Idaho Medical Association IMAges Volume XXV No. 10, OCTOBER 15, 2014 Inside this issue New IMA Members 2 AMA Assembles Ebola Resources for Physicians and Public The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Meaningful Use Deadline 6 September 30 confirmed the first U.S. case of Ebola, and developments associated with the virus continue to unfold. Prepare Premiums & Deductibles: 4 your practice and your patients with resources developed by Ebola Medicare 2015 experts and assembled by the AMA in one convenient location. IMPAC Supports Candidates 5 Visit the AMA's online Ebola Resource Center (http://www.ama- assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/public-health/ebola-resource- Supreme Court Hears 6 center.page) for information from the CDC and other public health Patient Safety Case groups. Resources cover: Consent for Abortion or 8 Contraception for Minors Understanding the virus Preparing your hospital or practice MPO Ads 11 Screening and diagnosing Ebola Treating patients with the virus The resource center will be updated regularly to give you, your practice staff and your patients the most up-to-date information you need. Visit AMA Wire® at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/ama-wire/ama -wire.page?linkid=popularlinksbox-1#.U3KGfyJOW7 for ongoing Ebola coverage provided by the AMA. Susie Pouliot Chief Executive Officer Physician 'Open Payments' Data Available to Public Margy Leach After nearly two years of anticipation, the American public can finally Communications and access a federal government database to see what, if any, payments Membership Director their doctors have received from drug or device makers. On Teresa Cirelli, CPC, CPMA September 30, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Reimbursement Director (CMS) released, as scheduled, the first set of data in conjunction with the agency's Open Payments transparency program (http:// Kathrine Forstie, CPC, CPMA Reimbursement Specialist www.cms.gov/openpayments/) that was created to implement the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. The IMA accepts limited advertisements and The program was designed to give health care consumers insight into announcements in this publication, but does not the financial relationships that exist between the medical industry and endorse them. physicians and teaching hospitals. (Continued on Page 2) IMAges Open Payments (Continued from Page 1) physicians receive funds to support clinical trials, an According to a CMS press release, the entire data essential component of advancing medical collection contains information on 4.4 million knowledge around specific conditions and payments assigned to 546,000 physicians and treatments. nearly 1,360 teaching hospitals. Cumulatively, those payments are valued at close to $3.5 billion. CMS If you were unable to review your data by the withheld one-third of the data from the initial public September 11 deadline to flag any disputed release as a result of concerns about accuracy. information in the initial public data release, you should do so now. The deadline to file disputes for Perhaps not surprisingly, utilizing the website has any inaccurate information that should be corrected proven quite challenging. The Wall Street Journal, in the next data release is December 31. View on October 2 reported that “navigating the site can instructions for doing so on the AMA's Sunshine Act be – to put it mildly – challenging.” website at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/ advocacy/topics/sunshine-act-and-physician- While you are unlikely to see your data in the local financial-transparency-reports.page. news, patients or others may ask questions about it. The AMA has provided three questions physicians The Idaho Medical Association will most likely receive and sample talking points for Welcomes New Members A warm welcome giving a thoughtful response: to these physicians who have recently joined the IMA: 1. Why do physicians get money or items of value from the industry? David A. Behrmann, MD, Diagnostic Radiology, Idaho Falls Physicians interact with the industry in many ways, Rebecca J. Bertsch, DO, Internal Medicine, including as consultants, speakers, researchers or Coeur d’Alene recipients of "items of value." These interactions Aaron A. Fearday, MD, Internal Medicine, generally benefit patients. For instance, physicians Meridian often receive items of value, such as medical Roy Gandolfi, MD, Internal Medicine, journal reprints or certain patient education Salt Lake City, UT materials. Jason Hamula, MD, Family Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 2. Don't relationships with the industry influence Jeremy A. Handy, MD, Psychiatry, Boise physicians' decisions and recommendations? James Hennessy, MD, Pediatric Cardiology, Maumee, OH The medical profession always is aware of the Aaron M. Hougham, MD, Emergency Medicine, potential for conflicts of interest. But a relationship Meridian with the industry doesn't automatically mean that a Dustin I. Judd, MD, Hand Surgery, Boise physician's judgment has been influenced Kate E. Preston, MD, General Surgery, inappropriately. Industry support for research and Pocatello development has been essential for developing new Edwin D. Robins, MD, Reproductive interventions and technologies to improve patient Endocrinology & Infertility, Spokane, WA care and reduce health care costs. Ryan R. Shelton, MD, Anesthesiology, Pocatello 3. How could individual physicians be justified John S. Siemers, MD, Internal Medicine, in accepting large sums of money from the Coeur d’Alene industry? Rebecca E. Siemers, MD, Family Medicine, Coeur d’Alene While there probably are some instances when Timothy E. Snell, MD, Pain Medicine, Pocatello physicians received money that, in retrospect, they Jeffrey Twitchell, MD, Internal Medicine, should not have accepted, there are legitimate Salt Lake City, UT reasons that a physician could be listed as having Travis Williams, DO, Internal Medicine, Boise accepted a large sum of money. For instance, many Todd E. Zeigler, MD, Orthopedic Surgery, Boise 2 / October 2014 IMAges October 2014 / 3 IMAges CMS Extends Deadline for Meaningful Use Hardship Exception The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has reopened its meaningful use hardship exception application for physicians and hospitals to avoid the 2015 penalty. The new deadline is November 30, 2014. This reopened hardship exception application submission period is for physicians who: Have been unable to fully implement 2014 Edition Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) due to delays in 2014 Edition CEHRT availability; and Were unable to attest by October 1, 2014 using the flexibility options provided in the CMS 2014 CEHRT Flexibility Rule that allows physicians to use older certified EHR technology (Version 2011), a combination of old and new technology (Version 2011 and Version 2014), or just new technology (Version 2014) to attest for their 2014 reporting period. These are the only circumstances that will be considered for this reopened period. For more information and a link to the hardship exemption application, visit the CMS website at http:// www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/ EHRIncentivePrograms/paymentadj_hardship.html. 2015 Medicare Part B Premiums and Deductibles to Remain the Same as Last Two Years On October 9, Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell announced that next year’s standard Medicare Part B monthly premium and deductible will remain the same as the last two years. Medicare Part B covers physicians’ services, outpatient hospital services, certain home health services, durable medical equipment, and other items. For the approximately 49 million Americans enrolled in Medicare Part B, premiums will be $104.90 and deductibles $147 which reflect no changes for 2015. This leaves more of seniors’ cost of living adjustment from Social Security in their pockets. 4 / October 2014 IMAges IMPAC Supports Candidates in Upcoming Election Idaho’s 2014 general election will be held on November 4, 2014 and there are some hotly contested races throughout the state. The Idaho Medical Political Action Committee (IMPAC) is pleased to provide its endorsement and support to the following legislative candidates. We encourage you to vote in the upcoming general election to ensure the voice of Idaho’s physicians is heard. DIST OFFICE CANDIDATE NAME PARTY CITY 1 Senator Shawn Keough R Sandpoint 4 Representative Luke Malek R Coeur d'Alene 5 Senator Dan Schmidt D Moscow 5 Representative Caroline Troy R Genesee 6 Representative John Rusche D Lewiston 6 Senator Dan Johnson R Lewiston 8 Representative Merrill Beyeler R Leadore 9 Senator Abby Lee R Fruitland 9 Representative Judy Boyle R Midvale 9 Representative Ryan Kerby R New Plymouth 10 Senator Jim Rice R Caldwell 10 Representative Brandon Hixon R Caldwell 11 Senator Patti Anne Lodge R Caldwell 11 Representative Christy Perry R Nampa 12 Senator Todd Lakey R Nampa 12 Representative Robert Anderst R Nampa 12 Representative Rick Youngblood R Nampa 13 Representative Gary Collins R Nampa 14 Senator Marv Hagedorn R Meridian 14 Representative Mike Moyle R Star 14 Representative Reed DeMordaunt R Eagle 15 Senator Fred Martin R Boise 15 Representative Pat McDonald R Boise 16 Senator Grant Burgoyne D Boise 16 Representative Hy Kloc D Boise 17 Representative John Gannon D Boise 17 Senator Elliot Werk D Boise 18 Senator Janie Ward-Engelking D Boise 19 Senator Cherie Buckner-Webb D Boise 24 Senator Lee Heider R Twin Falls (Continued on Page 6) October 2014 / 5 IMAges IMPAC (Continued from Page 5) DIST OFFICE