Medigram - February 26, 2009 | Wisconsin Medical Society

NEWS BRIEFS

Society’s 2009 Annual Meeting scheduled for April 17-18

The Society’s 2009 Annual Meeting, April 17-18 at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison, will be one of the most memorable events of the year—and a key opportunity to make your voice heard on numerous policy issues.

At the meeting, the House of Delegates, the Society’s policymaking body, will discuss a variety of measures that seek to improve the health and safety of Wisconsin patients; promote the well-being of physicians, residents and students; improve and strengthen the practice of medicine; and protect Wisconsin’s medical liability climate.

The election of Society officers will also take place April 17, as will the inauguration of the Society’s president, Robert Jaeger, MD, for the 2009-2010 year. Read the biography of each nominee selected by the Society's Nominating Committee for Society office here.

According to the Society’s bylaws, members of the House of Delegates may make additional nominations from the floor of the House. Therefore, anyone interested in running for a Society office from the floor should plan to attend the Annual Meeting and take the appropriate steps to secure a nomination and obtain the votes of House members.

The Foundations's April 16 fundraiser and silent auction also promises to be a highlight of the Meeting. Gary Telgenhoff, MD, a consultant for the TV show “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” will give a presentation on how medicine solves crimes. Read more below.

If you are interested in serving as a delegate at the Meeting or would like to preview the policy issues on the Meeting’s agenda, make plans to attend your district caucus. Click here for the schedule of district caucuses, or for a schedule that includes meeting times for the reference committees at the Annual Meeting, click here.

For information regarding hotel-room reservations for the Meeting, contact Noreen Krueger. For directions to Monona Terrace, click here.

Society launches new legal resource for members

The Society is pleased to announce the arrival of its newest publication, A Physician’s Guide to Health Law—A Collection of Frequently Asked Questions, which replaces A Physician’s Guide to Wisconsin Health Law. This new, member publication is available exclusively through the Society’s Web site.

The Guide, organized by major topic areas, addresses a wide range of legal issues that affect health care. It includes more than 70 sections on issues such as antitrust regulations, do-not-resuscitate orders, charging for medical records, waiving copayments and deductibles, and closing or selling a medical practice. Each section is available as an individual PDF and serves as a stand-alone FAQ, which members can search by keyword, as well as print and download.

We encourage you to take advantage of this benefit of Society membership. Member login is required to explore the Guide, so if you do not remember your login information, click here for instructions.

The Society would like to thank the law firm of Quarles & Brady, which contributed to the Guide by authoring a number of the individual FAQs.

Federal stimulus bill provides funds for electronic medical records

The stimulus bill signed by President Obama February 17 allocates $19 billion for health care information technology. According to this article in Technology Review, the bulk of these funds will be structured as incentives for using electronic systems, available in the form of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

To help your practice prepare to take advantage of these reimbursements, the Society is offering a series of teleconferences to you help navigate options for electronic health systems. The first teleconference will take place March 3. For more information, click here. For your convenience, the series will be repeated in April and May as well.

QUALITY & EFFICIENCY

Making sense of alphabet soup

EHR, EMR, HIT, HIE. Health care acronyms can read like alphabet soup. And as quality improvement efforts and technology evolve, there’s a whole new glossary of acronyms physicians and health care staff should know. It’s important to learn not only what they mean but how they may be applied in a practice environment.

Consider EMR versus EHR. An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is an electronic version of a paper chart that uses electronic software as a tool to document or view patient information. Information can be entered or retrieved, but EMR programs cannot send it anywhere. An Electronic Health Record (EHR), on the other hand, can actually store the EMR, providing health care professionals the ability to:

display consistent, accurate information at multiple clinic sites,
integrate data from outside equipment, such as an EKG tracing or an accuchek reading by synching that information into the EHR,
offer clinical decision support such as allergy alerts, specific lab tests that require review or an alert indicating that the patient needs a tetanus shot.

To ensure the safe transmission of health records, it is important to select an EHR that is advanced enough to interface with other systems securely. To help physicians work through the EHR selection and implementation process, the Society is offering two teleconferences. Click here for more information. And to futher unscramble the information technology alphabet soup, click here.

CAPITOL INSIDER

Society joins statewide effort to ban workplace smoking

A major coalition of groups wishing to enact a statewide workplace smoking ban launched a multifaceted campaign Wednesday, complete with a Capitol press conference and a Web site full of materials aimed at helping individuals convince elected officials to support the ban.

The coalition, called Holding Our Breath for Smoke-Free Air, includes the American Cancer Society, SmokeFree Wisconsin, the Society and other organizations concerned about the effects of tobacco on Wisconsin citizens. One of the first action items involves supporting Governor Jim Doyle’s inclusion of a workplace smoking ban in the 2009-2011 biennial budget. Physicians have a tremendous opportunity to wield grassroots influence. Contact your elected officials in the State Assembly and State Senate and ask them to support the smoking ban.

Contact Mark Grapentine, JD, for more information.

Biennial budget raises important questions for physicians

As the Society continues to analyze Governor Jim Doyle’s 2009-2011 biennial budget submission (see last week’s Medigram for the initial review), some proposals hidden in the 1,743 page bill raise questions that could be of concern to physicians and their patients. Click here for more about the two key issues: changes to negligence treatment in circuit court cases and budget-deficit issues within the Department of Health Services.

YOUR PRACTICE. YOUR FUTURE.

Society joins AMA to oppose Red Flag Rules for physicians

The Society has joined the American Medical Association (AMA) and a number of other medical societies to voice opposition to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) application of Red Flag Rules to physicians. Read the letter the organizations sent to the FTC chairman here. To read previous Medigram summary about the Red Flag Rules, click here. To read about the delayed enforcement click here.

The FTC continues to assert that the Red Flag Rules apply to physicians and that physician offices and clinics that behave as “creditors” and maintain “covered accounts” must institute a compliance plan by May 1. The Society is preparing an informational toolkit to help physicians comply with Red Flag Rules in the event that the FTC does not alter its position before the implementation deadline. Links to the toolkit will appear in Medigram before May 1.

FOUNDATION FOCUS

2009 Foundation Fundraising Event

Reserve your seat today for the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation’s 2009 fundraising event and silent auction featuring Gary Telgenhoff, MD, consultant to the TV series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” Click here for details and the registration form.

Raffle tickets now available
Win a travel package highlighting the best of all four seasons in Wisconsin. Click here for details. Proceeds will help support the Society Foundation’s scholarship and grant programs.

Scholarship deadline approaching

The application deadline for scholarships offered by the Foundation is April 1. Scholarships are available for students in medical school and for those pursuing several types of health careers. Please pass this information on to students you know who may be eligible. Click here for details.

QUALITY CORNER

New report: ‘The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System’

Overview: This report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System offers recommendations for a comprehensive set of insurance, payment and system reforms that could guarantee affordable coverage for all by 2012, improve health outcomes and slow health spending growth $3 trillion by 2020—if enacted now and begun by 2010. Central to the Commission’s strategy is establishing a national insurance exchange that offers a choice of private plans and a new public plan, with reforms to make coverage affordable, ensure access and lower administrative costs.

Building on this foundation, the report recommends policies to change the way the nation pays for care, invest in information systems to improve quality and safety, and promote health. By stimulating competition and delivery-system changes aimed at providing more effective and efficient care, the policies could yield higher value and substantial savings for families, businesses, and the public sector. To read the report, click here.

FAQ

Question:
Who is the owner of a medical record?

Answer:
According to Wisconsin law, physicians who create medical records are generally deemed to have an ownership interest in the record, while the patient has a right of access to the information contained in the record. In the case of a solo practitioner, the individual physician owns the record. However, in the case of a clinic with two or more physicians, the clinic, rather than the individual physicians, generally owns the records. When individual physicians leave the clinic, the records remain with the clinic.

Generally, the employment agreement, partnership or operating agreement should resolve the issue of ownership of medical records. If, however, a practice does not have a partnership or operating agreement or the agreement fails to address the issue of ownership of patient medical records, then an attorney can assist the departing physician to resolve the issue of what happens to the medical records when the physician leaves the practice group or the practice dissolves.

Patients have a statutory right to the information in their medical records as well as the right to control who has access to those records. In other words, the concept is that the physician (or entity) owns the medical records, but the patients own and control the information in those records.

(Excerpted from A Physician’s Guide to Health Law—A Collection of Frequently Asked Questions. Click here to Access more FAQs. Member login is required. If you do not remember your login information, click here for instructions.)