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ust a quick note letting you know you have a new support message from ACP.
Governor's Newsletter - July 2017
In This Issue
Richard W. Burns, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
Governor's MessageGreetings ACP colleagues,
I hope your summer is off to a good start, at least better than the Royals or Cardinals. We may need to put off that I-70 series unless both Missouri teams can flip the switch and pile up some wins!
It was great to see many of you at Internal Medicine 2017 in San Diego. Beautiful weather and location combined with the usual all-star line-up of speakers and sessions made for an excellent CME event. The highlight? Perhaps Dr. Anthony Fauci's keynote address (‘From AIDS to Zika: The Enduring Challenge of Emerging Infectious Diseases'), which was absolutely enthralling.
On the recertification front, the ACP announced in San Diego it will be working with the ABIM on development of a society MOC pathway. This may mean an alternative to the 10 year exam and the recently announced 2-year ‘knowledge check-in’, and would be based on ACP's Medical Knowledge and Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP). ACP would attest to a member successfully completing the program, while ABIM would remain the certifier. Although lots of questions need to be worked out, this may turn out to be a great option for those that use MKSAP routinely.
On a disheartening local note, the Missouri legislature's attempt at establishing a state-wide Prescription Drug and Monitoring Program (PDMP) failed again, this time on the last day of session. The plan that got the farthest was less than ideal: overly burdensome to prescribers, and not robust enough to treat patients. Fortunately, there is a strong St. Louis County program with more counties signing on. Stay tuned for next year as this will be sure to come up again.
Physician wellness has been a hot topic recently, and our Missouri Chapter doesn't want to be left out. A big thank you to Drs. Fariha Shafi, FACP and Jennifer McBride, FACP who have volunteered to co-chair the new Wellness Committee. The goal? Assisting ACP members and practices in recognizing the problem and implementing strategies for success.
Finally, as the debate over the future of heath care rages on you'll see the ACP continue to support the Affordable Care Act (ACA), preferring to see changes made that will enhance this program rather than roll it back completely. Some basic tenets of the ACA that need protection: 1) Coverage availability through insurance exchanges, 2) Patient-centered insurance reforms, i.e. elimination of pre-existing conditions, and 3) Health system reforms, i.e. dropping prescription drug and co-pay costs. Through events such as Leadership Day in Washington D.C., the ACP is aggressively advocating that any reform to current law does no harm to patients. Now is the time to contact your U.S. Senator or Representative (a quick e-mail or phone call) and let them know where you stand; the ACP has an excellent advocacy website with all the talking points needed. For those looking for something a bit more thought-provoking, check out Bob Doherty's ACP Advocacy blog, including May's article ‘Underserving Sick.’
Thanks for your continued membership in ACP, and I hope to see you at Updates in Internal Medicine 2017 this September at Tan-Tara-A Resort!
Richard Burns, MD, FACP
Governor, ACP Missouri Chapter
Updates in Internal Medicine: September CME Meeting
Many physicians today utilize online CME. Below are thoughts from two physicians who regularly attend the Missouri Chapter CME meeting at Tan Tar A.
“Remember the impact of a great teacher in your life? Those moments stand out in comparison to the countless textbooks we have all pored over. Our September CME program brings similar value: learn something for your office practice, hospital practice, or beyond that you will actually retain!”
Richard Burns, MD, FACP; Governor; Missouri Chapter of the ACP
We have excellent speakers again this year, highlighted by Dr. Vikas Saini from the Lown Institute (The Challenge: Defining the Right Care).
“Dr. Saini is an excellent speaker. He speaks very engagingly and with a moral imperative about providing patient centered healthcare, and of systemic change in healthcare delivery.”
Fred Buckhold, MD, FACP; Program Director; SLU Internal Medicine Residency Program
For those interested in quality CME hours and significant MOC points, your Missouri Chapter of the ACP is offering 22.5 CME hours and 38.5 MOC points. Beginning Thursday, September 14, we will have two ABIM SEP modules as part of a pre-course (20 MOC points). An additional 18.5 MOC points are available by attending the remaining CME conference and answering an online quiz after the meeting. Click here for more information and be sure to save the dates September 14-17, 2017.
The meeting will include 90 resident posters and 20 student posters competing for a trip to IM18 in New Orleans. Contact Patrick Mills if you would like to judge posters at 1pm on September 16.
Students will meet with IM Residency Program Directors to learn about the application and interview process. Teams comprised of three residents from seven Internal Medicine residency programs will compete in Doctor's Dilemma with the winning team moving on to IM18.
IM17
Missouri has a new Master: Tom Olsen, MD, MACP, pictured above, was recognized in San Diego for his many contributions to Internal Medicine and ACP. Jennifer McBride, MD, FACP became a new Fellow – pictured above with Dr. Burns. Missouri also had three residents from Wash U participate in Doctor's Dilemma; three residents presenting posters; and two medical students presenting posters. The students and residents were winners from the 2016 Missouri Chapter contests. Poster presenters were: Jordan Maryfield, MD, from Wash U; Yee-Shiuan (Andy) Chen, MD, from Wash U; Aniruddh Kapoor, MD, from St Mary's; Ryan Morrow from MU SOM; and Gaurav Anand from UMKC SOM. Drs. Amit Bery, Niall Prendergast, and Jonas Noe from Wash U participated in Doctor's Dilemma.
ACP Leadership Day
Our Leadership team met with both Senators and three Representatives. Pictured above are Senator McCaskill, Senator Blunt, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, and Rep. Vicki Hartzler
Five hearty physician souls braved exorbitant hotel prices, stormy weather, hard floors, and the occasional hardened lawmaker or aide to advocate for ACP healthcare policy priorities during the ACP's annual Legislative Day. OK, I exaggerate a bit, but this is not fake news. Steve Keithahn, MD, FACP, FAAP; Fariha Shafi, MD, FACP; Fred Buckhold, MD, FACP; Rimmy Garg – SLU SOM; and Rahul Maheshwari – UMKC SOM attended advocacy training on Tuesday, May 23rd and spent Wednesday the 24th on Capitol Hill meeting with Missouri lawmakers and staff on your behalf.
ACP legislative top policy priorities (or “asks”) included abandoning the American Health Care Act (AHCA) current proposal in favor of a bipartisan process with goals to not rollback coverage or eliminate essential consumer protections; rejecting any policies that would cap, block grant, and cut Medicaid; reauthorizing and funding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and stabilizing the insurance market. Other priorities included reducing administrative tasks for physicians; passing the CHRONIC Care Act (S. 870); reworking graduate medical education funding and malpractice insurance; addressing pharmaceutical pricing; and funding primary care training, opioid addiction treatment and prevention, the NIH, and the CDC. Whew!!
We are grateful that we were able to meet personally with Sen. McCaskill and Reps. Hartzler, Luetkemeyer, and Wagner. Please thank them for their time if you see them. Senator Blunt posed for a photo with us after we met with his very capable legislative aide for healthcare affairs who had met with us last year. We also met with legislative aides for Reps. Long, Cleaver, Graves, Smith, and Clay. I'm happy to report that your team advocated with grace and skill and were met with a variety of responses as expected.
With some form of an overhaul of the ACA a top priority for the President and Congress, this is a critical time in the history of American healthcare. The ACP will be working to be at the table providing valuable input for future policies that will affect all of us as physicians and patients. It's likely that in the upcoming months we will be calling on the chapter membership (again) to contact their legislators when key issues arise. I hope all of you will consider taking a few minutes to do so.
Respectfully submitted, Steve Keithahn, MD, FACP, FAAP
MACRA & QPP 2019 Penalty Avoidance in 2017If you don't already have a plan to meet data submission standards for CMS new Quality Payment Program (QPP) visit www.acponline.org and click Practice Resources in the navigation bar. ACP has the Quality Payment Advisor program designed to ensure you don't receive a -4% penalty in 2019 for not submitting 2017 data. This penalty escalates to -9% in later years. For those in HPSAs or in practices with 15 or fewer clinicians, free assistance is available from Jennifer Wilbers at Primaris.
PDMP Finally!
The St Louis County Commission has done what the Missouri General Assembly could not do – launch a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). All the details are online and early reviews are good. In addition to being easy to use, additional counties are signing up, creating better coverage.
Opioid Resources
The Missouri Chapter of the ACP and others have sponsored an outreach video by Sam Page, MD, about the importance of a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Dr. Page is a member of the St. Louis County Commission, which has launched a PDMP that covers more than 30 counties in Missouri, more than 50% of physicians, and more than 70% of the state's population. A link to the video is on the ACP Missouri Facebook page. Additional opioid resources are available in the July issue of “Trajectories” published by MHA, online here.
StudentsMissouri Internal Medicine Interest Groups and current ACP members continue to encourage medical students in our state to pursue careers in Internal Medicine. With the financial support of the Missouri Chapter of the ACP, we anticipate that a record number of medical students from across the state will be able to attend the annual chapter meeting at Tan-Tar-A Saturday, September 16.
At the school level, Internal Medicine Interest Groups continue to host regular events relating to both primary and specialty care. Other events have focused on the practice of humanistic medicine, refining history-taking, physical examination techniques, and preparation for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 exams. Student goals for the upcoming year include increasing interest for internal medicine as a career choice, increasing overall student ACP membership, and emphasizing patient advocacy in a student capacity.
David Sanborn UMKC SOM & Stephanie Zhang SLU SOM
ResidentsThe council of residents and fellows is excited to announce that Nathan Nolan, MD, who has been involved with the ACP since medical school, will be taking over as the council chair this academic year. His devotion to the ACP will be instrumental in organizing the internal medicine residents and fellows throughout the state for patient advocacy. Currently we are working toward organizing a Spring 2018 leadership day in Jefferson City, in which residents will join medical students and practicing physicians in meeting with state politicians to advocate for healthcare policy mirroring the ACP's positions. Look for more information in the coming months regarding the date, logistics, and issues to be covered.
Scott Goldsmith, MD, Washington University
ACP Advocates for Internal Medicine NetworkNow more than ever is the time to lend your voice to the healthcare debate. Join your colleagues in ACP's Advocates for Internal Medicine Network (AIMn) in advocating for the interests of internal medicine in Washington, D.C. The AIMn program is for ACP members interested in participating in federal advocacy. It is designed to help members engage with their federal lawmakers on policy issues important to ACP and internal medicine. You will receive occasional emails with policy updates and requests to contact your senators and representatives prior to important votes. To learn more, go to www.acponline.org and click on Advocacy.
New Fellows – Last Six MonthsWelcome to our new Missouri Chapter Fellows (since January 2017)!
Walter L Bender, MD FACP
Mark S Box, MD FACP
Hiral A Choksi, MD FACP
Joe Devasahayam, MD FACP
Emily Fondahn, MD FACP
Katherine L Garland, MD FACP
Lehman W Godwin, MD FACP
Martha Jane Herring, MD FACP
Hrishikesh S Kulkarni, MD FACP
Alexandre Lacasse, MD FACP
Jennifer M McBride, MD FACP
Manav Nayyar, MD FACP
Gopichand Pendurti, MBBS FACP
Hariharan Regunath, MD FACP
Veysel Tahan, MD FACP
Marlon C Torrento, MD FACP
Sreelatha C Varma, MD FACP
Keith F Woeltje, MD FACP
Governor's Newsletter - July 2017
In This Issue
- Governor's Message
- Updates in Internal Medicine: September CME Meeting
- IM17
- ACP Leadership Day
- MACRA & QPP 2019 Penalty Avoidance in 2017
- PDMP Finally!
- Opioid Resources
- Students
- Residents
- ACP Advocates for Internal Medicine Network
- New Fellows – Last Six Months
Richard W. Burns, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
Governor's MessageGreetings ACP colleagues,
I hope your summer is off to a good start, at least better than the Royals or Cardinals. We may need to put off that I-70 series unless both Missouri teams can flip the switch and pile up some wins!
It was great to see many of you at Internal Medicine 2017 in San Diego. Beautiful weather and location combined with the usual all-star line-up of speakers and sessions made for an excellent CME event. The highlight? Perhaps Dr. Anthony Fauci's keynote address (‘From AIDS to Zika: The Enduring Challenge of Emerging Infectious Diseases'), which was absolutely enthralling.
On the recertification front, the ACP announced in San Diego it will be working with the ABIM on development of a society MOC pathway. This may mean an alternative to the 10 year exam and the recently announced 2-year ‘knowledge check-in’, and would be based on ACP's Medical Knowledge and Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP). ACP would attest to a member successfully completing the program, while ABIM would remain the certifier. Although lots of questions need to be worked out, this may turn out to be a great option for those that use MKSAP routinely.
On a disheartening local note, the Missouri legislature's attempt at establishing a state-wide Prescription Drug and Monitoring Program (PDMP) failed again, this time on the last day of session. The plan that got the farthest was less than ideal: overly burdensome to prescribers, and not robust enough to treat patients. Fortunately, there is a strong St. Louis County program with more counties signing on. Stay tuned for next year as this will be sure to come up again.
Physician wellness has been a hot topic recently, and our Missouri Chapter doesn't want to be left out. A big thank you to Drs. Fariha Shafi, FACP and Jennifer McBride, FACP who have volunteered to co-chair the new Wellness Committee. The goal? Assisting ACP members and practices in recognizing the problem and implementing strategies for success.
Finally, as the debate over the future of heath care rages on you'll see the ACP continue to support the Affordable Care Act (ACA), preferring to see changes made that will enhance this program rather than roll it back completely. Some basic tenets of the ACA that need protection: 1) Coverage availability through insurance exchanges, 2) Patient-centered insurance reforms, i.e. elimination of pre-existing conditions, and 3) Health system reforms, i.e. dropping prescription drug and co-pay costs. Through events such as Leadership Day in Washington D.C., the ACP is aggressively advocating that any reform to current law does no harm to patients. Now is the time to contact your U.S. Senator or Representative (a quick e-mail or phone call) and let them know where you stand; the ACP has an excellent advocacy website with all the talking points needed. For those looking for something a bit more thought-provoking, check out Bob Doherty's ACP Advocacy blog, including May's article ‘Underserving Sick.’
Thanks for your continued membership in ACP, and I hope to see you at Updates in Internal Medicine 2017 this September at Tan-Tara-A Resort!
Richard Burns, MD, FACP
Governor, ACP Missouri Chapter
Updates in Internal Medicine: September CME Meeting
Many physicians today utilize online CME. Below are thoughts from two physicians who regularly attend the Missouri Chapter CME meeting at Tan Tar A.
“Remember the impact of a great teacher in your life? Those moments stand out in comparison to the countless textbooks we have all pored over. Our September CME program brings similar value: learn something for your office practice, hospital practice, or beyond that you will actually retain!”
Richard Burns, MD, FACP; Governor; Missouri Chapter of the ACP
We have excellent speakers again this year, highlighted by Dr. Vikas Saini from the Lown Institute (The Challenge: Defining the Right Care).
“Dr. Saini is an excellent speaker. He speaks very engagingly and with a moral imperative about providing patient centered healthcare, and of systemic change in healthcare delivery.”
Fred Buckhold, MD, FACP; Program Director; SLU Internal Medicine Residency Program
For those interested in quality CME hours and significant MOC points, your Missouri Chapter of the ACP is offering 22.5 CME hours and 38.5 MOC points. Beginning Thursday, September 14, we will have two ABIM SEP modules as part of a pre-course (20 MOC points). An additional 18.5 MOC points are available by attending the remaining CME conference and answering an online quiz after the meeting. Click here for more information and be sure to save the dates September 14-17, 2017.
The meeting will include 90 resident posters and 20 student posters competing for a trip to IM18 in New Orleans. Contact Patrick Mills if you would like to judge posters at 1pm on September 16.
Students will meet with IM Residency Program Directors to learn about the application and interview process. Teams comprised of three residents from seven Internal Medicine residency programs will compete in Doctor's Dilemma with the winning team moving on to IM18.
IM17
Missouri has a new Master: Tom Olsen, MD, MACP, pictured above, was recognized in San Diego for his many contributions to Internal Medicine and ACP. Jennifer McBride, MD, FACP became a new Fellow – pictured above with Dr. Burns. Missouri also had three residents from Wash U participate in Doctor's Dilemma; three residents presenting posters; and two medical students presenting posters. The students and residents were winners from the 2016 Missouri Chapter contests. Poster presenters were: Jordan Maryfield, MD, from Wash U; Yee-Shiuan (Andy) Chen, MD, from Wash U; Aniruddh Kapoor, MD, from St Mary's; Ryan Morrow from MU SOM; and Gaurav Anand from UMKC SOM. Drs. Amit Bery, Niall Prendergast, and Jonas Noe from Wash U participated in Doctor's Dilemma.
ACP Leadership Day
Our Leadership team met with both Senators and three Representatives. Pictured above are Senator McCaskill, Senator Blunt, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, and Rep. Vicki Hartzler
Five hearty physician souls braved exorbitant hotel prices, stormy weather, hard floors, and the occasional hardened lawmaker or aide to advocate for ACP healthcare policy priorities during the ACP's annual Legislative Day. OK, I exaggerate a bit, but this is not fake news. Steve Keithahn, MD, FACP, FAAP; Fariha Shafi, MD, FACP; Fred Buckhold, MD, FACP; Rimmy Garg – SLU SOM; and Rahul Maheshwari – UMKC SOM attended advocacy training on Tuesday, May 23rd and spent Wednesday the 24th on Capitol Hill meeting with Missouri lawmakers and staff on your behalf.
ACP legislative top policy priorities (or “asks”) included abandoning the American Health Care Act (AHCA) current proposal in favor of a bipartisan process with goals to not rollback coverage or eliminate essential consumer protections; rejecting any policies that would cap, block grant, and cut Medicaid; reauthorizing and funding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and stabilizing the insurance market. Other priorities included reducing administrative tasks for physicians; passing the CHRONIC Care Act (S. 870); reworking graduate medical education funding and malpractice insurance; addressing pharmaceutical pricing; and funding primary care training, opioid addiction treatment and prevention, the NIH, and the CDC. Whew!!
We are grateful that we were able to meet personally with Sen. McCaskill and Reps. Hartzler, Luetkemeyer, and Wagner. Please thank them for their time if you see them. Senator Blunt posed for a photo with us after we met with his very capable legislative aide for healthcare affairs who had met with us last year. We also met with legislative aides for Reps. Long, Cleaver, Graves, Smith, and Clay. I'm happy to report that your team advocated with grace and skill and were met with a variety of responses as expected.
With some form of an overhaul of the ACA a top priority for the President and Congress, this is a critical time in the history of American healthcare. The ACP will be working to be at the table providing valuable input for future policies that will affect all of us as physicians and patients. It's likely that in the upcoming months we will be calling on the chapter membership (again) to contact their legislators when key issues arise. I hope all of you will consider taking a few minutes to do so.
Respectfully submitted, Steve Keithahn, MD, FACP, FAAP
MACRA & QPP 2019 Penalty Avoidance in 2017If you don't already have a plan to meet data submission standards for CMS new Quality Payment Program (QPP) visit www.acponline.org and click Practice Resources in the navigation bar. ACP has the Quality Payment Advisor program designed to ensure you don't receive a -4% penalty in 2019 for not submitting 2017 data. This penalty escalates to -9% in later years. For those in HPSAs or in practices with 15 or fewer clinicians, free assistance is available from Jennifer Wilbers at Primaris.
PDMP Finally!
The St Louis County Commission has done what the Missouri General Assembly could not do – launch a prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). All the details are online and early reviews are good. In addition to being easy to use, additional counties are signing up, creating better coverage.
Opioid Resources
The Missouri Chapter of the ACP and others have sponsored an outreach video by Sam Page, MD, about the importance of a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). Dr. Page is a member of the St. Louis County Commission, which has launched a PDMP that covers more than 30 counties in Missouri, more than 50% of physicians, and more than 70% of the state's population. A link to the video is on the ACP Missouri Facebook page. Additional opioid resources are available in the July issue of “Trajectories” published by MHA, online here.
StudentsMissouri Internal Medicine Interest Groups and current ACP members continue to encourage medical students in our state to pursue careers in Internal Medicine. With the financial support of the Missouri Chapter of the ACP, we anticipate that a record number of medical students from across the state will be able to attend the annual chapter meeting at Tan-Tar-A Saturday, September 16.
At the school level, Internal Medicine Interest Groups continue to host regular events relating to both primary and specialty care. Other events have focused on the practice of humanistic medicine, refining history-taking, physical examination techniques, and preparation for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 exams. Student goals for the upcoming year include increasing interest for internal medicine as a career choice, increasing overall student ACP membership, and emphasizing patient advocacy in a student capacity.
David Sanborn UMKC SOM & Stephanie Zhang SLU SOM
ResidentsThe council of residents and fellows is excited to announce that Nathan Nolan, MD, who has been involved with the ACP since medical school, will be taking over as the council chair this academic year. His devotion to the ACP will be instrumental in organizing the internal medicine residents and fellows throughout the state for patient advocacy. Currently we are working toward organizing a Spring 2018 leadership day in Jefferson City, in which residents will join medical students and practicing physicians in meeting with state politicians to advocate for healthcare policy mirroring the ACP's positions. Look for more information in the coming months regarding the date, logistics, and issues to be covered.
Scott Goldsmith, MD, Washington University
ACP Advocates for Internal Medicine NetworkNow more than ever is the time to lend your voice to the healthcare debate. Join your colleagues in ACP's Advocates for Internal Medicine Network (AIMn) in advocating for the interests of internal medicine in Washington, D.C. The AIMn program is for ACP members interested in participating in federal advocacy. It is designed to help members engage with their federal lawmakers on policy issues important to ACP and internal medicine. You will receive occasional emails with policy updates and requests to contact your senators and representatives prior to important votes. To learn more, go to www.acponline.org and click on Advocacy.
New Fellows – Last Six MonthsWelcome to our new Missouri Chapter Fellows (since January 2017)!
Walter L Bender, MD FACP
Mark S Box, MD FACP
Hiral A Choksi, MD FACP
Joe Devasahayam, MD FACP
Emily Fondahn, MD FACP
Katherine L Garland, MD FACP
Lehman W Godwin, MD FACP
Martha Jane Herring, MD FACP
Hrishikesh S Kulkarni, MD FACP
Alexandre Lacasse, MD FACP
Jennifer M McBride, MD FACP
Manav Nayyar, MD FACP
Gopichand Pendurti, MBBS FACP
Hariharan Regunath, MD FACP
Veysel Tahan, MD FACP
Marlon C Torrento, MD FACP
Sreelatha C Varma, MD FACP
Keith F Woeltje, MD FACP
