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1. CMA to Kick Off 150th Anniversary Celebration at Site
of Association’s First Meeting in Old Town Sacramento
CMA was founded in 1856 by a modest group of 100 physicians who gathered in Sacramento’s Pioneer Hall on J Street. Delegates then were concerned with “mutual improvement, a study of the state’s growing health problems and what to do about ‘that everlasting parasite of medicine, quackery.”
Today, 150 years later, we are 35,000 physicians strong and growing. Although we’ve seen a lot of changes in patient care, that basic goal is still thriving today. “Physicians dedicated to the health of Californians.” It’s the slogan on our letterhead and it sums up CMA’s role in the history, the present, and the future of California.
CMA next week will kick off a year long 150th anniversary celebration, with a press conference and historical presentation at the site of the association’s first meeting in what is now Old Town Sacramento. Following the press conference, CMA will host a luncheon at its downtown Sacramento headquarters.
Past and present CMA officers will attend, as will a number of legislators, public health officials, health care VIPs, and CMA and county medical society staff.
Click here for more information.
Contact: CMA Communications, 916/551-2864 or mgrant@cmanet.org.
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1. CMA Sponsors Bill to Eliminate Physician Participation in Executions
Reacting to an attempt by state officials to have physicians take an active role in executing a prisoner at San Quentin State Prison, CMA announced this week that it is sponsoring a bill that would eliminate physician involvement in all future executions.
“Physicians should be treating people’s illnesses, not participating in their execution,” said CMA CEO Jack Lewin, M.D. “Participation in an execution goes against long-standing principles of professional ethics and is a violation of the Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm.”
CMA has a long history of opposing physician participation in executions. That opposition was rekindled this past week as physicians from around the state phoned and e-mailed CMA offices to express their distress and concern because the state had hired two anesthesiologists to participate in the execution of Michael Morales.
In 2001, CMA sponsored a bill that prevented physicians from being compelled to participate in an execution. The bill protected physicians employed by the state Department of Corrections from being forced to violate medical ethics and professional standards.
The latest bill would go further and bar the state from having a physician participate in any way. Under the proposed legislation, participation would include rendering technical advice regarding the execution; prescribing, administering, or supervising the use of any drug that is part of the execution procedure; monitoring vital signs on site or remotely; attending an execution as a physician; or determining the moment of death.
In the Morales case, a federal judge ordered San Quentin officials to ensure Morales would not suffer undue pain during his execution, either by administering fatal levels of sedatives exclusively or having an anesthesiologist present to ensure that Morales would be unconscious before they deliver the standard mix of sedatives, paralytic agents, and heart-stopping chemicals.
Although two anesthesiologists had initially agreed to participate by verifying that the execution was painless, those physicians withdrew before the morning execution could take place, deciding that their involvement would be “ethically unacceptable.”
Click here for more information. Contact: CMA Media Relations, 916/444-5532 or pwarren@cmanet.org. BACK TO TOP
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2. CDC Advisory Panel Recommends Flu Shots for Children Under 5
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s immunization advisory committee Wednesday recommended that all children under 5 and over 6 months be vaccinated against influenza. The committee voted unanimously to support changing current vaccination guidelines, which call for annual flu shots for children 6 to 24 months old.
Influenza killed 153 children in the 2003-2004 flu season—more U.S. children than chicken pox, whooping cough, and measles combined—according to the CDC. Nearly two-thirds of those who died were under age 5, and half were previously healthy. Forty-three percent had asthma.
The CDC panel also recommended new strategies to increase flu vaccine rates among health care personnel. Currently, only 40 percent of health care workers get a flu shot.
The new recommendations include strategies to make vaccine more accessible to health care workers and to help better determine the reasons health care personnel have for not getting vaccinated.
The panel recommends that health care facilities: offer influenza vaccine annually to all eligible personnel, including students; administer vaccine at the workplace, during all shifts, and at no cost to employees; use proven strategies to improve vaccination coverage, including education to combat fears and misconceptions about influenza and influenza vaccines; and keep records of staff members that decline vaccination for nonmedical reasons and use the data to develop facility-specific strategies to improve vaccination rates.
Physicians should also be aware that effective July 1, it will be against California law to administer mercury-containing vaccines—including inactivated influenza vaccine from multidose vials—to pregnant women and children younger than 3 years old. Next flu season, only doses of influenza vaccine from single-dose syringes or vials with trace levels or no mercury may be given to these groups.
Click here for more information. Contact: Robin Flagg, 415/882-5110 or rflagg@cmanet.org. BACK TO TOP
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3. CMA Coalition Stops 5 Percent Medi-Cal Rate Cut
The governor Friday signed a CMA-sponsored bill (SB 912) that eliminates the 5 percent Medi-Cal rate cut that took effect January 1.
The cut—the result of a law signed in 2003 by Governor Davis—was scheduled to start January 1, 2004, and sunset January 1, 2007. CMA in 2003 won a federal court injunction blocking the 5 percent cut, arguing that it would harm patients and significantly reduce access to care. Unfortunately, that injunction was overturned in August 2005, opening the door for the state to implement the cut—which it did on January 1, 2006.
CMA and a broad coalition of patient and provider organizations immediately sought emergency legislation to stop the cut and protect access to care for the 3 million poor, children, elderly, and disabled who rely on Medi-Cal for their health care. The bill passed unanimously in both houses of the legislature, and was signed by the governor within 24 hours.
“CMA is pleased that the governor and the Legislature acted so quickly,” says CMA CEO Jack Lewin, M.D. “CMA appreciates that the governor recognizes that cutting Medi-Cal reimbursements is the wrong way to try to control costs in the Medi-Cal program.”
Even without the cut, Medi-Cal rates have not kept pace with inflation, and per-patient Medicaid spending by California ranks last among the 50 states. Low Medi-Cal rates already have forced many physicians to stop seeing new Medi-Cal patients or to leave the program completely. More than 60 percent of Medi-Cal recipients report difficulty finding a physician. Many Medi-Cal patients are forced to forgo care or use hospital emergency departments as their primary health care provider, thereby lengthening waits, increasing costs, and decreasing quality of care for everyone.
CMA is committed to working with the governor, the legislature, and other advocacy groups on Medi-Cal reforms that will improve program efficiencies and control costs, while maintaining access, continuity, and quality of care for Medi-Cal patients.
Click here for more information. Contact: Lisa Folberg, 916/444-5532 or lfolberg@cmanet.org. BACK TO TOP
4. Physicians Have Until March 31 to Change Medicare Participation Status
Recognizing that some physicians may have made decisions regarding their Medicare participation status during the fall enrollment period based upon the 4.4 percent physician payment cut, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering a second 2006 participation enrollment period. This second enrollment period will allow physicians to reconsider their decisions in light of the revised 2006 fee schedule, which rolls back the conversion factor to the higher 2005 level.
Physicians have until March 31 to make any changes to their Medicare participation status. Changes made during this new enrollment period will be retroactive to January 1.
Click here for more information. Contact: CMA’s reimbursement help line, 888/401-5911 or fnavarro@cmanet.org. BACK TO TOP
5. Early Bird Deadline for San Francisco EMR Conference Is March 6
CMA is cosponsoring the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s electronic medical records conference, “Physicians Adopting Computer Technology.” The one-day program is March 25 at the San Francisco Airport Marriot.
Register by March 6 and receive $50 off the registration fee. CMA members pay $139, nonmembers $169. (After March 6, members pay $189, nonmembers $219.)
Attendees will receive step-by-step guidance on selecting and implementing electronic medical records (EMR). Presented by physicians who have been through the process, the conference will explore:
- Choosing the best system for your practice size, budget, and specialty
- Converting successfully from paper to electronic records
- Avoiding common mistakes
- Helping colleagues and staff who aren’t computer savvy
- Ensuring system integrates well with hospitals, pharmacies, and other practices
- Avoiding legal problems and ensuring confidentiality
The conference also includes product exhibits and demonstrations of today’s top EMR products.
Participants can earn up to 7 hours of Category 1 CME credit. Click here for more information. BACK TO TOP
6. Registration Now Open for IMQ’s 2006
PreCALS
Conference, April 6-7 in Garden Grove
Medical staff teams are encouraged to attend the Institute for Medical Quality’s PreCALS conference, April 6-7 at the Crowne Plaza Anaheim Resort in Garden Grove. The PreCALS program is a comprehensive introduction to California’s tripartite hospital accreditation and licensure survey process.
Attendees will learn about:
- The new unannounced consolidated JCAHO/IMQ/DHS survey process, with a focus on the systemic survey approach
- Patient and system tracer methodology, including JCAHO’s National Patient Safety Goals
- JCAHO’s 2006 standards, including those related to performance improvement, peer review, and credentialing
- Current Title 22 survey issues
- Ideas and suggestions for achieving continuous survey readiness
The program is of value to all medical staff leaders preparing for the integrated unannounced survey in 2006. Medical staff teams (chiefs of staff, committee chairs, quality-management personnel, and medical staff directors and coordinators) are encouraged to attend.
Click here for more information. Contact: Leslie Anne Iacopi, 415/882-5167 or liacopi@imq.org. BACK TO TOP
7. Save the Date:
AMA’s Medical Communications Conference Is April 6-8 in Phoenix
AMA’s 26th Annual Communications and Health Reporting Conference will take place April 6-8 at the Hyatt Regeny in Phoenix. The conference will help physicians and health care communicators better understand how the media work and how to work with them to best communicate important health care messages to the public.
The keynote speakers are Soledad O’Brien, anchor of CNN’s American Morning; Andrew Weil, M.D., author and integrative medicine guru; Drew Pinsky, M.D., addictionologist and radio/TV personality; Terry Mason, M.D., Chicago public health director; and Art Ulene, M.D., a pioneer in medical broadcasting.
Attendees can receive up to 20.25 hours of Category I CME credit. Registration is $825 for AMA members (nonmembers $975).
Click here for more information.
Contact: Abigail Berg-Hammond, 312/751-0147x221 or abigailb@stewcommltd.com. BACK TO TOP
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