AMA Medical Student Section: LSUHSC-Shreveport Chapter

Congratulations LSUHSC Shreveport School of Medicine Class of 2020!!

The AMA Tribute to the Medical School Class of 2020 The AMA will will host a national, virtual celebration to honor the 30,000 medical students who are graduating this spring.

OPPOSE HB 864: Medical School MATTERS!

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses -APRNs- (Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNM), Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA), Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS), and Nurse Practitioners (NP) are using the COVID-19 pandemic to promote legislation telling lawmakers that they are currently working without the need for a Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) and things are just fine without Louisiana’s “unnecessary and antiquated rules and regulations.” HB 864 is a bad bill with huge implications!

HB 864 gives to APRNs by legislation what they did not earn by education. We encourage everyone to make sure your legislators know that MEDICAL SCHOOL MATTERS!

Support physician-led healthcare teams and join the Physician Coalition of Louisiana in opposing HB 864!

It’s that time of year again! Be sure to come check out the AMA Student Group’s Residency Speed Dating event on Tuesday, April 23, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the BRI. You will rotate through a variety of residency programs, during which time you will learn about program requirements, research opportunities, scores, and other pertinent information directly from residents and program directors. This is an excellent chance to learn about future career options and make connections with leaders in our LSU community. Chick-fil-A will also be provided for dinner at 5 p.m. Please sign up for the event at the link below so arrangements can be made for dinner.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Bz7WztQ4xSFcNC4ySvWbcqF0HHKz_HFZRDezEK4wCnc/edit =0

👏🏻 Congratulations to our faculty advisor, Dr. Lee Stevens, for becoming the 139th president of the Louisiana State Medical Society!!

Join us in welcoming our 139th president, Lee Stevens, MD!🎉

The AMA had its Interim meeting in National Harbor Maryland last weekend. Here are the highlights if anyone is interested in what we’ve been up to. https://wire.ama-assn.org/ama-news/highlights-2018-ama-interim-meeting

Highlights from the 2018 AMA Interim Meeting Catch up with the news from the AMA House of Delegates’ meeting in National Harbor, Maryland.

From the legislative committee:

““Excessive E/M documentation requirements do not just take time away from patient care; they also make it more difficult to locate medical information in patients’ records that is necessary to provide high quality care”

Legislative update! CMS has emphasized the reduction of administrative burdens as one of their key priorities for healthcare- a “Patients over Paperwork” initiative- and potential changes to our Evaluation and Management (E/M) codes as part of the proposed 2019 Medicare physician payment rule* may dramatically change the way physicians document clinical visits.

Yesterday, our AMA signed onto the attached letter** with ~150 state and national medical organizations in response to the proposed changes, highlighting three efforts that would take serious steps towards alleviating the documentation burdens of practice.

“1. Changing the required documentation of the patient’s history to focus only on the interval history since the previous visit;
2. Eliminating the requirement for physicians to re-document information that has already been documented in the patient’s record by practice staff or by the patient; and
3. Removing the need to justify providing a home visit instead of an office visit.”

I want to point out that current E/M codes, such as those pertaining to single and multi-organ system examinations, date back to 1997 and 1995 documentation guidelines. I believe Dan Diamond touched on this in a recent episode of Politico’s Pulse Check, but most of us here have never seen an alternative method. Changing a practice that has been established for 20+ years is not without risks, so the letter closes by urging that CMS and the Administration “…work together with the medical community on a mutually agreeable policy that will achieve our shared goal of simplifying E/M documentation burdens while mitigating any unintended consequences.”

*The proposed rules: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-proposes-historic-changes-modernize-medicare-and-restore-doctor-patient-relationship

**The AMA’s press release: https://www.ama-assn.org/150-groups-send-letter-proposed-changes-physician-payment-rule”

150 Groups Send Letter on Proposed Changes to Physician Payment Rule | American Medical Association The AMA and 150 health groups sent a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma on the proposals included in the 2019 Medicare physician payment rule.

Update from the head of MSS:

“We hope you'll be joining us this year at our MSS Interim Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland from Nov 8-10th!

Registration is now open: https://www.ama-assn.org/sections-interim-meeting-registration-travel-hotel

We will be posting meeting documents to our MSS meeting page as they become available: https://www.ama-assn.org/mss-interim-overview “

mss-interim-overview | American Medical Association MSS Interim Meeting Nov. 8-10, 2018, National Harbor, Maryland Agenda & Important Dates Download the meeting app or review key dates and deadlines for the MSS Interim Meeting. Registration, Travel & Hotel Register for the meeting, book tickets, make travel arrangements and reserve child care. Meetin...

The AMA sent comment to CMS this past week opposing several provisions of the proposed Kentucky Medicaid waiver (including work requirements):

"The AMA believes everyone deserves quality health care. As physicians, we regularly confront the effects of lack of access to adequate care and know that Medicaid is an important—and often the only—source of consistent care for low-income individuals... We urge CMS to reconsider the impact that the restrictive elements of the proposal could have in potentially costing tens of thousands of patients their access to critical medical care."

- AMA CEO James L. Madara, MD

Our concerns include:

- Community engagement / work requirements: "The AMA opposes work requirements as a condition of Medicaid eligibility; we believe that such requirements will negatively affect access to care and lead to significant negative consequences on individuals’ health and well-being."

- Restrictions on retroactive eligibility: "Retroactive eligibility is a vital element of the Medicaid safety net, designed to protect vulnerable, low-income patients from further financial hardship and encourage them to seek care when needed, rather than risk exacerbating a health condition by delaying care."

- Lock-out periods: "[L]ock-outs are overly punitive and will increase the number of uninsured residents in Kentucky while increasing the burden of uncompensated care on the health care system. This proposed policy fails to consider the harsh reality faced by those living in poverty for whom income and hardship can be unpredictable."

GRAF Update - 2018 Midterm Elections
Quick GRAF update coming in hot! Learn more about the most highly contested Senate and House races for 2018 Midterms at the links below. More information on Get Out the Vote MSS-initiatives to come in the next few weeks! As always, if you have any questions about a specific race in your state or region (or just in general), feel free to email me at [email protected].

Real Clear Politics:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/2018/
AMPAC is the bipartisan political action committee of the AMA. The website tracks relevant election news coverage, upcoming AMPAC events, and AMPAC news!
http://www.ampaconline.org/

Charlie Cook Political Report is one of the most reliable resources for analyzing and tracking federal elections. Charlie Cook's idea was to create a non-partisan newsletter that would analyze American political campaigns from the perspective of someone who actually had worked both in campaigns and as a pollster:
https://www.cookpolitical.com/

Nate Silver's 538 website is a great way to take a break from medical school studying and read up on the 2018 election, sports, economics, culture, and science and health:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/

FiveThirtyEight Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight uses statistical analysis — hard numbers — to tell compelling stories about elections, politics, sports, science, economics and lifestyle.

AMA Medical Student Section: LSUHSC-Shreveport Chapter updated their phone number.