Pediatric Obesity and Related Comorbidities - A Primary Care Approach

Special Conference

May 19, 2012

8:00 am to 1:30 pm

Children's Hospital Central California, Madera

This hands-on, interactive conference will explore the benefits of a family-centered approach to tackling childhood obesity. With the help of pediatric endocrinologists, pediatric dieticians, educators and pediatric exercise physiologists we will look at the elements and tools that are needed to develop an effective primary care-centered model.

Includes physician and patient toolkit

Free registration includes all materials and service. For details or early registration contact Irene Mueller or Brooke von Ah at programs@childrenscentralcal.org or by phone at 559-353-6621.

Three new video modules from the AMA show physicians how completing practice workflow analyses can increase quality of care and safety, mean more time spent with patients and possibly increase revenue.

The online tutorials, available for continuing medical education (CME) credit, provide information to physicians about the link between workflow redesign and the effective use of health information technology (IT). The short videos help physicians and practice staff in small practices make decisions regarding health IT.

The seven-minute-long videos cover:

•Electronic prescribing.
•Pre-visit planning.
•Point-of-care documentation.

The videos cover the benefits and processes involved in installing an ePrescribing system and how pre-visit planning can save time and money and help you improve the service you provide to your complex, high-utilization patients. They also show how point-of-care documentation yields time savings for physicians, patients and practice operations. Physicians and patients have more time to engage and document shared care plan decisions.

"Physician practices may need to redesign and reorganize their office routines so that they can successfully and efficiently adopt health IT," said AMA President Peter W. Carmel, MD. "The AMA created these tutorials to help physicians understand how to best implement new technologies, such as ePrescribing, into their practices."

The modules were created by the AMA and TransforMED, a nonprofit subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians. These activities have been certified for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. View the tutorials.

CalHIPSO Enrollment Closing on February 29, 2012

Time is Running Out to Take Advantage of CalHIPSO’s FREE Core Services to Achieve Meaningful Use!

Primary Care Providers who join CalHIPSO before February 29th are eligible to receive free core services from Lumetra Healthcare Solutions, the Local Extension Center assigned to your Practice.

Membership in CalHIPSO includes the following benefits:

·         Primary Care Providers are eligible to receive free core services for implementing an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system as well as assistance with up to 10 providers achieving Stage 1 Meaningful Use

·         Access to group purchasing discounts, education and training, and other CalHIPSO services at no charge until January 2014

·          Primary Care Providers  have their membership fees waived until January 2014

·         Complimentary 1-year HIMSS membership included in your CalHIPSO membership

Please see the following documents:

1.       CalHIPSO Enrollment Agreement – As we mentioned last night, Pediatricians are eligible for free services from the Lumetra Local Extension Center in order to assist your practice implement an EHR and attest to Meaningful Use.  Enrollment closes on February 29, 2012 so we recommend you return this document to us as soon as possible. 

2.       Meaningful Use Requirements Checklist – A summary document is attached as discussed.

Only a small number of available openings remain for enrollment. If you are interested in enrolling please complete the Provider Enrollment Agreement and email it to Jeff Gutman at the email address below at your earliest convenience.

Email: jgutman@lumetrasolutions.com

Fax: (415) 354-5604

Information for Pediatric Meaningful Use Payments (Medi-cal Only):
The total for pediatricians who meet the 20% patient volume but fall short of the 30% patient volume is $14,167 in the first year and $5,667 in subsequent years. This adds up to a maximum Medicaid EHR incentive payment of $42,500 over a six-year period.

Additional Resources:
For more information on the EHR incentive program, see:  http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/  on the CMS website.  (Pub# 954759, 4)

Also please note the following:

·         Medi-Cal providers who are planning to earn the Medi-Cal Incentive for payment year 2011 DO have until March 31, 2012 to register at the National Level.

·         Medicare providers DO have to have their registrations and attestations completed by February 29, 2012 for the 2011 payment year.

Providers can now view the member's current assigned participating medical group when looking up eligibility online.

Blue Cross Notice

The Board of Trustees along with President and CEO Mark Wietecha are excited to share the merged organization of former CHCA, NACHRI and N.A.C.H. has a new name, logo and mission. Our new identity solidifies our forward vision as a single organization, with one voice and a common purpose.

Announcement

FluMist® Now Available Through Child Health Advantage

The Child Health Advantage (CHA) program is pleased to announce the addition of MedImmune’s FluMist to our vaccine portfolio. Members are now able to purchase FluMist at a 5% discount off the List Price of $19.95.

To access pricing, current members need only complete the LOP and return it to CHA.

For more information, please contact the membership coordinator at (913) 981-4452 or advantage@chca.com.

Fluvirin is available to order for the 2012-2013 Influenza Season.

• ChildNet Members can take advantage of discounted pricing on Fluvirin, as well as Menveo, RabAvert and Ixiaro. To find out more visit Child Helath Advantage at: http://www.childhealthadvantage.com/vaccines/Novartis.aspx
• To order vaccines visit Novartis Direct at https://www.novartisvaccinesdirect.com/Index

CMS has expanded and enhanced their online presence at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) by debuting a new look and feel for CMS.gov, and launching a brand-new site for the Medicaid program, Medicaid.gov, as well as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. To see the new sites follow the links below.

• CMS: http://www.cms.gov/
• MediCaid: http://www.medicaid.gov/
• CMS Innovation: http://www.innovations.cms.gov/

Updates for December

• Injectible Medication HCPCS/DOFR Crosswalk Reference Table Updated (12/5/11)
• Medical Policies - Third Quarter 2011 (12/8/11)
• HIPAA 5010 Claim Standards Require Street Address for Billing Provider Address (12/21/11)   

* To access updates from Health Net, please follow link - https://www.healthnet.com/portal/home.do. Once on the HealthNet site, select "I'm a Provider" and choose California. Log in to My Health Net. Choose Provide Library, when Select Provider Library page loads click go on the bottom. On the left side of the PPG...Library page select Updates and Letters. All Health Net provider updates for 2011 and prior are available to view.

When it comes to the possible link between acetaminophen and asthma, the most prudent response might be "first, do no harm." That's the advice offered in a review of recent clinical studies on the issue. Acknowledging the challenge facing pediatricians, policy makers, and professional organizations in the absence of incontrovertible evidence, the review advocates that physicians advise any child with asthma or a family history of asthma to avoid using acetaminophen. What clinical studies led to that view?

Diagnosis is in the eye of the beholder, at least for autism spectrum classification, suggests a recent study. A wide variation in the assignment of specific diagnostic categories of autism spectrum disorders was found across 12 university-based centers, despite similar distribution of scores on standardized diagnostic instruments. Find out why researchers believe the results support eliminating the existing categories in favor of dimensional descriptions of affect, behavior, language, and cognition.

No one would blame you if you wanted to call those vaccine-hesitant parents and say, "I told you so." So far this year, the United States has seen 212 cases of measles, the largest number of cases in 15 years, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Of those infected, 99% were unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. You probably can guess what group of children was most endangered by the lack of herd immunity.

For the last 20 years, lipid screening has been recommended only for children with a family history of heart disease or high cholesterol. Now, you probably should add it to your routine screening list. The American Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed new government-issued guidelines that suggest that the older protocol misses too many children (from 30%-60%) and instead advocate universal screening. Find out when patients should be screened and the rare circumstances under which a statin should be prescribed. » More

EHR outlook's Guide to EHR Adoption Resources for Physicians

EHRoutlook.com presents a free download of some of our favorite, most useful sites and articles offering tools for EHR success. With this free download, you"ll get information on:

•General EHR background – find out where you can go to get the help you need with EHR implementation, success and more
•Building a medical home – if used correctly, EHRs can act as an important building block to a medical home, find out how
•Process improvement – learn how to strengthen your practice management skills!
•Resources by stage of EHR adoption – whether you're just getting started with your research, preparing to buy an EHR or struggling to tame your system, we've got you covered

 

Download Novartis Fall Promotion notice