Medigram - April 23, 2009 | Wisconsin Medical Society

TOP STORY

Dr. Robert Jaeger of Mosinee elected Wisconsin Medical Society President

Robert J. Jaeger, MD, FACOG, of Mosinee, was inaugurated as the 156th President of the Wisconsin Medical Society Friday, April 17 during the Society’s Annual Meeting at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison. He succeeds Steven Bergin, MD, of Stevens Point.

In his inaugural speech, Dr. Jaeger focused on the theme of professionalism in medicine—working to improve patient care and advance the medical profession as a whole.

“To be a professional is to make a promise to help, to keep that promise and to do so in the best interests of the patient,” said Dr. Jaeger. “Medicine is at heart a moral enterprise founded on the covenant of the patient-physician relationship.”

Doctor Jaeger, who is retired, served 30 years as a member and five-time chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Rice Clinic in Stevens Point. As a member of the medical staff of St. Michaels Hospital, Dr. Jaeger’s leadership roles included Ob/Gyn Department chair, Executive Committee, Medical Staff Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and President.

Outside the clinic, he has served as President of the Wisconsin Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and of the University of Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board. He is the past Chair of the Wisconsin Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) as well as past Chair of the College’s District VI and Chair of ACOG’s International Council of District Chairs. He currently serves on six Boards of Directors including the Stevens Point Elks Lodge and the Board of Governors of Wisconsin’s Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund.

In addition to Dr. Jaeger, Society officers and directors and AMA delegates were also elected at the Annual Meeting. For a listing, click here. Doctor Thomas J. Luetzow, MD, of Watertown was named president-elect. Click here to read more.

The following Foundation award winners were also recoginzed during the Inaugural Ceremony:

More information about Annual Meeting, including photos and video of speeches, will be posted to our Web site in the coming week.

NEWS BRIEFS

Carl Eisenberg, MD, receives Wisconsin Medical Society Director’s Award

Carl S. L. Eisenberg, of Mequon, has received the prestigious Director’s Award–the Wisconsin Medical Society’s highest honor. He accepted the award during the Society’s Annual Meeting in Madison April 17.

Doctor Eisenberg, a retired pediatrician, was recognized as being a true leader in medicine. He has served in numerous leadership roles throughout his career and has been very active in the Society during his 36-year membership. He served on the Board of Directors for nine years and has been a long-time member of the Council on Legislation in addition to serving as its chair. He has also chaired reference committees and been a member of the Society’s Nominating Committee and Policy Panel.

Click here to read more...

T. Michael Bolger receives Wisconsin Medical Society’s Presidential Citation Award

T. Michael Bolger, of Milwaukee, has received the Presidential Citation Award from the Wisconsin Medical Society. Outgoing President Steven Bergin, MD, made the presentation at the Society’s Annual Meeting in Madison April 17.

Bolger, a native of Minocqua, is the current President and CEO of The Medical College of Wisconsin.

Click here to read more...

Speak up on Society issues

A major part of the annual House of Delegates meeting is debate and action on Resolutions presented to the membership. This year, nine separate Resolutions and Board of Directors Reports have been assigned to the Society’s Councils for further review and eventual recommendation for final disposition. Click here (Login required) to see which Councils are handling those proposals. If you wish to provide your input on these issues, Council meetings are opportune times to do so. Contact Merry Earll or Mark Grapentine, JD, with any questions.

On-line toolkit now available to help with Medicare enrollment

An on-line toolkit is available to help physician practices navigate new Medicare-enrollment requirements, some of which have already begun. The toolkit, which outlines pitfalls and provides help making sense of the enrollment process, is a joint effort of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). Members of either organization may view the toolkit on the respective organizations’ Web sites.

Additional loan repayment contracts coming soon from NHSC

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Bill) recently provided an additional $196 million in funding to the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), enabling loan repayment contracts for more clinicians. To be eligible, a clinician must be fully trained and licensed, a U.S. citizen or national and working at an approved site within a designated Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). Because of the additional funds available from the Stimulus Bill, NHSC anticipates that two to three times as many loan repayment awards may be awarded this cycle and that more awards may be possible for lower-scoring HPSAs than in past years.

Additional funding for medical student scholarships is also available.

For more information, or application information, click here.

Wisconsin Literacy’s Third Biennial Health Literacy Summit available as Webcast

The Wisconsin Medical Society was a supporting sponsor of Wisconsin Literacy’s Third Biennial Health Literacy Summit, held in Madison on March 31 and April 1. The keynote address, “Advancing Health Literacy: An Opportunity to Transform Health and Health Care,” was given by Andrew Pleasant, PhD, co-author of the book Advancing Health Literacy: A Framework for Understanding and Action. The summit also included presentations titled “Developing Hospital Standards for Culturally Competent Patient-Centered Care,” “A Department of Health and Human Services Report on a National Action Plan for Health Literacy” and “Health Literacy Initiatives of the Missouri Foundation for Health”, and “The National Institute for Literacy: How it Supports Health Literacy.” To view Webcasts and PowerPoint slides of the plenary presentations, click here.

HITECH Act Breach Notification Guidance and request for public comment issued

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance on April 17, 2009 specifying the technologies and methodologies that render protected health information unusable, unreadable or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals, as required by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This guidance was developed through a joint effort by the HHS Office for Civil Rights, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

This guidance relates to two forthcoming breach notification regulations: one to be issued by HHS for covered entities and their business associates under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) (Sec. 13402 of HITECH) and one to be issued by the Federal Trade Commission for vendors of personal health records and other non-HIPAA covered entities (Sec. 13407 of HITECH). HITECH requires these regulations to be published within 180 days of enactment. If the entities subject to the regulations apply the technologies and methodologies specified in the guidance to secure information, they will not be required to provide the notifications required by the regulations in the event the information is breached.

In an effort to inform future rulemaking and guidance updates, HHS has also issued a request for information (RFI) to solicit public comment on the breach notification provisions of HITECH. The guidance and RFI are available here. Once published in the Federal Register, the guidance and RFI will also be available for public comment here.

YOUR PRACTICE. YOUR FUTURE.

Medicare-enrolled physicians must maintain documentation for seven years

Included in the 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule is a requirement that all Medicare-enrolled physicians and non-physician practitioners maintain ordering and referring documentation for seven years from the date of service. The Wisconsin Medical Society currently recommends that physicians maintain medical records for at least 10 years from the last time a patient was seen, or longer if possible. For physicians who already keep their medical records for this length of time, this Medicare requirement would create no additional burden. Click here for more information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

CAPITOL INSIDER

Medical Examining Board criticized in national study

Wisconsin’s Medical Examining Board (MEB) received a dose of criticism Tuesday as the group Public Citizen released its 2009 analysis of the nation’s medical examining boards. Because Public Citizen ranks the boards based on the rate of "serious disciplinary actions"—defined as revocations, suspensions, surrenders and probations/restrictions—and partly due to the MEB’s historic philosophy of education and rehabilitation rather than automatic punitive action, Wisconsin consistently ranks near the bottom of Public Citizen’s reports. This year is no different, with the MEB ranked 49th out of 51 entities; only South Carolina and Minnesota had a lower rate of serious disciplinary actions.

Wisconsin and Minnesota also consistently rank high in independent measures of health care quality, so the Public Citizen conclusions about the MEB are questionable. Minnesota’s reaction, for example, is essentially dismissive. Former MEB chairs Darold Treffert, MD, and Sidney Johnson, MD, coauthored a 2005 Wisconsin Medical Journal article strongly criticizing Public Citizen’s past conclusions.

For more information, contact Mark Grapentine, JD.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

New ‘Red Flag Rules’: How to protect physicians and their patients from identity theft

Medical identity theft is becoming a huge national concern. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided that the “Red Flag Rules,” part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, require physicians "that bill consumers after their services are completed, or allow payment plans, or accept insurance" have a written identity theft prevention program in place by May 1, 2009.

Join our teleconference on April 28 as Bruce G. Arnold and Mark Garsombke from the law firm Whyte Hirschboeck and Dudek S.C. walk you through the four basic requirements of the Red Flag Rules. These include procedures for verifying identity, how to identify typical “red flags” that arise when identity theft has occurred, a procedure for investigating identity-theft red flags and a procedure for mitigating the damages associated with identity theft.

There are key actions that must be taken when identity theft is discovered. If physicians do not comply with the rules, the FTC can impose civil penalties, up to $2,500 per violation.

To register, click here.

QUALITY CORNER

Luther Midelfort Mayo Health System: Laying tracks for success

In a recent analysis by The Commonwealth Fund, Luther Midelfort Mayo Health System—a physician-led, integrated health system serving west-central Wisconsin—achieved the third-highest score in the nation on a composite of 22 process-of-care measures that all hospitals report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The key components of Luther Midelfort's quality strategy include educating clinical leaders about quality-improvement concepts, then giving them time to work with teams to apply their knowledge; creating expert, interdisciplinary teams for each clinical area to determine the right content of care, then turning over the implementation to a team with expertise in designing workflow and care processes; and rapid measurement and feedback, supported by a quality resources department that coaches teams through improvement cycles. To read the case study, click here.

FAQ

Question:
Beginning in January 2009, Medicare is denying claims submitted for the administration of Albuterol and Levalbuterol provided in the office when submitted with HCPCS codes J7611- J7614. These codes were effective for payment effective April 1, 2008. There does not appear to be another HCPCS code for Albuterol and Levalbuterol in the 2009 HCPCS book that applies. Which code(s) should we use to report these services to Medicare for 2009?

Answer:
The HCPCS codes J7611-J7614 appear to have been given a status of “I” in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Database (MPFSDB) for the first quarter of 2009. Change request 6397 (Transmittal 1691) was issued by CMS on March 4, 2009. The status of HCPCS codes J7611-J7614 is changed from “I” (invalid) to “E” (excluded from physician fee schedule by regulation and typically reimbursed on reasonable charge) in this transmittal. The effective date of the change is January 1, 2009, with an implementation date of April 6, 2009. You may submit claims for reprocessing using HCPCS codes J7611-J7614 beginning April 6, 2009.

For more information, click here.

For answers to other Frequently Asked Questions about coding matters and more, click here to review our Education Department’s FAQ archive, or e-mail efaq@wismed.org.