PRESIDENT’S PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE MESSAGE
Dear LSMS Members:
The first quarterly meeting of the LSMS Board of Governors was held in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, and the following actions were taken.
• The minutes of the Board of Governors meetings on December 22, 2018 and January 25, 2019 were approved as presented.
• Jeremy Henderson, MD, a pathologist from Covington, was appointed to a two-year term on the LSMS Board of Governors as the District 10 Alternate Councilor.
• James Christopher, MD, a general surgeon, also from Covington, was appointed to a two-year term on the LSMS Council on Legislation as the District 10 Alternate Councilor.
• Directed the LSMS Executive Vice President to keep working on a multi-employer 401(k) option as a future member benefit of the Society with a report back to the Board.
• Directed the LSMS Executive Vice President to formally request the LSMS Medical/Legal Interprofessional Committee to include the recently revised informed consent documents, as well as, the new LSBME rules related to due process rights for physicians be included in the 2019 update to the Medical/ Legal Interprofessional Code
• If legislation is introduced during the 2019 legislative session to make Louisiana a state that participates in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, the LSMS will support the direction and position of the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners on the issue.
• Reaffirmed LSMS Policy 10.02, which states the LSMS is opposed to the Healthy Louisiana Medicaid program and/or the Louisiana Department of Health funding of abortions.
• Adopted new policy stating the LSMS does not support work requirements as a criterion for Medicaid eligibility.
• Informed the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Litigation Center that the LSMS did not wish to be a party to an amicus brief being filed jointly by the AMA and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the case of June Medical Center v Gee. Additionally, voted to notify the AMA Litigation Center that they were free to file the amicus brief without including the LSMS if they so choose. • The board also received updates and discussed current activities related to: the new D.O. school in Monroe, HealthSYNC of Louisiana, a LSMS sponsored IPA, the LSBME, the Louisiana Patients Compensation Fund (PCF) Oversight Board, outstanding LSMS directives from 2018 and 2019, the 2018 financial and operational audit and the January 2019 financial statements of the Louisiana State Medical Society and its affiliates.
Lee Stevens, MD President
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT’S
EVP’S MESSAGE
MESSAGE
Four years after the passage of MACRA, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, over half of the physicians surveyed nationally are still either “slightly familiar”or “not at all familiar”with the law or the resulting Quality Payment Program (QPP). The LSMS does not want any Louisiana physicians to fall into either of these two categories, which is why we’ve been working hard to gather and produce resources that help our members make sure they are meeting the requirements of QPP and not being subjected to unnecessary penalties. With a patient population that’s among many of the sickest in the nation, a Louisiana physician may have to work twice as smart to get the same reimbursement as their colleagues in other states. Therefore, if you haven’t already, I urge you visit lsms.org and explore our MACRA QPP resource center in conjunction with the Physicians Advocacy Institute. Additionally, please review the recent letter we sent along with several other states to CMS outlining our on-going concerns with QPP. Last, and maybe most important, visit healthsyncla.com where you’ll glean valuable information about how our physician-led HIE product and help equip you for QPP while at the same time giving you access to missing clinical data on your patients.
JeffWilliams Executive Vice President
J LA MED SOC VOL 171 MAY 2019 5 5 J LA MED SOC | VOL 171 | NO. 1
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