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1. CMS Says Hospitals Can Pay for On-site CME Programs for Physicians
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that it will allow hospitals to pay for onsite CME for its medical staff physicians. This is an important and long-awaited interpretation of CMS’s physician self-referral anti-kickback rules, which until now appeared to prohibit hospitals from paying for any CME on behalf of physicians, because such payments might be considered compensation for patient referrals.
“Traditional on-site hospital grand rounds and other similar in-house education programs provided by hospitals are important and convenient ways for physicians to earn CME credit and for hospitals to ensure high quality patient care,” wrote CMS administrator Mark McClellan, M.D., in a letter to AMA. “We do not believe that such programs…necessarily constitute remuneration to the physicians that attend them.”
CMS will, however, continue to prohibit hospital payment for physicians’ off-site CME programs.
Click here for more information.
Contact: CMA’s legal information line, 415/882-5144 or legalinfo@cmanet.org.
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2. Physicians Urged to Defer Meningitis Vaccine
for Some Patients Until Supply Improves
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization urged that 11- and 12-year-olds, high school freshmen, and dorm-dwelling college students be vaccinated against meningitis. CDC’s three-year goal is to have a new meningitis vaccine routinely administered at the same time as the measles-mumps-rubella shot for 12-year-olds.
However, an exceptionally high demand for the vaccine has prompted CDC to recommend that physicians defer vaccination of 11- and 12-year-olds until the supply improves, but to continue to vaccinate high school freshmen and dorm-dwelling college students. Other persons at high risk for meningococcal disease, including military recruits and travelers to areas in which meningococcal disease is prevalent, should also be vaccinated.
Physicians should keep track of the 11- and 12-year-olds whose vaccination is deferred so they can be vaccinated as soon as the supply improves.
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Contact: Robin Flagg, 415/882-5110 or rflagg@cmanet.org.
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3. CMA Seeks Historic Health Care Photographs
CMA is producing a commemorative 150th anniversary book that will be distributed to all members this fall. Physicians are invited to submit photographs that illustrate the theme, “150 years of helping physicians help patients.” If your photograph is selected for publication, you will receive a photo credit and five copies of the commemorative book. Photographs not selected for publication will be posted at CMA’s 150th-anniversary website, http://www.cmanet.org/150.
Please e-mail high-resolution scans to kgallia@cmanet.org or send prints to CMA’s Center for Communication at 1201 J Street, Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 94814.
Photographs will be treated with care and returned to their owners after they are scanned.
Click here for more information.
Contact: Katherine Gallia, 916/551-2074 or kgallia@cmanet.org.
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4. Get 40% Off Palm Z22 PDA with Epocrates; Offer Good While Supplies Last!
CMA and the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) have collaborated to put easy-to-use technology and valuable information about drug formularies—including Medicare Part D—literally in the palm of physicians’ hands.
For a bundled price of $99, physicians can purchase a Palm Z22 handheld computer and the Epocrates Rx Pro premium software. That’s nearly 40 percent off the regular price. This offer, available to physicians and other clinicians, is only good while supplies last.
With the launch of Medicare Part D in January, Medicare recipients in California now can choose from 48 health plans. The multiple formularies complicate the prescribing challenges facing physicians. These tools will help physicians manage the volume of information needed to pick the correct medicines and provide high-quality care for their patients, especially those with chronic conditions who require multiple medications. Epocrates-enabled handheld computers allow a physician in an exam room to identify which medicines are in which formularies, check for drug interactions, and find drug alternatives.
Already have a handheld computer? Access the Part D formularies free through Epocrates’ online and handheld drug reference guides. And don’t forget that CMA members receive 30 percent off one-year subscriptions and 35 percent off two-year subscriptions to any Epocrates product. Students and residents receive 50 percent off all Epocrates products.
Click here for more information.
Contact: CMA’s member help line, 888/233-2937.
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5. IMQ Announces 2006 Samuel R. Sherman CME Provider Awards
CMA’s Institute for Medical Quality announced the winners of the 2006 Samuel R. Sherman Awards at its annual CME provider conference May 6-7 in Los Angeles. The Sherman Awards honor outstanding achievement in continuing medical education.
St. Joseph Hospital of Orange received a Sherman Award for “Linkage Between Performance Improvement and CME” for designing, implementing, and reinforcing ways to improve compliance in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. The two-year initiative significantly improved inpatient outcomes.
Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles’s Center for Medical Education received a Sherman for “Innovation in Program Planning” for its interactive quality improvement workshop. The program brought together physicians, CME program chairs, and quality improvement delegates to plan CME programs designed to improve a number of clinical performance indicators. Follow-up studies found that patient care outcomes improved as a result of these CME activities.
Also receiving “Innovation in Program Planning” awards were Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, for its obesity symposium, and Northern Sierra Rural Health Network in Nevada City, for its innovative initiative to bring CME to rural physicians using videoconferencing and handheld computers. The award for “Outstanding CME Coordinator” went to Christine Edwards, Ph.D., director of education at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach.
Click here for more information.
Contact: Sarah Shimer, 415/882-5182 or sshimer@imq.org.
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6. New at California Physician: CMA Cardiologist Uses RICO Settlement Dispute Process, Scores Millions of Dollars for Physicians Nationwide
In a major victory for physicians, a Santa Rosa cardiologist and his staff took a health plan to task for RICO settlement noncompliance and achieved a win for Aetna-contracted physicians nationwide.
Click here to read the full story.
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7.
 150th Anniversary Trivia: Did You Know?
Did you know that on December 18, 1938, the CMA House of Delegates voted 114 to 12 to create a prepaid health care service plan called California Physicians’ Service? In its first year of operation CPS—later known as Blue Shield—had 5,000 physicians serving 20,000 California patients.
CMA is celebrating its 150th birthday! Visit http://www.cmanet.org/150 for other interesting information about CMA history.
Contact: Karen Nikos, 916/444-5532 or knikos@cmanet.org.
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8. Member Benefit of the Week: Financial Planning Services
CMA members get $500 off Mercer Advisors' “Economic Freedom Program,” a comprehensive program that includes financial planning, investment management, and retirement and estate planning.
Mercer Advisors manages over $3 billion in assets, most of it for health care practitioners like you. Because Mercer is fee-based rather than commission-based, you can rest assured that Mercer’s financial experts have your best interests at heart.
Members also receive complimentary one-hour consultations. To schedule a consultation, call 800/898-4642.
Click here for more information about the benefits and discounts available to CMA members.
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No. 2053 
