Pub. 3 2019 Issue 1

Nicole Clark, MD PRES I DENT’S MESSAGE C hange. For some of us that is a positive word. For many of us, we cringe when we hear it — especially in medicine. Regardless of which group you fall into, change is inevitable in the world of medicine. The things we used to prescribe for our patients 15 years ago to treat diabe- tes mellitus has changed. Every time there is an “update” in my EMR, something changes. And let’s not even start with insur- ance companies and formularies! Sometimes the changes are welcomed and other times it makes you question your choice of career. Change is the best word to describe the past year for me as president of the Utah Academy of Family Physicians. At the state level, there were some big changes. Voters turned out in the midterm elections to legalize medical marijuana. I personally think this is a BIG change for our state. It has raised as much excitement as concern over what this means among both the general population and medical communities. It is still a work in progress in terms of who will qualify for it, who will be prescribing it, who will produce it, and how it will get to patients. I do think it will result in changes for some family medicine practices. It also may change the lives of many of our patients. I have had several of my patients ask about it, as I am sure many of you have had as well. Where are we going to get the information to decide how it will fit in our practices? The UAFP can and will be a resource to turn to, to help with many of these questions. Another big change in the state as a result of the voter’s voice was Medicaid expansion. This will likely have a major impact on our practices as 70,000-90,000 adult Utahns will now have coverage under Medicaid. Many new enrollees will seek care in our offices who have not been eligible in the past. They will bring new problems and new challenges to already stretched providers. It may cause some practices to consider capping the number of Medicaid patients they accept. How will your practice adjust? The UAFP can be a resource for you. Finally, a bill passed allowing pharmacists in the state of Utah the ability to dispense OCPs to patients without a prescrip- tion from a physician. This has led to concerns in the family medicine community on encroachment on our practice of medicine as well as concern for our patients. The UAFP was able to work with the legislature to assure that there were some criteria and limitations put in place to address many of the concerns you raised in a survey we sent out last year. On the national level, there are always changes. The AAFP has worked with CMS on the future changes to the E/M codes that will decrease the burden of documentation, but also change the payment for these new codes. There is a new blended model which is more beneficial to primary care than the original proposal to essentially average levels 2 through 5 E/M codes to one payment for new and estab- lished patients. Furthermore, the rollout has been delayed until 2021. More to come on that in the future. Another big change the AAFP has worked on is the challenge of maintaining certification for most family physicians. Time and time again, the membership voiced their frustrations with the financial and time burden all of the MOC activities required AND the test every 10 years. The AAPF leadership has worked closely with the ABFM (a completely separate en- tity) to come up with the new Family Medicine Certification Longitudinal Assessment (FMCLA) pilot as an alternative track to the traditional MOC and test. Currently this is only available to those who are due to certify in 2019 but if it is successful, this may change the way we maintain our board certification. The UAFP has had big changes this year within our own office. In 2018 we said a sad good-bye to both our Executive Direc- tor and Program Director within a few months of each other. We were very fortunate to welcome Maryanne Martindale as our new ED and Barbara Muñoz as our PD. Both come from strong backgrounds of working for nonprofit organizations. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to help us move forward to grow the UAFP and provide more services to our members and patients. Already they have started the “Weekly Beat” on Fridays to keep you updated on quick, but relevant information — check your email, it’s there! The UAFP website will be getting an update and many of the changes that are coming will make it easier to navigate. Hopefully it will become a go-to resource for everything family medicine in the state of Utah. They are working on improving our CME & Ski to meet your educational needs. Please reach out to Maryann and Barb with any questions; they really are fabulous. I have been very honored to be your president, but my year has come to an end. Like I said, change is inevitable. In this case, I can promise you that this change will be very beneficial to all of you. Your new president for the next year, Dr. Kyle Jones, is an exceptional leader, physician, and person. He will be a power- ful voice for you on the local, state, and national levels. Thank you. Nicole A. Clark, MD, FAAFP 5 |