Spring 2011
Volume 12, Issue 2
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- NEPO Encourages Health Care Providers tp Learn More About HIT by José Alberto Arévalo, MD, FAAFP
- Nominate an Outstanding Colleague for the CMA Foundation Leadership Awards by June 23, 2011
- CMA Foundation Partners with the California Diabetes Program on Team Care
- Diabetes Quality Improvement Project Holds First CME Webinar on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease
- Diabetes Webinar Series 2011
- Save the Date!
- Additional Roundtable Discussions in Los Angeles on Cervical Cancer Prevention in Latina Communities
- Linking Obesity Prevention Health Care Professional Champions to Resources in the Central Valley and Bay Areas
- County Corner: Saving Antibiotics for Humans by Steve Heilig, MPH, San Francisco Medical Society
- Corporate Advisory Spotlight: Daiichi Sankyo
- CMA Foundation Board Extends its Appreciation to Generous Contributors
- Drinking from the Well Filled by Others Before Us
1. NEPO Encourages Health Care Providers to Learn More About HIT by José Alberto Arévalo, MD, FAAFP
The future is now. NEPO wants to make sure all our Ethnic Physicians are aware of the opportunities provided by the Federal HITECH Act to assist solo and small group practice doctors to become key players in improving the quality and efficiency of our health care system through the adoption and operation of health information technology (HIT) by 2013. The HITECH Act is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and makes
available over $19 Billion in monetary incentives for solo and small group doctors to secure as much as $44,000 per doctor for Medicare or $63,750 per doctor for MediCal over a five year period by using certified electronic health records (EHR) in a meaningful way. As the current NEPO Chair and NEPO HIT Committee Chair, I am dedicated to help NEPO facilitate its outreach efforts to our Ethnic Physician Organizations and to our doctors through newly formed partnerships with the Regional Extension Centers (REC) in California; CalHIPSO, HITEC-LA and COREC and to help our EPOs and our solo/small group practices realize the importance of moving forward to electronic health records and digital technology.
Health care providers now have the guidance and technical assistance they need to not only implement electronic health records but also to use them in a meaningful way that will result in improved efficiency in their offices and higher quality of care for their patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS) have helped clear the path by adopting EHR certification criteria and by publishing meaningful use final rules in 2010.
We know that transitioning from paper to EHR can be particularly challenging for solo and small group practices who may not have technology support readily available and who may be apprehensive about learning a new system and work flow in their practice. NEPO would like to help by providing updated and reliable information about HIT and EHR transition and by connecting you to the appropriate REC or Local Extension Center (LEC) that will provide you with the technical assistance and office assessment to get you started and help you eventually become a successful and satisfied user of electronic medical data. I encourage healthcare providers to sign-up with their REC and to be part of the future of healthcare by becoming a meaningful user of a certified EHR. Please contact Phoua Moua, NEPO Project Director, at (916) 779-6636 or pmoua@thecmafoundation.org to get more information on getting connected with your REC or LEC. Visit www.ethnicphysicians.org for more information about the NEPO Project.
2.Nominate an Outstanding Colleague for the CMA Foundation Leadership Awards by June 23, 2011
The California Medical Association (CMA) Foundation is accepting nominations for the 2011 Leadership Awards which celebrate the efforts of individuals or organizations that make a difference in the health of Californians. Nominations are being accepted for the following prestigious awards: Robert D. Sparks, MD Leadership Achievement Award, Ethnic Physician Leadership Award, and the Adarsh S. Mahal, MD Access to Health Care and Disparities Award.
Please take this opportunity to acknowledge the determination and tireless work of your colleagues by submitting your nominations to the CMA Foundation by June 23, 2011. For nomination information and forms, visit the About Us section of the Foundation’s web site, www.thecmafoundation.org, and click on “Leadership Awards”. For more information, contact Carol A. Lee, Esq., President and CEO of the CMA Foundation, at (916) 779-6622 or e-mail clee@thecmafoundation.org for more information.
3.CMA Foundation Partners with the California Diabetes Program on Team Care
The CMA Foundation’s Diabetes Quality Improvement Project is partnering with the California Diabetes Program to create a new practice-based resource on team care. The Team Care Resource Guide will help practices incorporate medical assistants as part of the care team to ensure all patients with diabetes receive the best possible care. The Team Care Resource Guide will include practical tips, flowsheets, checklists, report forms and other resources to support high quality diabetes care through a more organized, systemic and coordinated approach. The California Diabetes Program was a key partner in our Diabetes Quality Collaborative (2007 – 2009), providing diabetes care coordinator training to participating practices. We are eager to work with the California Diabetes Program once again on this next phase of our project
4. Diabetes Quality Improvement Project Holds First CME Webinar on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease
The Diabetes Quality Improvement Project held its first CME webinar on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease on March 25th. 108 physicians, nurses and other health care providers registered for this program, with 25% of registrations coming from outside of California. This one-hour, no-cost program was led by Gordon Fung, MD, MPH, PhD, FACC, FAHA, FACP, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine and Director of the Asian Heart and Vascular Center. The goal of the program was for participants to understand the strong linkage between diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and learn how to reduce a patients’ risk of cardiovascular complications through lifestyle change and medication use. The webinar recording is available on-demand by going to www.thecmafoundation.org/Diabetes QI Project/Clinical Education. We wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Fung for leading our first webinar. Dr. Fung is a strong supporter of our program, serving on our Advisory Committee, workgroup on Self Care and Medication Adherence, and reviewer of our Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Provider Reference Guide (PRG).
5.Diabetes Webinar Series 2011
The following is a sample of programs we will offer in 2011. Please send Joe Mette an e-mail at jmette@thecmafoundation.org to receive notification of upcoming webinars.
• Food Insecurity and Health Literacy in Diabetes, Dean Schillinger, MD (July)
• Assessment and Management of Diabetes (July)
• Blood Pressure Control in Diabetes (August)
• Insulin Management, Dr. Kimberly Buss, MD (September)
• Team Approach to Diabetes Care (September)
• Supporting Patients in Medication Management (October)
• Promoting Cultural Competency in Diabetes (November)
6. Save the Date!
Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations (NEPO)
Ethnic Physician Leadership Summit, September 17 - 18, 2011
Contact agutierrez@thecmafoundation.org for more information
CMA Foundation 2011 President’s Reception and Awards Dinner
October 16, 2011, Anaheim, California
Contact Maria Moran at (916) 779-6640 or mmoran@thecmafoundation.org
7. Additional Roundtable Discussions in Los Angeles on Cervical Cancer Prevention in Latina Communities
In March 2011, the Cervical Cancer/HPV Project conducted two follow-up meetings to the December 9th Roundtable Discussion on Cervical Cancer Prevention in Los Angeles. The first meeting was a roundtable discussion which brought together over twenty health care professionals and representatives from Latino ethnic media to discuss current cervical cancer prevention efforts and messaging strategies to reach out to the Latino community to improve PAP screening and HPV vaccination rates. Some of the key challenges that were identified during the meeting included: identification of women who have never been screened or who have not had a Pap test in the last 5 years; the challenge of reaching new residents with cervical cancer prevention messages; the role of alternative or traditional medicine in the Latino culture; and embarrassment/fear/fatalism and misinformation. Messaging ideas focused on increasing the awareness that the Pap test does not just identify cancer but can identify pre-cancerous changes to the cervix before it becomes cancer. An additional messaging idea was to focus on the family as a whole, not just women. Messaging would focus on husbands by encouraging them to support their wives’ decision to get screened for cervical cancer. Additional messaging would focus on the entire family by encouraging them to protect their children by getting them vaccinated against HPV and other vaccine-preventable diseases.
The second meeting was a reconvening of the attendees from the December 9th meeting which include representatives from public health and community-based organizations throughout Los Angeles County and ethnic media representatives. The Foundation provided a recap of the events and media stories that were published in January to acknowledge Cervical Health Awareness Month as well as a summary of the health care professionals’ roundtable discussion. We then opened the discussion to identify specific story ideas for the Latino ethnic media in the room and possible solutions to the barriers and challenges that had been identified during all of the roundtable discussions. Some of the key ideas and solutions that were discussed during the meeting included: Using the LA County Office of Women’s Health 1-800 hotline as the main resource provided to the public for information about screening and treatment; Conducting various community meetings where a physician champion can lead a discussion about cervical cancer prevention with Latina women; Getting the topic of cervical cancer prevention incorporated into a popular telenovela; Identifying a celebrity spokesperson; and working with the Office of Women’s Health to create a list of resources for identifying cervical cancer survivors to interview for media stories. Notes from both of these roundtable discussions are posted on the Cervical Cancer/HPV Project website at http://www.thecmafoundation.org/projects/HPV/. For more information, please contact Sara Cook, MPH, Cervical Cancer and HPV Project Director at (916)779-6628 or scook@thecmafoundation.org.
8. Linking Obesity Prevention Health Care Professional Champions to Resources in the Central Valley and Bay Areas
“Obesity has grown as the days have gone by. I don’t want kids to end up with health problems and short lives,” stated Dr. Razia Sheikh, Physician Champion and Chair of the Childhood Obesity Prevention Task Force in Fresno and Madera Counties. “It’s very important to work together and to educate others.”
The Obesity Prevention Project will be working with Health Care Professional Champions (HCP), provider organizations and Network for a Healthy California Regional Collaboratives in the Central Valley and Bay Area regions to promote physical activity and healthy eating among low income, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligible families. The project will host trainings in these areas in May to help health care professionals interested in obesity prevention efforts get involved locally and to share resources to
increase obesity prevention education outreach. “Obesity Prevention is a challenging and difficult project, requiring both clinical and community interventions,” stated CMA Foundation Board Chair Dexter Louie, MD. “Physicians can and should be both Health Care Professional Champions and Community Leaders in promoting and achieving healthy behavioral and environmental changes.”
Please contact the Obesity Prevention Project Staff at (916) 779-6631 or visit, www.thecmafoundation.org/projects/phyChampion.aspx if you would like to join Dr. Sheikh and Dr. Louie as Health Care Professional Champions in their efforts to fight obesity.
9. County Corner: Saving Antibiotics for Humans by Steve Heilig, MPH, San Francisco Medical Society
Antibiotics might be the single most important and widely used medical discovery yet devised. But as any good biologist or physician knows, many pathogenic bacteria mounted a Darwinian “backlash” against these medications as soon as humans deployed them, with resistance to penicillin developing almost immediately and the problem worsening ever since. The CMA Foundation, through its AWARE Project, and others have long worked to improve physician prescribing in order to mi-nimize the development of resistance; more recently, efforts to minimize another contributing factor have gained steam.
About a decade ago, a science-based advocacy group, the Union of Concerned Scientists, released a report indicating that up to 70% of all antibiotics manufactured in this country were used not in humans, but in animals on farms. There, antibiotics are used in this routine mass manner both as prophylaxis and as growth promoters. This surprising finding spurred much discussion and some action; the San Francisco Medical Society drafted and submitted a policy resolution urging curtailed use in agriculture, which was adopted by both the CMA and AMA. The SFMS also convened an invitational
conference on the topic, co-chaired by two living legends of medicine and public health, Philip R. Lee MD and
Lester Breslow MD. The meeting resulted in multiple publications and recommendations and a sense of
urgency regarding the issue.
Given that low-level, prolonged use is most likely to breed resistance, it has not been surprising the research has continued to show growing resistance and to trace
pathogens originating in agriculture to humans. Proposed national legislation to curtail overuse has had a tough political haul, but the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA, H.R. 965) has been reintroduced for the 112th Congress in the House by Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY). Over 375 organizations have endorsed PAMTA, including the AMA, American Public Health Association, and many medical specialty societies. The SFMS has continued to monitor progress in this effort and to disseminate information to physicians and legislators. We will continue to do so as a two-pronged effort to improve both human and medical use is essential to preserve this “magic bullet” for lifesaving uses. For more information, see: http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/wise_antibiotics/.
10. Corporate Advisory Spotlight: Daiichi Sankyo
A pharmaceutical company where vision and social responsibility make a world of difference.
At Daiichi Sankyo, we’re dedicated to making the world a healthier place. We develop innovative medicines that improve outcomes for patients around the world. But our commitment goes even further. We’re helping to bring a world of difference to our neighbors through community partnerships. Contributions from Daiichi Sankyo helped build a world-class cardiovascular medical center, fund an award-winning pharmacy services program to improve health outcomes, and support a mobile healthcare van…just a few of the ways we’re helping patients and communities build healthier lives.
A pharmaceutical company where vision and social responsibility make a world of difference.
To discover more, visit www.dsi.com.
11.CMA Foundation Board Extends its Appreciation to Generous Contributors
Making a donation to the CMA Foundation is quick and easy. Visit our secure web site and help improve the health of all Californians. Contact Carol A. Lee, Esq. at (916) 779-6622 for more information.
Every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of the CMA Foundation contributors whose donations were received from January 1, 2011 through March 31, 2011. If you discover an error, please accept our sincere apology and contact us.
Appeal/Event
1. General Contribution
2. Leadership Circle
3. Monthly Giving Club
4. Holiday Solicitation
5. Hoops for Health
6. Newsletter
7. Medical Student Grant
Program
Permanent Funds
A. Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations
Benefactors ($1,000+)
Aetna (1)
F. Jay Crosson, Jr., MD & Sharon Levine, MD (2)
L. A. Care Health Plan (A)
Lilly USA (1)
Los Angeles County
Medical Association (5)
Dexter Louie, MD (2)
NORCAL Mutual Insurance
Company (1, 7)
Dr. Ralph & Mrs. Bonnie
Ocampo (2)
Dr. William & Mrs. Debbi Ricks (2)
Patrons ($500-$999)
Facy Medial Group (5)
James Lally, DO (1)
Michael Ranahan, MD (4)
Friends ($100-$499)
American College of
Physicians – CA (1)
Drs. James
& Linda Clever (6)
Barbara Elmendorf (1)
Steven Fugaro, MD (2)
John Jameson, MD (6)
Terry Lee, MD (6)
Dr. Chuck
& Mrs. Elissa Maas (3)
Cesar Ramos, MD (4)
UCLA American Medical
Association Chapter (5)
Supporters (up to $99)
Hossein Albjal (5)
Kiran Alluri (5)
Fernando Alvarez (5)
Eric Bernman (5)
In Honor of Martha Evelyn Allen
Vibya Bhatnagar (5)
AJ Couvrette (5)
Jeremy DeMartini (5)
Armen Derian (5)
Dillon Desai (5)
Mark Duncan (5)
Heidi Flori, MD (4)
Victor Gabriel (5)
Ajay Gurbani (5)
Hamed Hafizi (5)
Bonnie Hamilton, MD (3)
Rachel Hogen (5)
In Honor of Rachel Smith and Dr. Hertzka
Kyle Hyman (5)
Mark Joyce (5)
Andrew King (5)
John Lynch, Jr., MD (4)
Mac McCullough (5)
Ajit Mannan (5)
Akhtr Massood (5)
Branden Mogler (5)
Amit Pandey
Matthew Ronconi (5)
Ara Rostomian (5)
Kimberly Schrage, MD (3, 4)
Steven Seyedin (5)
Andrew Tsiu (5)
Brantley Watson (5)
Lauren Wolchok (5)
Leadership Circle
The Leadership Circle Recognizes individuals who contributed $1,000 or more to the CMA Foundation during the past year.
Barbara Arnold, MD
Valerie Barnes, MD
Richard Butcher, MD
F. Jay Crosson, MD
Martin Fishman, MD
Steven Fugaro, MD
Dev GnanaDev, MD
Dr. James and Mrs. Bonnie Hinsdale
Carol A. Lee, Esq.
Dexter Louie, MD
Rolland Lowe, MD
Dr. Chuck & Mrs. Elissa Maas
Anmol Mahal, MD
J. Mario Molina, MD
Dr. Ralph and Mrs. Bonnie Ocampo
Joshua Pulliam
Dr. William and Mrs. Debbi Ricks
Robert Sparks, MD
Drs. Satinder and Venzila Swaroop
George Usi
Hugh Vincent, MD
Robert Wailes, MD
Corporate Advisory Committee
The CMA Foundation extends its thanks to the following Corporate partners who support our endeavors and enable us to continue to provide high quality programs.
Benefactors
AMGEN USA
GlaxoSmithKline
Genentech, Inc.
Kaiser Permanente
Lilly USA
NORCAL Mutual
Insurance Company
Partners
Abbott Laboratories
CVS CareMark
Endo Pharmaceuticals
IMS Health
Johnson & Johnson
The Doctors Company
Friends
Aetna, Inc.
Arent Fox, LLP
Daiichi Sankyo
McKesson Corporation
Miller Health Law Group
Nehemiah
Corporation of America
Parker, Milliken, Clark, O’Hara & Samuelian, a Professional Corp.
Pfizer
Warner Chilcott Pharmaceuticals
The CMA Foundation wishes to thank the following organizations for their support of CMA Foundation projects through grants of $5,000 or more from January 1, 2011- March 31, 2011.
CalHIPSO
California Department of Public Health – Office of Multicultural Health
Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.
GlaxoSmithKline
McKesson Corporation
Merck, Inc.
National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality
The California Endowment
12. Drinking from the Well Filled by Others Before Us by H. Hugh Vincent, MD
People often ask ‘Why did you become a doctor’? My answer is the advice I frequently give young folks starting out: study and do the things that are fun and excite you and then keep going until you find something that you would do for fun even if you weren’t paid to do it.
I was a ranch kid with an interest in science so everyone assumed I’d become a veterinarian. I was blessed with a very supportive family and teachers who continued to excite me about the wonders to be found in science and nature. That excitement continues to this day and I am eternally grateful to those who made it possible for me to become a physician. A good education was key. And key to that is good family support, good health, good nutrition and opportunity. And opportunity is dependent in part on financial support.
My focus with the CMA Foundation (and American Medical Association Foundation ) is in activities that support any of these factors vital to making an education and career a reality for every child – good nutrition and health, strong families and scholarship support.
I have had a happy and successful life because of those who encouraged and nourished me. I have drunk deeply from the well that was filled by others before me. I try to live by the admonition given to me years ago by Rolland Lowe, MD: “Remember that we have all taken from the well and it is our obligation to replenish it for those who follow us.”
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