The Pennsylvania Internist Winter 2019
A Message from Your Governor‌ With our three regional meetings, fall is always a busy and exciting time for the PA-ACP. For our residents, the regional meetings are often their first exposure to our organization. I consistently receive very positive feedback on these meetings and would like to thank the meeting chairs, participating faculty, hosting sites, and PA-ACP staff for their hard work on these events. This newsletter contains updates on these events; please take some time to review this information. These meetings always remind me that the future of Internal Medicine is bright. This year, in response to feedback from our membership, we moved the annual PA-ACP Scientific Meeting from December to mid-November. Once again, the program content was outstanding with excellent presentations from Dr. Rachel Levine, Dr. Bob Arnold and several other speakers. Unfortunately, we continue to struggle with attendance. The PA-ACP Council has had multiple discussions on how to improve participation, but we would like to hear your thoughts on how we can adapt this meeting to better meet your needs. The date for the next meeting is November 14, 2020. I will be one of the co-chairs for the meeting so please feel free to share your ideas with me, my fellow Governors, PA-ACP council members, or the PA-ACP staff. You can email us at staff@pcacc.org. A number of ACP members have asked me about MOC events. PA-ACP is sponsoring a MOC program at Thomas Jefferson University on February 29th. Registration is now open! The ACP also has online options for members to receive MOC credits through the ACP. These are available at https://www.acponline.org/cme-moc/moc/earn-abim-moc-points. This is my final newsletter as the Governor for the Western Pennsylvania ACP region. It has been an honor to serve you in this role. Thank you for all you do for our patients and our profession. Sincerely,
Thomas Grau, MD, FACP President, PA-ACP Governor, PA-ACP Western Region
223 State Street PO Box 1205 Harrisburg, PA 17108 O: 717-233-8606 F: 717-798-3159 john@pa-erg.com www.erg-partners.com
Early Winter Advocacy Update The General Assembly spent much of its late fall session days moving health care related bills, many of which are priorities of the PA-ACP. At the same time, the State Supreme Court took further action that could significantly increase your exposure to medical malpractice lawsuits and premium costs. The Chapter took immediate action to seek reversal of the decision (See more information on this here.) Members can play a key role in the Chapter’s advocacy efforts as well – by reaching out to leadership with issues impacting you, by taking part in policy development activities like the Health and Public Policy Committee, and by becoming a Keystone Contact to help with education efforts with state elected officials.
General Assembly Update Four bills prioritized by PA-ACP were signed into law in late November. The Governor signed both HB 97 (Act 93) and SB 473 (Act 111) into law, raising the age for legal purchase of tobacco or tobacco products including ENDS to 21 and making changes to laws on use of these products on school grounds. This act takes effect on July 1, 2020. PA-ACP also supported passage of HB 314 (Act 108), which authorizes the Pennsylvania Rural Health Redesign Center Authority, to providing financial support for dozens of rural hospitals, community health centers and behavioral health/substance abuse clinics. Also signed into law was SB 572 (Act 112) which requires physicians to discuss, review and consult with any patient prior to ordering drugs containing opioids, and provide non-opioid suggestions if warranted. Language PA-ACP supported in this bill provides exemptions from baseline testing for patients for several categories, including cancer pain, palliative and hospice care, and when the professional judgment of the prescriber dictates otherwise. PA-ACP testified on your behalf and worked with sponsors and Committee chairs to get passage of telemedicine legislation. SB 857, which passed the Senate, would allow care providers to deliver services digitally through the use of apps and other advanced technologies, and be reimbursed by insurers. The bill was amended in the House, with several exceptions, which PA-ACP opposes, and is back in the Senate for further consideration.
The Senate plans to consider three House bills – HB 375 and HB 684, which would exclude veteran’s pensions, principal and interest from cashing in savings bonds, and Social Security COLA increases from consideration as income for PACE and PACENET programs, respectively, when it returns. PA-ACP supports these bills as being beneficial to our seniors in getting financial support and access to health care. PA-ACP pushed for passage of HB 1475, which mandates insurance coverage for breast reconstruction after cancer treatment, HB 51, which gives deemed eligibility for MA for those seeking treatment for substance abuse issues and HB 419, which amends the process for screenings for breast and cervical cancer. All three bills passed the House this fall and are now in the Senate. PA-ACP also supported passage of HBs 943 and 944 which regulate pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers in relation to drug price transparency, two bills which are now in the Senate. And the College worked with the House Insurance Committee to secure passage of legislation that would require annual reporting by insurance companies to demonstrate compliance with federal mental health parity requirements. Not all advocacy efforts are supportive of legislation. PA-ACP continues to work to prevent consideration of SB 25, which would allow CRNPs to practice without collaborative agreements. And most recently, PA-ACP has worked diligently to negotiate amendments to SB 675, which covers certification of all health care providers prescribing buprenorphine. The College provided testimony on the bill and has worked with the Committee and staff since June to make the legislation less constrictive for physicians and patients, and to eliminate needless paperwork, duplicative certification and fees. Other key legislation on the College watch list includes HB 1862, which would address surprise balance billing. Under the bill, if an out-of-network provider renders a health care service to an insured, the out-of-network provider may bill the insurer and be reimbursed directly for a covered service at the commercially reasonable rate directly for that service, unless the insurer has a contract that addresses payment for an out-of-network provider or the insurer and out-of-network provider agree otherwise. PA-ACP has also been actively involved in drafting and introduction of prior authorization reform legislation. Two bills, HB 1194, sponsored by Rep. Steven Mentzer of Lancaster and SB 920, sponsored by Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill of York, would each make major changes to processes and administrative time on behalf of patients. The College is working with dozens of patient advocacy groups to reach out to House and Senate members to seek support for the bills.
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Welcome to our New Council Members Fareeha Mubin, MD Resident Member, Eastern Region 2019-2021 Daniel Egert, MD Resident Member, Southeastern Region 2019-2021 Brittany MacDonald Student Member, Southeastern Region 2019-2021 Meera Babu, MD Resident Member, Western Region 2019-2021
Check Out Photos from the 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting & Awards Dinner
Congratulations to the PA-ACP Doctor’s Dilemma® Winner Allegheny Health Network
Congratulations to the 2019 PA-ACP Award Winners!
Women in Medicine Award Edith Mitchell, MD, MACP, Southeastern Region
Laureate Award Thomas Olenginski, MD, Eastern Region Judith Black, MD, FACP, Western Region Lio Logio, MD, MACP, Southeastern Region
Clinical Practice Award Raghavendrea Tirupathi Govindaraju, MBBS, FACP, Western Region Jerome Santoro, MD, FACP, Southeastern Region
Waxman Award Armen Sevag, DO, Southeastern Region
John Derrickson Early Career Physician Service Excellence Award Gaetan Sgro, MD, Western Region Davis Aizenberg, MD, FACP, Southeastern Region Visit our website to view past awardees and award descriptions.
2019 ACP Awardees & Masterships AWARDEES Dustan Award: Jonathan Epstein, MD Johnson Award: Ravi B. Parikh, MD Weinberger Award: Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MACP
MASTERSHIPS Scott Manaker, MD, PhD, MACP Edith P. Mitchell, MD, MACP Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, MACP
Get Involved with PA-ACP Don’t Miss These Upcoming Events Advocacy Dinner – PA-ACP Southeastern Region February 6, 2020
Earn your Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Points -Maintenance of Certification Learning Session February 29, 2020 Thomas Jefferson University Click Here to Register
ACP IM 2020 April 23-25, 2020 Los Angeles Convention Center Click Here to Learn More
Western Region Poster Competition & Doctor’s Dilemma® October 17, 2020 Allegheny General Hospital
Southeastern Region Poster Competition & Doctor’s Dilemma® October 24, 2020 Thomas Jefferson University – Hamilton Building
Eastern Region Poster Competition & Doctor’s Dilemma® October 31, 2020 Penn State Hershey Medical Center
Annual Scientific Meeting & Awards Ceremony November 14, 2020 Keep an eye on the Upcoming Events website page for more information on upcoming events as the details become available! Do you have an idea for a regional event? Let us know at staff@pa-acp.org.