February 12, 2007

Editor's Column: No Cornerstone; Just An Endpoint
Medicare Rate Fight - Round Two
No Smoking In Michigan? This Could Be The Year
Thinking About Retirement?
Celebrating America's Women Physicians
Support GME Funding; Meet With Lawmakers
MSMS Accepting BOM Nominations

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Editor's Column:
No Cornerstone; Just An Endpoint

By JOSEPH WEISS, MD
Michael Leavitt, Secretary of the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), flew from Washington, DC to give Michigan physicians the message on the government’s “four cornerstones” of health reform: Connection, Quality, Price, and Incentives. He addressed the medical community warmly and politely, but his message focused on reform, that is what we were not doing to deliver health care correctly.

With good reason, his message fell further from his audience as he presented each of his four cornerstones:

Failure of Connectivity: We need not be told that our efforts to introduce technology are stymied by a fatal flaw. We know that connectivity between our office and the physician office next door does not exist. The fault is Leavitt’s not ours. To date, the government has allotted paltry dollars and attention to the need to set standards of conductivity. Mr. Leavitt should not berate physicians for acting willy-nilly when the inertia of government is to blame.

Failure to Measure Outcomes: The word “outcome” comes easily to Mr. Leavitt’s lips. He has no idea how difficult an outcome is to define, identify or measure. He also advocates “benchmarks of quality care.” He doesn’t know that the medical community is already attaining benchmarks where they exist.

Failure to Publicize Price: We are already publicly stating, not just charges, but fees received. He should look on the Web site at the Genesys Health System home page. Clearly stated are the actual reimbursements that its physicians and hospitals receive from Medicare for services rendered.

Failure to Create Positive Incentives: Yet another area where physicians are far ahead of the pay-for-performance concepts of the government. For example, see the incentives available to physicians in the BCBS Physician Organization Gain-Sharing Program(POGS)

Mr. Leavitt’s talk on cornerstones is pointless. It is our critics who lag behind: they fail to recognize that we have initiated progress and implemented reform.

Medicare Rate Fight - Round Two

IThe AMA expressed deep disappointment over President Bush’s proposed budget for 2008, which does not address the Medicare physician payment problem and cuts funding to cover uninsured patients. Bush submitted the $2.9 trillion budget to Congress on Feb. 5.

Physicians nationwide face a Medicare payment cut of 10 percent in 2008. AMA Board Chair Cecil Wilson, MD, said with this budget, the Bush administration has “ignored an opportunity to right the wrongs in the current Medicare physician payment system by failing to call on Congress to stop the cuts and provide payments in line with practice costs.”

The president’s budget proposal also slashes funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program despite the fact that nearly nine million children lack health insurance, seven million of whom are eligible for enrollment in government health care programs.

“This proposal ties states’ hands by narrowly focusing the program as they work on innovative ways to provide health care coverage for more of the uninsured,” Dr. Wilson said.

Visit http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/17274.html to read Dr. Wilson’s full statement.

No Smoking In Michigan? This Could Be The Year

By PAUL NATINSKY
In her State of the State Address Gov. Jennifer Granholm named eliminating smoking in bars and restaurants as one of her public health goals for the year.

If she is successful, Michigan will join a growing number of states including New York in banning the fumigation of diners and imbibers. Twenty-three percent of Michigan residents smoke and the state is routinely near the top of the national rankings in negative health indicators such as obesity and incidence of chronic disease.

As AMA President-Elect Ron Davis, MD, recently said, if they can ban smoking in pubs in the Republic of Ireland, we can do it in Michigan.

It appears momentum is building in other states. According to the AMA:

Efforts to prohibit smoking in public places throughout Minnesota are moving along, with a state Senate committee approving anti-smoking legislation Feb. 5 and a state House committee passing it last month.

Committee passage comes on the heels of a Jan. 30 rally, sponsored by the Minnesota Medical Association, at the state Capitol that drew more than 750 people in support of the legislation. Known as the Freedom to Breathe Act, the bill would ban smoking in all public places, including bars, restaurants and private clubs. View http://www.mnmed.org to read more about the proposed smoking ban.

Mississippi lawmakers are considering an increase in the state’s tax on cigarettes, which is the third-lowest cigarette tax in the nation. Nearly one-quarter of Mississippi adults smoke, and more than 6,000 children become new smokers each year.

Studies show that for every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes, there is an estimated 7 percent decrease in youth smokers and 4 percent decrease in adult smokers.

Thinking About Retirement?

Thinking about Retirement? Don’t Miss this Great Planning Opportunity

If you’re thinking about retiring – or if you are retired already – then you won’t want to miss the MSMS Symposium on Retirement Planning, scheduled for Wednesday, March 21, at the Radisson Hotel in Lansing. The program will be held from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., with a 4:30 p.m. registration.

Developed for physicians, office managers and spouses who are beginning to plan for retirement, are in the process of retiring, or have recently retired, this four-hour dinner program will provide the tools and resources needed to make a smooth transition into retirement. Experts from related fields will provide a wide range of practical information designed to help attendees navigate through the personal, professional and financial aspects of retirement. The program will include presentations on the following topics:

· Planning for Retirement – Sandy Lutkenhoff, SmithBarney Citigroup

· The Legal Implications of Practicing After Retirement – Daniel J. Schulte, JD, Kerr, Russell and Weber, PLC

· Closing Your Practice – Julia Lowe, CPC, Director of the Health Care Services Division, Yeo & Yeo CPAs and Business Consultants

· Continuing Insurance Benefits into Retirement – MSMS Physicians Insurance Agency

· Your Retirement Readiness: The Emotional Preparations – Sally Pitt-VanBuren, New Directions Coaching & Marie T. Stoline, RN, CM-C, Gerontology Nursing Services

Fees are $110 for MSMS & MMGMA members, $150 for non-members, and $60 for spouses or office managers attending with a physician. To register, visit www.msms.org/events or contact the MSMS Registrar at 517-336-5784 or abatten@msms.org.

Celebrating America's Women Physicians

Changing the Face of Medicine
Celebrating America's Women Physicians
Exhibit at the Main Library, 5201 Woodward Ave. Hours: Tuesday & Wednesday, Noon-8 p.m. and Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.. To schedule tours, please contact: Mary Kordyban, Assistant Manager, Business, Science & Technology Department (313) 833-1450 or (313) 833-1420. The activities listed below are open to the public and free of charge. Pre-registration is required for the March 24 event.

Book Talk: Letters to My Sisters: Plain Truths and Straightforward Advice from a Gynecologist
Ngozi Osuagwu, MD, FACOG

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, NOON
Skillman Branch Library
121 Gratiot at Library

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 6 P.M.
Hubbard Branch Library
12929 W. McNichols

A Fireside Chat with Local Women Physicians

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 6-8 P.M.
Main Library - Old Browsing
Hear local women doctors discuss their careers and how women have changed the face of medicine.

Girl Talk Luncheon: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Medical School and Being a Physician
SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 11 A.M.-2:30 P.M.
Main Library - Explorers Room

Support GME Funding; Meet With Lawmakers

Now that the state legislature has begun its new session, it is time to get to know new legislators and ramp up our efforts to drive the 2007 MSMS Legislative Agenda ( www.msms.org/legagenda ). Here are three opportunities to do so:

--Graduate Medical Education (GME) Advocacy Day: Wednesday, February 21, beginning at 8:30 a.m., at the MHA Capitol Advocacy Center in downtown Lansing The Partnership for Michigan's Health--MSMS, the Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA), and the Michigan Osteopathic Association--will sponsor this event, which is designed to urge lawmakers preserve access to care by protecting GME funding in the state's health care budget. For more information or to register, visit www.msms.org/advocacy. Or contact Rebecca Blake at MSMS (517) 336-5729 or rblake@msms.org.

--New Lawmaker Reception: Wednesday, February 28, 5-7 p.m., at MSMS headquarters in East Lansing MSMS and nearly 20 specialty societies invite physicians, their spouses, and medical group managers to this event to build early relationships with members of the Michigan Legislature and to make MSMS available as a resource to new lawmakers as they begin their first legislative session. For more information about the reception, visit www.msms.org. To RSVP, contact Anne Lavender at (517) 336-5736 or alavender@msms.org.

--"Doctor of the Day" program: can be scheduled on any legislative session day (Tuesday-Thursday) MSMS and the Michigan Doctors' Political Action Committee encourage physicians, their spouses, medical students, and medical group managers to sign up for a "Doctor of the Day" visit, which fosters direct advocacy and relationship building with their own lawmakers. For more information, visit www.msms.org/advocacy. To schedule a convenient date, contact Joshua Richmond at (517) 336-5788 or jrichmond@msms.org.

MSMS Accepting BOM Nominations

The MSMS Committee on Licensure & Discipline has begun the process of soliciting candidates who wish to receive the recommendation of MSMS for appointment to the Michigan Board of Medicine. On Dec. 31, 2007, the terms of five Board of Medicine members will expire. Of those five, four are eligible to be reappointed to a second four-year term. One position will be vacant and require an appointment by the governor. The Committee considers many key factors (peer review experience, board certification, and involvement in organized medicine) when selectin g a candidate it believes to be qualified to serve in this capacity. The Committee will begin accepting candidates this month and will continue to do so through the end of April so that the recommendations may be brought to the July MSMS Board of Directors meeting for final approval.

For more information or to obtain a nomination application, visit www.msms.org/advocacy. Or contact Colin Ford at MSMS at (517) 336-5737 or cford@msms.org.

This publication brought to you by Natinsky Publishing Network.

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