risk of being
frozen out. Remember the FamMedPAC is the ONLY PAC 100%
dedicated to Family Medicine issues.
Contact the Maryland Academy (info@mdafp.org; 410-747-1980) or
me
(josephzebley@mac.com; 410-804-0020 (cell) if you have
questions about FamMedPAC.
Jos Zebley MD
Immediate Past President, MAFP
Addendum: We thank Dr. Zebley for
his PAC donation request. He is FamMedPAC coordinator for
Maryland. As the Senate and the House begin to craft the
language of the final bills, it is imperative that our AAFP
leadership, Drs. Ted Epperly, Lori Heim and the individual we
elect in Boston next month as our new President-elect, continue
to have the access that the FamMedPAC has afforded us this year.
Please respond generously and get your POLITICAL INSURANCE right
now. We would greatly appreciate a contribution of $500 for this
election cycle 2009-2010. If you cannot muster that amount, at
least join “Club George” for just ONE DOLLAR A DAY.
Go to
www.aafp.org/online/en/home/policy/fammedpac.html.
RETURN TO TOP
Register Now for H1N1 Vaccine and Supplies
The
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recommends that
interested vaccine providers sign up to receive H1N1 influenza
vaccine. Pre-registration with DHMH is the only way to receive
H1N1 vaccine. The federal government is purchasing H1N1 vaccine
so it will be provided and shipped to pre-registered sites
without charge. Sites that may seek to pre-register include
private MD offices, outpatient clinics, hospitals, student
health, and workplaces. Only one representative from each site
needs to pre-register. Sites that express interest are not
committing, however they will receive periodic updates and
vaccine planning information. The tentative date for vaccine
distribution is mid-October. Visit the
DHMH site to pre-register for H1N1 vaccine.
RETURN TO TOP
Exposure Prophylaxis Regimen for Rabies
Following
provisional recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP) on July 10, 2009, the Maryland
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) recommends that
effective immediately, the rabies post-exposure prophylaxis
(PEP) protocol for healthy, non-immunosuppressed persons, not
previously immunized for rabies, include only four doses of
vaccine given on days 0, 3, 7, and 14, rather than the
previously recommended five doses of vaccine. For
immunocompromised patients, five doses of vaccine should still
be given as previously recommended. The recommendation for the
administration of human rabies immune globulin (HRIG) remains
unchanged.
For more
detailed information, including the ACIP provisional
recommendations and for the latest updates regarding rabies
treatment guidance, please visit the CDC's rabies website at
www.cdc.gov/rabies. To learn more about rabies in Maryland,
including surveillance statistics and efforts to prevent and
control the disease, please visit the
DHMH website. If you have any questions about these
recommendations, please contact the Center for Zoonotic and
Vector-borne Diseases at 410-767-5649 or by email at
czvbd@dhmh.state.md.us. MC News 8/31/09
RETURN TO TOP
MAFP Partners with
TransforMED
|
MAFP has established several
partnerships with commercial entities to assist members
achieve their professional goals, as well as to benefit
the |
 |
organization. The MAFP Board of Directors is pleased to announce
its latest commercial partner; this one within the AAFP
family!
TransforMED offers targeted transformative services for practice
improvement. Targeted transformation focuses on specific areas
that need work, such as leadership development, team work or
practice management. The program sets achievable goals in
shorter time frames than Full Transformation. Targeted
transformation is a great way to solve a specific problem in
your practice, leap over a stumbling block or explore your
practice's potential for a more complete transformation. The
duration of the program is generally three months to one year.
Outcomes sought are improved clinical quality, financial
performance, provider satisfaction and patient engagement. Focus
areas are Medical Home Baseline Assessment, Open Access
Implementation, Effective Leadership Skills, Teamwork
Development, Change Management Essentials, Patient Satisfaction
Benchmarks, Revenue Cycle Management Optimization, Employee
Satisfaction and Technology Assessment. For additional
information, answers to questions and to sign up, go to
ww.TransforMED.com or call toll-free 866-826-8700.
Also, new from TransforMED, is the official launching of
Delta-Exchange, its new online, collaborative medical home
network. See the
August 11 article in AAFP News Now announcing the launch to
members.
A complete list of MAFP's commercial partners with descriptions
and links to informational websites is available at
www.mdafp.org.
RETURN TO TOP
MAFP Members Save on
"Prescribers Letter"
You can
still get Prescriber’s Letter at $44 off the regular
rate…it’s another special benefit you get as an MAFP member.
Appropriate prescribing can be hard to do. It takes time to sift
through the current literature and wade through materials from
pharmaceutical companies. It takes extra effort to stay on top
of all the changes, new drugs and latest treatment guidelines.
You can save hours of time each month, and keep up with the
newest recommendations by subscribing to Prescriber’s Letter.
Prescriber’s Letter anticipates your questions and gives
you succinct bottom-line recommendations that save you time,
enhance patient care and help you earn kudos.
We trust Prescriber’s Letter to give you unbiased,
concise recommendations. Many of your colleagues are already
subscribing to Prescriber’s Letter to stay on the cutting
edge of drug therapy.
And you know the info and advice you get is 100% trustworthy.
The Letter never accepts any advertising or support...the
editors are not even allowed to own stock in any pharmaceutical
company.
Start your subscription to Prescriber’s Letter at $44 off
the regular rate now at
www.PrescribersLetter.com/MAFP or by calling Prescriber’s
Letter at (209) 472-2240 or (800) 995-8712. Just tell them
you’d like to take advantage of your special MAFP member price.
RETURN TO TOP
Graham Center One-Pager
The Graham
Center is pleased to share with you One-Pager #59, Decreasing
Self-Perceived Health Status Despite Rising Health Expenditures,
published September 1, 2009 in American Family Physician. It
states: Despite steady increases in U.S. health care spending,
the population's self-perceived health status has been in a
long-term decline. Increased support for public health,
prevention and primary care could reduce growth in spending and
improve actual and perceived health.
Click here to view the entire document online.
RETURN TO TOP
Watch for Member Survey Next
Month
In the
Fall of 2005, MAFP conducted a survey of its Active members
which focused exclusively on practice income issues. The results
led to an aggressive action plan which included short-term and
long-term initiatives. In addition to internal initiatives, the
survey results were instrumental in the development of a
subsequent physician workforce study, the recommendations from
which were submitted a few months back to the Governor's
physician workforce taskforce.
Your opinions matter! As it has been some time since the MAFP
leadership has taken the pulse of the membership on other
aspects of MAFP's products/services and of their opinions about
the MAFP, we alert you to an electronic survey with the link
being provided in the October edition of the MAFP E-Bulletin.
The survey form will also be accessible via
www.mdafp.org. The compiled results will determine MAFP's
course on various levels of members services for the remainder
of this and into the next decade. We thank you in advance for
your participation and will report to you the survey results.
RETURN TO TOP
---------------------------------
MAFP or MAFP Foundation
5710 Executive Drive, Suite 104
Baltimore, MD 21228
Phone:
(410) 747-1980 - Fax: (410) 744-6059
E-Mail:
info@mdafp.org
|
