News

August 15, 2018

Your Chapter in Action!

Practice Management

Attention NYC-based Primary Care Practices:
Receive a Full-Time Behavioral Health Clinician from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at No Cost

NYC-based primary care practices can improve their quality performance and patient engagement measures by participating in the ThriveNYC Mental Health Service Corps (MHSC), sponsored by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

If you qualify, your practice will receive a full-time, early-career social worker or mental health counselor to help you manage depression, anxiety, substance use, and other common chronic conditions seen in primary care. MHSC currently serves a mix of primary care practices that include small independent private practices, community health centers, and hospital-affiliated ambulatory practices.

Listed below are potential benefits that the practices will receive for participating in MHSC:

No direct cost for the behavioral health clinician’s salary, benefits, or training
Alignment with various incentive programs (i.e. HEDIS, PCMH, MIPS, DSRIP 3ai)
Improve medication adherence and patient engagement for a range of chronic conditions
Technical assistance for workflow support
Consulting psychiatrist available to support providers on pharmacotherapy
Trainings for sites on successful strategies to integrate behavioral health in your setting

To be eligible for this no cost practice support, complete this application.

NYACP Seeks Your Input for 2018 Fall BOG Resolutions

Every member has an opportunity to provide input regarding the development of policies and positions of ACP and the Chapter through the resolutions process.

We ask for your input on the proposed resolutions to be acted on at the ACP Board of Governors (BOG) Fall meeting in October 2018. You may submit comments on any or all of the resolutions through our online comments page here.

Please read the ACP 2018 Fall BOG Resolutions to see the resolutions in more detail. (Please note that the New York Chapter Resolutions have been extracted since they have previously been acted upon by NY Chapter members)

Education

Upcoming Events:

NYACP Webinar: The Legalities of an Employment Contact
Friday, September 14, 2018
12:00 - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Laurie Cohen, Esq., Nixon Peabody LLP
Register Online
Additional Information

Buprenorphine Waiver Eligibility Training
Friday, February 22, 2019
12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Desmond Hotel
660 Albany Shaker Road
Albany, NY 12211
Register Online

Chapter Co-Sponsored Events:

Current Topics in Primary Care and Neurology: Update for the Primary Care Practitioner
September 21-23, 2018
Offering 10 Hours of AMA PRA Category I Credits
The Conference Center
2608 Main Street
Lake Placid NY 12946
Sponsored by: Albany Medical College's Dept. of Medicine, Dept. of Neurology, and the Office of Continuing Medical Education and in collaboration with the New York Chapter American College of Physicians (NYACP Hudson Valley Capital District)
Register Online
Brochure

13^th Annual Mid-Atlantic Hospital Medicine Symposium
Mastering the Care of the Hospital Patient
October 19-20, 2018
Co-sponsored by Society of Hospital Medicine and the NY Chapter ACP
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Hess Center for Science and Medicine
Hatch Auditorium, 2^nd Floor
1468 Madison Avenue at 100th Street
New York, NY
Register Online
Additional Information

Practice Management

New York Chapter Comments on ACP Social Determinants of Health Policy Paper

On June 1, 2018, NYACP’s Board reviewed ACP’s Policy Paper on Social Determinants of Health that was published on April 17, 2018 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. In addition to the nine policy recommendations aimed at improving patient care and health outcomes and overcoming the special challenges associated with adverse conditions in which people are born, grow, work and live, Chapter leaders discussed and provided additional thoughts for ACP to further consider on this important issue.

The New York Chapter concurs with ACP’s belief that understanding and addressing social factors that affect health outcomes is a pressing issue for physicians in the communities they serve. We applaud this ACP paper and suggest the following for additional consideration:

ACP should explore through the Performance Measurement Committee possible methods of applicable measurement
Assess current measures against what matters to physicians
Develop a social vulnerability index
Consider how to measure shared decision making
Include a section on social determinants in the next MKSAP edition or offer to members as some other ACP member resource
Develop a small set of educational modules that can be shared through ACP and Chapter websites
Conduct or add survey results as resources
Consider offering a new annual “award” to a clinical program that has established some type of successful educational initiative for the purpose of addressing the issue of social determinants of health within their community

If you have any comments or suggestions to help implement this important policy paper, please feel free to share them by emailing Linda Lambert, NYACP Executive Director at llambert@nyacp.org.

Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule: Understanding 3 Key Topics Listening Session – August 22

On Wednesday, August 22, 2018 from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will host a webinar on the CY 2019 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule.

Proposed changes to the CY 2019 Physician Fee Schedule would increase the amount of time doctors and other clinicians spend with their patients by reducing the burden of Medicare paperwork. During this listening session, CMS experts will briefly cover three provisions from the proposed rule and address clarifying questions to help practitioners formulate written comments for formal submission:

Streamlining Evaluation and Management (E/M) payment and reducing clinician burden,
Advancing Virtual Care, and
Continuing to improve the Quality Payment Program to reduce burden and offer flexibilities to help clinicians successfully participate.

2017 MIPS Performance Feedback and Payment Adjustment Update

If you submitted 2017 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) data through the Quality Payment Program website, you can now view your performance feedback and MIPS final score.

CMS originally displayed a single payment adjustment amount, which included an additional adjustment for exceptional performance available to MIPS eligible clinicians and groups with a final score of 70 or greater. However, based on feedback from various clinicians and groups, CMS has updated the system so that the MIPS payment adjustment, and additional adjustment for exceptional performance (if applicable) are now displayed separately. The system will continue to display the total MIPS payment adjustment, which is a sum of MIPS performance and exceptional performance.

How to Access Your Final Score and Feedback

You can access 2017 MIPS performance feedback and final score by:

Going to the Quality Payment Program website
Logging in using your Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM) credentials; if you don’t have an EIDM account, refer to this guide

Upcoming Office Hours

CMS will be hosting an office hours session on August 14 to provide a brief overview of MIPS 2017 performance feedback and targeted review and to answer frequently asked questions.

Title: Performance Feedback and Targeted Review Office Hours Session
Date: Tuesday, August 14, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET
Register Here
Resources