Welcome to the Colorado Medical Society

Register for June 3 webinar on the HIPAA omnibus rule

Make plans to participate in a free webinar on the final HIPAA omnibus rule, which makes a number of changes including modifying the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules passed under the HITECH Act. The Colorado Medical Society will present the hour-and-a-half event on Monday, June 3, starting at 6 p.m. It's part of CMS' Practice Evolution Series and will instruct physicians and their practice teams on what they need to do to meet the strict patient privacy and data security requirements.

Don't be left in the dark on the details of this critical rule and how it will impact your practice. Plan on attending an engaging and informative webinar with David Ginsberg, a leading authority in HIPAA privacy and security compliance and meaningful use. Click here to register.
Gov. Hickenlooper signs prior authorization reform bill into law

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed SB13-277 into law on May 15 in a bill signing ceremony at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins. The bill, by Sen. Irene Aguilar and Rep. Joann Ginal, puts in place a collaborative process for prior authorization, will provide patients with the medicines they need in a more timely fashion, and will reduce the administrative complexity of the prior authorization process.

CMS President Jan Kief, MD, attended the ceremony and expressed her gratitude to Sen. Aguilar, Rep. Ginal and Gov. Hickenlooper. Click here to read her full statement.
CMS announces support of Governor’s wellness plan

The Colorado Medical Society announced full support for a work plan released May 6 by Gov. John Hickenlooper titled, “The State of Health: Colorado’s Commitment to Become the Healthiest State.” The governor released the plan at a press event. CMS board member Bianca Pullen, left, was in attendance.

The CMS Board of Directors reviewed the plan and voted at their meeting on Friday, May 3, to support the governor’s vision and actively participate in advancing the goals put forth in the plan. Over the coming months, CMS will educate members on the plan, provide resources on healthy living and ways physicians can participate in public and patient education, partner with other stakeholders, and encourage physicians to lead by example by living a healthy lifestyle.

Click here to access a PDF of the report
Click here to read a statement by CMS President Jan Kief, MD
Click here to read a press release on CMS’ support
CMS Spring Conference: May 3-5 in Vail

Thank you to all who joined us for the 2013 Spring Conference, May 3-5, 2013, at the Sonnenalp in Vail, Colo. We hope you will be able to implement some of the action steps recommended by our experts to transform your practice, increase quality of care, increase your career satisfaction and improve your bottom line.

The presentations are now available on the Spring Conference page. Click here. If you do not receive a link by e-mail to the CME evaluation form for CME credit by Tuesday, May 7, e-mail info@cms.org. And watch for the Spring Conference report, including video segments from the lectures.
CMS members featured in NPR series on gun safety

Colorado Public Radio aired a two-part series Feb. 26-27 on Colorado doctors who’ve dealt with gun violence in their practice. The first, “Doctors on Front Line of Gun Violence in Colorado,” features several CMS members including Dr. Jack Cletcher, a retired orthopedic surgeon from Longmont; CMS President Dr. Jan Kief; and CMS President-elect Dr. John Bender. The second, “Family Doctors, Guns, and Suicide,” features Dr. Frank Dumont, a family physician in Estes Park.

Click here to listen to “Doctors on Front Line of Gun Violence in Colorado”
Click here to listen to “Family Doctors, Guns, and Suicide”
CME available: Educate yourself on the opioid crisis and learn how to manage the risk of abuse

The Colorado School of Public Health presents an online, evidence-based professional development activity accredited for two credits of CME and approved for COPIC points that examines the best practices and universal precautions for treating chronic pain.

“The Opioid Crisis: Guidelines and Tools for Improving Chronic Pain Management” was developed specifically for Colorado health care providers. The interactive course leads the learner through guidelines for assessing patients, developing a comprehensive treatment plan, initiating an opioid trial and regimen, monitoring patients, and strategies to manage the risk of opioid abuse, overdose, and diversion.

An accompanying Chronic Pain Toolkit also includes resources for clinicians to use to help them manage chronic pain patients including sample patient questionnaires and contracts, assessment tools, applications for calculating morphine equivalent doses, and more.

The toolkit and content were developed by an independent, expert panel and these resources are largely based on the Colorado guidelines. CMS and the Colorado School of Public Health encourage every Colorado physician involved in treating non-cancer chronic pain to participate in this and other educational activities to reduce unnecessary opioid prescriptions and mitigate the risk for abuse.

To access the CME activity, click here. To access the toolkit, click here.

 

 

The Colorado Medical Society is a nonprofit organization whose membership comprises the majority of physicians and medical students in Colorado. The society's mission is to promote the science and art of medicine the betterment of public health, and the welfare of Colorado physicians and their patients. For membership information, click here.