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Medical Association of Georgia

GA Rep. Allen Peake Discusses Medical Marijuana Legislation

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GA Rep. Allen Peake Discusses Medical Marijuana Legislation

Representative Allen Peake serves the citizens of Georgia’s 141st District, which includes Macon. He is in his sixth term in the Georgia House. In 2015, Representative Peake sponsored Haleigh’s Hope Bill – a measure that was signed into law that allows Georgians who have specific conditions – including children who have seizures – to possess medical cannabis oil in Georgia. He is now sponsoring a bill that would expand the list of conditions that are covered by that law – as well as legislation that would allow a public vote on whether Georgia should allow the production and distribution of medical cannabis.

Surprise Insurance Coverage Gaps

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MAG

Dr. Matt Keady and Dr. Mark Bernardy

Surprise Insurance Coverage Gaps

After receiving emergency care at an “in-network” hospital, patients often discover that they
received care from an “out-of- network” physician and owe a lot of money. This is the “surprise
insurance coverage gap.” The patient pays their monthly premium, yet they receive unexpected
“balance bills” for amounts their insurance company refuses to cover – keeping in mind the
insurers are narrowing their networks to reduce costs and maximize profits by subjecting
physicians to inadequate, take-it- or-leave- it contracts.

Physicians in Georgia believe that it is critical to end the surprise insurance gap in emergency
medicine care settings. Physicians have seen their patients’ financial burden increase in dramatic
ways as health insurance companies have narrowed their networks. Health insurance is so
ambiguous that the most sophisticated patients have trouble understanding the rules.

Many patients try to do the right thing and go to a hospital that is in their insurance network during an
emergency – but they often don’t have any way of knowing when a doctor they need to see is in or
out of their network.  The Medical Association Georgia and other physician and patient advocacy organizations are calling for state lawmakers to put an end to balance billing in emergency care settings by passing legislation that will close the surprise coverage gap. MAG is also supporting the ‘End the Surprise Insurance Gap’ campaign.

Dr. Matthew Keadey has been an emergency physician in the Atlanta area for nearly 20 years. He
began his career at Emory Healthcare. He now works in the Emory and Grady Health systems. He
is the president-elect of the Georgia College of Emergency Physicians, and he is a member of the
Medical Association of Georgia. Dr. Keadey is an expert in emergency department billing, coding
and reimbursement.

Dr. Mark Bernardy has been a private practice general/interventional radiologist in Georgia for 30
years. He is a member of the Georgia Radiological Society’s Board of Directors. Dr. Bernardy is
the vice chair of the American College of Radiology’s Economics Commission and a board
member of the Radiology Business Management Association. He is active in Georgia politics,
advocating for radiologists, physicians, and patients. His advocacy efforts started with colon
cancer screening.

Drs. Keadey and Bernardy are leading advocates for ensuring that patients have access to fair
insurance coverage in emergency care settings in Georgia.

Representative Sharon Cooper Talks Georgia Healthcare

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Sharon Cooper

Georgia State Representative, Dist. 43, Sharon Cooper

Representative Sharon Cooper Talks Georgia Healthcare

The legislative process is an important way to improve Georgia’s health care system and the practice environment. MAG spent a lot of time reaching out to lawmakers and other important stakeholders after the General Assembly ended in 2015 to ensure that it would be in a good position to effect pro-physician and pro-patient change during this year’s legislative session. MAG is focused on several key areas in 2016, including physician autonomy, Medicaid, health insurance, tort reform, and prescription drugs.

Representative Sharon Cooper is the chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee. She has been a champion for key legislation for patients and physicians in Georgia, including an HIV screening bill for pregnant women, Georgia’s Smoke Free Air Act, and the Health Share Volunteers in Medicine Act. She is known for being one of the hardest working and most honest and straightforward legislators in the state. It is also worth noting that she was married to the late Dr. Tom Cooper, who co-founded MAG’s Doctor of the Day program at the State Capitol.

Special Guest:

Sharon Cooper, Georgia House of Representatives Distric 43, Chairman-House Health & Human Services Committee

Sharon Cooper

Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, GA District 43

 

Talking Depression With Dr. Mark Rappaport

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depression

Dr. Mark Rappaport

Talking Depression With Dr. Mark Rappaport

Mark Hyman Rapaport, M.D., the chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Reunette W. Harris Professor at the Emory University School of Medicine and the chief of Psychiatric Services at Emory Healthcare, will discuss depressive disorder when he appears on the Medical Association of Georgia’s (MAG) ‘Top Docs Radio’ program on the Business Radio-X Network at 12 p.m. today, Tuesday, December 27.

“Major depressive disorder has a lifetime prevalence rate of more than 15 percent,” says Dr. Rapaport. “That means some 900,000 people in the Atlanta region alone will suffer from an episode of major depressive disorder at some point in their lives.”

He explains that, “Major depression is associated with increased overall mortality, increased suicide rates, and marked dysfunction at work and in social settings. In addition to the individual, depression affects the patient’s loved ones and colleagues and friends.”

According to Dr. Rapaport, depression is highly comorbid with other medical conditions such as heart disease or high blood pressure or diabetes, and it adds exponential costs to the treatment of those disorders.

He also points out that a World Health Organization study determined that depression is the second greatest cause of disability in the world – and the first among women who are over the age of 18.

Dr. Rapaport will discuss major depressive disorder care, including evidence-based psychotherapies, pharmacological treatments, and somatic therapies – stressing that, “One in three patients who suffer from depression have a form of depression that tends to be resistant to most typically employed treatment interventions…more than 300,000 people suffer from treatment resistant depression in the Atlanta area.”

MAG sponsors the ‘Top Docs’ program at 12 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. Between downloads and live listeners, MAG’s ‘Top Docs’ show has reached more than 8,300 listeners – which includes people in all 50 states and 84 countries.

MAG’s ‘Top Docs Radio’ show is supported with a grant from Health Care Research, a subsidiary of Alliant Health Solutions.

Click to listen to ‘Top Docs Radio’

Click for Emory Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences web page

Mental Health Resources

Emory Outpatient Clinic: 404.778.5526

Emory Treatment Resistant Depression Clinic: 404.712.8732

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800.273.8250

Georgia Crisis and Access Line (for immediate assistance): 800.715.4225

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance/Atlanta Chapter: www.atlantamoodsupport.com

Mental Health America/Georgia Chapter: www.mhageorgia.org

National Institute of Mental Health: www.nimh.nih.gov

National Alliance on Mental Illness: www.nami.org

Talking Depression

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depression

Dr. Mark Rapaport

Talking Depression

Major depressive disorder has a lifetime prevalence rate of more than 15 percent. That means
some 900,000 people in the Atlanta region will suffer from an episode of major depressive
disorder at some point in their lives. Major depression is associated with increased overall
mortality, increased suicide rates, and marked dysfunction at work and in social settings.

In addition to the individual, depression affects the patient’s loved ones and colleagues and friends.
Depression is highly comorbid with other medical conditions such as heart disease or high blood
pressure or diabetes, and it adds exponential costs to the treatment of those disorders. The WHO
Global Burden of Disease study found that depression is the second greatest cause of disability in
the world.

And when it comes to women who are over the age of 18, depression is the most disabling disorder in the world. Medical professionals have developed an expanding array of approaches to help people who have major depressive disorder, including evidence-based psychotherapies, new pharmacological treatments, and new somatic therapies. Yet one on three patients who suffer from depression have a form of depression that tends to be resistant to most typically employed treatment interventions. In fact, more than 300,000 people suffer from treatment resistant depression in the Atlanta area – and many of them are suffering in silence.

Dr. Mark Rapaport is the Reunette W. Harris Professor and the Chairman of the Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine and the Chief of Psychiatric Services at Emory Healthcare. Dr. Rapaport has received peer-reviewed grant funding from a number of institutions. His research interests are focused on psychopharmacology, and he has investigated the biologic genesis of anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, depression and immunity abnormalities in schizophrenia.

Dr. Rapaport has trained and mentored students, physicians and researchers in the fields of psychopharmacology, outcomes research, and psychoneuroimmunology. A board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Rapaport has written over 190 articles for peer-reviewed publications, he serves as the editor of several journals, and he has co-edited five books on maintenance of certification and life-long learning in psychiatry. Dr. Rapaport is a member of the Medical Association of Georgia and a number of specialty societies.

MAG Mutual Patient Safety Institute

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MAG Mutual Patient Safety Institute

The MagMutual Patient Safety Institute is comprised of physician consultants, nurse consultants, loss control consultants, attorneys, and other specialists who are diligently working to identify the risks that today’s physicians and hospitals face,” says Dr. Bohlke, who is a member of MAG Mutual Insurance Company’s Board of Directors. “Their goal is to provide those physicians and hospitals with guidance and advice on how to minimize or eliminate these risks so they can focus on providing quality patient care.”

Dr. Bohlke has a family practice in Brooklet, which is about 50 miles northwest of Savannah, and he served as MAG’s president in 2012-2013.

MAG sponsors the ‘Top Docs’ program at 12 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. Between downloads and live listeners, MAG’s ‘Top Docs’ show has reached more than 8,000 listeners – which includes people in all 50 states and 84 countries.

MAG’s ‘Top Docs Radio’ show is supported with a grant from Health Care Research, a subsidiary of Alliant Health Solutions.

MagMutual provides medical professional liability (malpractice) insurance in Georgia and other states in the Southeast U.S. It is one of the largest medical liability insurers in the U.S. The company is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best.

 

Click for MagMutual website

 

Infectious Disease

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Infectious Disease Specialists of Atlanta

Infectious Disease

Medicine is becoming increasingly fragmented and complex. The infectious diseases specialty has become especially pivotal in our health care system when it comes to clarifying diagnoses, preserving our antibiotic armamentarium with cautious use of this limited resource, and protecting patients from complications that are associated with these complex treatments.

Unfortunately, the number of young physicians who are going into the infectious diseases specialty is declining. Two years ago, more than 40 percent of infectious diseases training programs (slots?) went
unfilled (i.e., a program seeking three new trainees might only get two and some smaller programs might not get any)  – while last year more than 60 percent of infectious disease training programs were short of fellowship trainees.

It is essential to convince more young physicians to go into the infectious disease specialty if we hope to
ensure that patients have access to the care they need.

After Dr. Dretler graduated from Tufts University Medical School in Boston in 1978, he trained in internal medicine at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital of Tufts University. He completed his infectious disease training at Emory University in Atlanta in 1981. He then started his Infectious Disease Specialists of Atlanta practice at DeKalb Medical where his group is now based.

He has served as president of the Infectious Disease Society of Georgia, as the president of the DeKalb Medical Society, and as both the chief of medicine and the chief of staff at DeKalb Medical. Dr. Dretler also served as the medical chairman of the DeKalb Medical Foundation. He has been heavily involved in medical research and has been a principal investigator for 25 years on more than 100 NIH studies, including clinical research in AIDS, Hepatitis C, Pseudomembranous colitis, and influenza. Dr. Dretler has published more than 25 articles and posters.

Practice Architectural Design

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Medical Association of Georgia

Louise Labus

Practice Architectural Design

Architectural Interiors for medical practice space is ever changing with new technology, medical developments, more complex patient needs, integrated medical professional work patterns, rising cost of construction, new lighting and finish selections based on health and environmental regulations and more.

Balancing the rising cost in construction and the needs within medical spaces can be challenging. It is critical for the design professional to work hand-in- hand the with physician and practice staff and to employ good communication and listening skills. It is the architect/designer’s responsibility to provide the most appropriate options based on the practice’s objectives in creating aesthetically pleasing and optimal spaces for the patients, physicians and staff.

Louise Labus is a senior associate at Collins Cooper Carusi Architects. She is a licensed Interior Designer with the State of Georgia and Professional Member of American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Louise has been in the interior architecture and design field for more than 30 years. Ms. Labus has an interior design degree from Michigan State University.

She is focused on medical design, but her background also includes corporate offices, retail space, religious facilities, and educational institutions as well. Ms. Labus strives to understand the needs of her clients throughout the design process – going above and beyond due diligence and programming process to provide a truly customized, comfortable space for every client. She takes a “human-centered” design approach to medical practice interior architecture.

Health Literacy

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health literacy

Dr. Ruth Parker

Health Literacy

Health literacy is focused on what physicians and other health care providers can do to provide their patients with information that is both understandable and useful. Patients often struggle understanding what they need to know and do – and health care professionals often deliver messages that are too complicated for patients to understand.
An Institute of Medicine (IOM) report estimated that nearly half the adult population lacks the literacy skills to understand and use health information. One study found that just 12 percent of U.S. adults have the health literacy skills they need to manage the demands of our complex health care system. In addition, their ability to absorb and use health information can be compromised by stress or illness. Limited health literacy is associated with poor health status, higher use of services, and worse clinical outcomes.

Preventable complications result in more stress on the patient and their family members – as well as increased costs. “Patient centeredness” is a salient theme within the medical profession, but it can be a difficult practice to put into place on a daily basis. Health literacy encourages physicians and other health care providers to practice good listening and communications skills to ensure that their
patients receive information and advice they need in a way that is both understandable and useful.

Ruth Parker, M.D., is a professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Department at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. She attended medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Parker completed residencies in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Rochester, and she was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Parker has focused on health literacy for more than 20 years.

She is a co-author of the ‘Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults’ (TOFHLA) and the definition of health literacy that is used by Healthy People 2010, the IOM, the NIH, and in the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Parker has served in leadership roles as a health literacy advocate for professional societies, including the AMA and the ACP Foundation.

She has consulted with a number of state and federal agencies, professional organizations, and industry regarding their health literacy efforts. Dr. Parker was a member of the IOM Health Literacy Committee and the Health Literacy Roundtable. She has received a number of national awards for her work.

Special Guest:

Dr. Ruth Parker, MD, Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health
Department, Emory University School of Medicine  facebook_logo_small3  twitter_logo_small-e1403698475314  linkedin_small1  youtube logo  google-plus-logo-red-265px  instagram

 

Transition to MIPS

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Dr. Ame

Transition to MIPS

On this week’s MAG episode, I hosted Dr. Adrienne Mims, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Medicare Quality Improvement for Alliant Quality, to talk about the transition to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

Adrienne Mims, M.D., MPH, is the vice president and chief medical officer for Alliant GMCF. Board certified in family medicine and geriatrics, she has more than 30 years of primary care, consultative and home care geriatric experience. Dr. Mims serves on a number of boards, including the American Health Quality Association (the trade association for Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations), the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians, and the PCPI (the national organization that develops quality measures for all specialties).

In addition, the MAG member serves on the NCQA Geriatric Measurement Advisory Panel and the NCQA Clinical Programs Committee.  Dr. Mims was the medical director of the Georgia Medicaid Management Program, and she was the director of prevention health promotion and research with The Southeast Permanente Medical Group in Atlanta.

Dr. Mims completed her undergraduate training at George Washington University, her medical school at Stanford University, her residency at the Martin Luther King Jr./Charles Drew Medical Center, and her geriatric fellowship at the West Los Angeles VA. She also has an MPH in epidemiology from UCLA. It is imperative for medical practices to make a successful transition to Medicare’s new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

Instead of the EHR (Electronic Health Record) or the PQRS (Physician Quality Reporting System) or the Value-based Payment Modifier programs, the government will employ a single payment platform
– which is the result of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) that was signed into law in 2015. The new payment model will be based on a 100-point MIPS Composite Performance Score. That CPS will determine your Medicare payment adjustment – either up or down.

This is scheduled to commence in 2019, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will use the 2017 calendar year as the basis for the initial reimbursement – keeping mind this is not an optional process.

Special Guest:

Dr. Adrienne Mims, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Medicare Quality Improvement, Alliant Quality