April 13, 2011

MAFP E-BULLETIN, April 2011, VOL.5, NO.4

CONVERSATIONS AND CONTROVERSIES IN PRIMARY CARE

2011 MAFP Annual CME Assembly Thursday-Saturday June 23-25, 2011 Clarion Fontainebleau Resort Hotel Ocean City, Maryland In addition to learning and networking in a beautiful beach location, expect… A Streamlined Format Offering Up to 19.5 CME Credits An ABFM SAM Study Hall Module on Diabetes A 2-Day Technical Trade Show SEE POSTED AT WWW.MDAFP.ORG Event Brochure Includes Schedule, Registration Options, Facility Information Program Faculty SAM Study Hall Registration Form

In this issue:

2011 MGA Health Legislative Report Just In

Practical Research to Help You Improve Patient Outcomes

MAFP Journal CME Quizzes Are Automated!

Members Will Vote in June for Officers and New Committee Structure

Foundation Relief to Japan Through AAFP Foundation

Environmental Scan and News You Can Use

2011 MGA Health Legislative Report Just In

The 428th Session of the Maryland General Assembly concluded at midnight on Monday, April 11th. With regard to health legislation, MAFP’s representatives to the MedChi Legislative Committee participated in the review and comment of 205 of health legislative proposals. Several physician-backed proposals were successful. Hence, there was significant legislation passed and it is likely that bills that were unsuccessful this year will be reconsidered in 2012. MedChi’s Agenda was successful. Two initiatives involved Electronic Health Records (EHR). The full report on significant healthcare legislation is available at http://www.medchi.org/node/701.

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Practical Research to Help You Improve Patient Outcomes

Figuring out which drug, test or surgery is best for a patient can be challenging. The Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is a leader in patient-centered outcomes research that compares the benefits and harms of treatment options. Through AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, this research can help you determine which treatment fits an individual patient’s needs and preferences. This research is now available to you through personal 30-minute visits from clinicians. We encourage each clinician in your practice to participate.

• Keep informed about clinical questions relevant to treating a variety of health conditions.

• Save time by having the latest research findings condensed and presented to you for discussion.

• Earn free CME credits.

• Get information on research that is transparent, clear and free of commercial bias and conflicts of interest.

Unbiased research based on systematic reviews of literature on topics including diabetes, mental health and heart conditions will be presented and discussed. Learn how to take advantage of this unique opportunity at www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov

SPECIAL NOTE: MAFP will offer this AHRQ research opportunity to registrants of its June Assembly. On Thursday, June 23rd , a table at the Assembly Luncheon (Clarion Hotel, Ocean City) will be marked for those wishing to participate (limited seating). Dr. Evelyn Lewis of Total Therapeutic Management, AHRQ’s representative, will be present to conduct the 30-minute research session.

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MAFP Journal CME Quizzes Are Automated!

MAFP Members, we have heard you! The MAFP Journal CME process is now automated for your convenience. The new process will better meet member needs, be more efficient and generally streamline a system which was unwieldy in its manual format. We are proud of this improvement in our chapter operations and are happy to comply with many, many member requests for an automated system. The Maryland Family Doctor publication offers an average of 8 CME credits per year, applicable to all CME credit requirements for members, non-members and other healthcare providers.

The Maryland Family Doctor publication is acceptable for Prescribed credits by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). AAFP Prescribed credit is accepted by the American Medical Association (AMA) as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 credit toward the AMA Physicians Recognition Award. Each accredited edition is approved for two years. The number of credits approved is noted on each quiz.

Now you can obtain fast, easy, free CME by reading CME articles in editions of The Maryland Family Doctor Publication and completing automated quizzes at www.mdafp.org. Simply follow the directions at the “CME Quiz” tab.
 

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Members Will Vote in June for Officers and New Committee Structure

This will serve as notice to MAFP members that the Annual Business Meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 24, 2011 in conjunction with the 2011 MAFP Annual CME Assembly at the Clarion Fontainebleau Resort Hotel in Ocean City, Maryland (see promotion above). Important matters included in the meeting agenda will be member votes on the 2011 Slate of Officer and Director Nominations, as well as draft Bylaws Changes which would further streamline MAFP’s committee structure in keeping with the 2011 Strategic Planning Report. Newly elected officers will be installed by AAFP President Dr. Glen R. Stream of Spokane, WA. Members are encouraged to review the Slate, Bylaws Changes and Strategic Planning Report in the “Current Events” section at www.mdafp.org. We hope to see you at the meeting!.
 

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Foundation Relief to Japan Through the AAFP Foundation

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Environmental Scan and News You Can Use

• Let’s Move!: Dr. Yvette Rooks, MAFP Immediate Past President and member of AAFP's Committee on Health of the Public and Science, calls on you to help gather support for the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative (addressing childhood obesity). Access the pledge page on the AAFP AIM-Hi website page at http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/clinical/publichealth/aim.html 

• B'more for Healthy Babies: B’more for Healthy Babies is the Infant Safe Sleep Provider Toolkit now live at www.HealthyBabiesBaltimore.com.  While this is a Baltimore City initiative, many of the communication messages and tools are being shared statewide. Note, in particular, the7-minute Sleep Safe video on the site.

• PACE Webinar: The Physician Asthma Care Education (PACE) initiative offers primary care providers who care for people with asthma practical communication and therapeutic techniques for asthma care. The PACE webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, from 1:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern Time. The webinar will launch the updated PACE program, now featuring the six guidelines-based priority messages from the NAEPP’s Guidelines Implementation Panel (GIP) Report. Click on the PACE webinar registration page If you have any questions regarding the upcoming PACE webinar, please contact Ms. Gillian Mayman, CMCD, at gmayman@umich.edu or Lisa A. Gilmore, AED, at lgilmore@aed.org.

• Infant Mortality Website: A website has been created to give you an opportunity for input into the Governor's Delivery Unit plan. Please visit http://dhmh.maryland.gov/babiesbornhealthy/ to review the plan and provide input via a 10 question survey. You will also been able to view important data for each jurisdiction with an interactive map application. We would appreciate it if you would share this message with friends, colleagues, co-workers, neighbors -- and especially with families and members of the community where you live or work. The survey will be open for 45 days.

• Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances and Electronic Prior Authorization: Share your thoughts through our simple surveys!
  http://surveys.himss.org/checkbox/Survey.aspx?s=35b748a4ab6b4cd4b7515ad43015cdd3. The HIMSS E-Prescribing Task Force is seeking input from physicians, clinicians, pharmacists and office staff. The task force has created two surveys in an effort to understand the current state and use of information technology for Electronic Prior Authorization (ePA) and the Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS). Each survey will take about six minutes. The survey results will help to identify how technology can be best used in a meaningful way for prescribers, pharmacists and the healthcare industry. To receive a copy of the survey summary, please provide your email address in the body of the survey (optional; the summary will be forwarded to you when it is available).
  •   Electronic Prior Authorizations (ePAs)
  •   Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS)

• Insurers Changing Prescriptions: A survey by the Global Healthy Living Foundation, www.ghlf.org, a non-profit patient advocacy group, shows that up to 70 percent of prescription medications are changed by health insurers, denying patients the drugs their doctors prescribe. The survey also found instances of patients with chronic conditions who were responding well to a particular drug, but relapsed after being switched to a cheaper drug. The foundation is conducting an additional national survey to measure the incidence of what are known as "fail-first practices" where health insurers require a patient to fail on a cheaper drug before being considered for the original drug their physician has prescribed. One surprise in the data show that some insurers require a patient to fail on a drug that is not approved by the FDA to treat the diagnosed condition before being allowed to take medication that has been FDA approved. View the survey results here.

• New medical home accreditation guidelines emphasize health IT
  Fierce Health IT, March 10, 2011
  “Four medical societies have released a new set of guidelines for organizations accrediting patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) that are more specific about health IT considerations than their original joint statement on the medical home concept, which came out in 2007. The societies that issued the guidelines are the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Osteopathic Association.”

• Better to Best: Value-Driving Elements of the Patient Centered Medical Home and Accountable Care Organizations
  To support better care while reducing or controlling costs, accountable care organizations (ACOs) and medical homes will need to emphasize ways that the healthcare community can enhance access, promote better care coordination, use health information technology better, and apply coordinated payments

• Family Docs Cautiously Optimistic About ACO Regs
  HealthLeaders Media, April 7, 2011
  “Like many other physician groups, the American Academy of Family Physicians is studying the proposed federal regulations regarding accountable care organizations. It is extremely cautious about the anti-trust aspect of the rules…
  …Roland Goertz, MD, MBA, FAAFP, president of the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians, recalls being a VP of medical affairs at an integrated system years ago and recalls when managed care was moving "full steam ahead" in the 1980s and 1990s, and "some of the factors that drove it was similar to today."

• 13 Hot ACO Buzzwords All Providers Should Know
  HealthLeaders Media, April 6, 2011
  “But just in case you missed a few spots, here's a quick-term glossary, culled from the nearly 116,000-word document , as well as the accompanying 8,700-word proposed statement on the ACO anti-trust enforcement policy from the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission”
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