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A Lunchtime Rx for your Practice
Get answers to your health policy and practice management questions from the comfort of your own desk! The Illinois State Medical Society is pleased to announce the 2009 Lunchtime Rx webinar series for physicians and their practice staffs. All you need is a computer, an Internet connection and a telephone for audio conferencing.
Beginning in February, ISMS will host eleven webinars that will be held between noon and 1:00 PM on the second Thursday of each month. All webinars will feature a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session allowing attendees to interact directly with the featured health policy or practice management expert.
The first webinar will take place on February 12 and will help physician practices assess their readiness for an Electronic Health Record. Future webinars are in the final planning stages but will include a wide range of issues designed to help your medical practice such as: preventing common payor hassles, health savings accounts, marketing your practice, Medicaid billing and compliance, front office training and strategies for working with multiple physicians.
The Lunchtime Rx series is free of charge to ISMS members and member-managers, non-members and their staffs will pay a $100 registration fee. Physicians are eligible to earn 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for attending select webinars. Each webinar also qualifies as 1 continuing education unit (CEU) for Certified Medical Manager (CMM) renewal.
Stay tuned to the ISMS web site and all publications for final webinar dates, topics and to register. E-mail Off the Charts for more information.
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Did you know?
You may have noticed Keep Doctors in Illinois wristbands and billboards around the state this summer and fall. These sightings were not a coincidence but rather part of an overall ISMS campaign to heighten public awareness of the ongoing medical litigation reform issue.
On November 13, 2008 the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, one of the three lawsuits that comprise the constitutional challenge to Illinois’ three-year-old medical litigation reform law. Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson represented the ISMS/ISMIE Mutual team at the hearing and stressed the importance of the reforms to protect patient’s access to health care.
We remain cautiously optimistic that the Illinois Supreme Court will uphold Illinois’ medical litigation reform laws. The court could issue its ruling at any time. Click here for full coverage of the constitutional challenge including video from the hearing. |
Save on Translation and Billing Services
The benefits of ISMS membership continue to grow with the recent partnership of two organizations to help you manage your practice more efficiently; CTS LanguageLink and athenahealth.
Through CTS LanguageLink’s partnership with ISMS, members pay just $1.40 per minute on telephone translation and interpretation services in over 240 languages and dialects. ISMS members can also receive competitive discounts on face-to-face interpretation, copy editing, multilingual media production and printing.
Athenahealth offers ISMS members an innovative approach to billing and practice management by combining web-based practice management and EMR software and a state-of-the-art billing, collections and service center. The result is faster payment and increased collection rates.
ISMS member practices receive a 6 percent discount from athenahealth for its athenaCollectorSM services, provided all physicians in the practice are ISMS members. These cost savings are likely to exceed the cost of ISMS annual membership dues!
For more information on these exciting programs, contact Jim Jacobsohn, ISMS Director of Outreach at 312-580-6493 or by e-mail.
Medicare's E-Prescribing Incentives
Starting in January 2009, Medicare will pay a two percent bonus to physicians who successfully e-prescribe. The Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program is new in 2009 and will phase down to one percent in 2011 and 0.5 percent in 2013 before ending.
E-prescribing is the wave of the future. In fact, beginning in 2012, physicians who do not comply will receive one percent less of their Medicare reimbursement. To qualify as a successful e-prescriber physician’s must have a qualified e-prescribing system and report an e-prescribing measure on their Medicare Part B claims in at least 50% of specified ambulatory encounters in 2009.
Visit the AMA’s Go/Hit for more information, including, FAQ’s on the CMS Incentive Program, “A Clinician’s Guide to Electronic Prescribing”, and e-prescribing updates throughout 2009.
Quick Tips for Office Staff
ISMS’ flagship publication, Illinois Medicine EXPRESS, launched a new periodic feature in its October 2008 edition. “Quick Tips for Office Staff” is in recognition of the invaluable role played by practice management staff on health care team. A wide range of issues will be covered, from risk management to staffing. Keep an eye out for future editions of IME.
Password protected links to previous “Quick Tips” are available online. ISMS member-managers are eligible to receive a user name and password to access the ISMS web site. Click here to request a user name and password for ISMS online.
Start 2009 on the Right Foot!
It’s hard to believe but 2009 is just around the corner. Why not start the New Year fresh by renewing your physician employer’s ISMS membership? Physicians and their staffs now have the ability to renew and join ISMS online.
Remember, an increase in ISMS physician membership translates into greater resources for practice managers. Click here to learn more about ISMS member benefits and the services available to ISMS member-managers.