CMS Receives Hundreds of Comments to include CME in MACRA
With the nearly 4,000 comments now in for the proposed MACRA rule, we are taking a look at what organizations had to say about including Continuing Medical Education (CME) as a Clinical Practice Improvement Activity (CPIA) under the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Across the board, medical organizations and physicians were extremely supportive of including CME as a CPIA and strongly encouraged CMS to include CME-related language in the final rule. For example, an article by MeetingsNet highlights the hundreds of comments submitted describing the value of CME. As suggested by the CME Coalition's comments, ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 12, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
One Small Step
Here's the official final wording of the AMA House of Delegates' Resolution 309, Continuing Medical Education Pathway for Recertification adopted June 15, 2016:
Resolution 309, Continuing Medical Education Pathway for Recertification, was adopted as amended. The final recommendations are as follows:
RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association call for the immediate end of any mandatory, (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - July 3, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Tags: AMA AMA House of Delegates Maintenance of Certification MOC Resolution 309 Source Type: blogs
On Small Step
Here's the official final wording of the AMA House of Delegates' Resolution 309, Continuing Medical Education Pathway for Recertification adopted June 15, 2016:
Resolution 309, Continuing Medical Education Pathway for Recertification, was adopted as amended. The final recommendations are as follows:
RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association call for the immediate end of any mandatory, (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - July 1, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Westby G. Fisher, MD Tags: AMA AMA House of Delegates Maintenance of Certification MOC Resolution 309 Source Type: blogs
One Small Step
Here's the official final wording of the AMA House of Delegates' Resolution 309, Continuing Medical Education Pathway for Recertification adopted June 15, 2016:
Resolution 309, Continuing Medical Education Pathway for Recertification, was adopted as amended. The final recommendations are as follows:
RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association call for the immediate end of any mandatory, (Source: Dr. Wes)
Source: Dr. Wes - June 30, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: DrWes Source Type: blogs
Does Arnold Schwarzenegger Deserve Better Care Than Our Veterans Do?
By KAREN SIBERT, MD
When Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, he decided that you and I don’t need to have physicians in charge of our anesthesia care, and he signed a letter exempting California from that federal requirement. Luckily most California hospitals didn’t agree, and they ignored his decision.
When he needed open-heart surgery to replace a failing heart valve, though, Governor Schwarzenegger saw things differently. He chose Steven Haddy, MD, the chief of cardiovascular anesthesiology at Keck Medicine of USC, to administer his anesthesia.
Now some people in the federal government have decided that veterans i...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 20, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Veterans Affairs Committee Hearing on VA-Established CME
On Tuesday, May 24, 2016, the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs held a hearing on pending legislation before the Senate. One of the bills discussed was Senate Bill 2049, a bill introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). S. 2049 is a bill to "establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs a continuing medical education program for non-Department medical professionals who treat veterans and family members of veterans to increase knowledge and recognition of medical conditions common to veterans and family members of veterans, and for other purposes." There is also a companion bill in the house HR 2...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 24, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Senator Durbin Asks Medical Associations to Endorse Mandatory Opioid CME – AMA Shows Interest
Following last month's letter to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), asking the group to "take financial responsibility for the drug industry's role in curtailing the opioid overdose epidemic," United States Senator Dick Durbin sent a letter to four physician associations asking them to endorse mandatory CME programs.
The letter, which was sent to the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), and the American Dental Association (ADA), noted several steps the Senator feels as though the associatio...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 19, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
The irony of how my state medical association spends resources
I am forced to attend one of these mandatory continuing medical education (CME) events. My malpractice insurance provider has a deal with the state medical association. To get lower rates, I have to be a member of the association and every 2 or 3 years attend a risk management training session.
I make it on time, despite the traffic.
As I walk into the lobby of this rather nice building, looking for signs directing me to the room where the training will be held, I am struck with … the smell of bacon.
“Please tell me that smell is coming from some other entity renting a meeting room or something,” I think to myself. T...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 19, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Marc Braman, MD Tags: Policy Health reform Source Type: blogs
CMS Final Quality Measure Development Plan Includes Key Role for CME
Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the final Quality Measure Development Plan which is a "strategic framework for [Medicare] clinician quality measurement development to support the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and advanced alternative payment models (APMs)" under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). The final plan incorporates stakeholder feedback the December 2015 draft plan.
MACRA
Section 102 of MACRA requires that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) develop and post on the CMS.gov website "a draft plan for...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 9, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
FDA ER-LA REMS Day 2 of the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee
Day Two of the Joint Meeting of the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee (DSaRM) and the Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee (AADPAC) was lively and full of debate and conversation.
The day started out with comments from the FDA, followed by presentations by Joanna G. Katzman, MD, MSPH, of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and Graham McMahon, MD, the President and CEO of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).
The bulk of the morning was spent on the "Open Public Hearing" portion, where twenty-three participants, from various walks of lif...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 4, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
CME and the Opioid Crisis
Dramatic increases in death due to prescription opioid abuse has gained national attention. In the last month alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new guidelines on prescribing opioids, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued restrictive labeling guidelines on immediate release opioids, and Congress has held almost weekly hearings on the issue of opioid abuse. All major party candidates for President have stated that reducing opioid abuse is a top priority of theirs. Congress is in the midst of passing several large bills designed to restrict access to prescription opioids and he...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 21, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
FDA Opinion on Proactive Response to Prescription Opioid Abuse
DiscussionsFDA to Conduct Studies in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (Source: Policy and Medicine)
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 19, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Former Associate Dean of Continuing Medical Education at Stanford Essentially Acknowledges Undisclosed Conflict of Interest in Recent Tobacco Control Paper
Yesterday, I discussed a paper published online ahead of print in the journal Tobacco Control which blasts electronic cigarette companies and a consumer vaping advocacy organization for creating "knock-off" advertisements that urge smokers to quit by switching to vaping instead. The senior author of the paper - Dr. Robert Jackler - is a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.One of my main criticisms was that in the paper, Dr. Jackler states that he has no conflicts of interest, but his curriculum vita reports having received grant funding from the Pfizer Corporation...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - April 14, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs
NEJM: What Do I Need to Learn Today – The Evolution of CME
Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, the President and CEO of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, has written an article for the New England Journal of Medicine about the evolution of continuing medical education (CME). The article, "What Do I Need to Learn Today? – The Evolution of CME," asks for clinicians, educators, healthcare institutions, and regulators to contribute to the continuing transformation of CME. He also suggests that CME be included as a significant asset for regulatory efforts such as MOC and the Merit-Based Incentive Payments System.
Dr. McMahon stated that such a continued ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 13, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
JAMA: Research Parasites Wanted
As reported, earlier this year, a top medical journal ignited a backlash by referring to "research parasites", also known as people who did not personally run a clinical trial or collect data but "use another group's data for their own ends, possibly stealing from the research productivity planned by the data gatherers." The New England Journal of Medicine quickly backtracked, as we noted, and clarified its support of data sharing.
Four days after jointly submitting the editorial piece with Dan Longo, M.D., Jeffrey Drazen, M.D., stated the Journal's support and noted it is "committed to data sharing in the setting of cli...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 11, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
