Dr. William Casperson installation as President of the St. Clair County Medical Society at the Society’s Annual Dinner Dance on Saturday, January 29, 2011 at the St. Clair Country Club.
ISMS ANNOUNCES NEW SERIES OF LUNCHTIME RX WEBINARS
A webinar is a web-based seminar you view online. All you need is a computer, an Internet connection and a telephone for audio conferencing.
Lunchtime Rx is an educational webinar series presented by the Illinois State Medical Society (ISMS) for physicians and their practice managers. Each webinar covers a timely topic for medical practices and feature a well-informed presenter. A question-and-answer period follows. These sessions are free of charge to ISMS members and staff. Non-members pay a $100 registration fee.
The current Lunchtime Rx Webinar schedule is as follows:
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Employee Dishonesty in the Medical Practice
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Legal Considerations for HER Adoption and Usage*
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Turn your telephone communications into a
WOW experience for your patients
*The ISMS designates each live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. The ISMS is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Each webinar also meets the criteria of the Professional Association of Health Care Office Management and is approved for one CEU. If the program content relates to one or more of the eight management domains in The Body on Knowledge for Medical Practice Management, it will also qualify for continuing education credit in the ACMPE
What a Slick EHR! Jerrie K. Weith, FHFMA
Implementing an Electronic Health Record (EHR) can be an outstanding move towards improving patient care quality, documentation and access to records. While it can be a significant investment, the right EHR improves your entire practice. The key? The right EHR for you.
The right EHR isn’t the most expensive or the slickest! It’s the one that serves your purposes, fits your size practice, and gains the benefits you personally want out of your EHR. Here are a few tips on how to decide:
Decide what you need. Sounds simple enough, but often it’s hard to identify what you need.
Rank each feature in its order of importance.
Decide what else you want that may not be a “need”. Graphical representations of health data may be something that would be useful but not necessary for instance.
Again, rank each feature in its order of importance.
Is your specialty unique enough that you need a specialty-driven EHR?
How much can you invest? Upfront and on an on-going basis. Regardless of stimulus funds, there should be a return on investment (ROI) on your decision, even if some of the ROI is intangible (improved patient quality through improved lab results follow-up).
When you’ve asked these questions, you’re ready to create a Request for Proposal (RFP) and eventually talk to vendors.
Selecting the right EHR can be a daunting task. There are hundreds of options. Just as you would make any other major investment in your practice, use your office staff, contacts, colleagues and business advisors to take you through a challenging yet very rewarding decision!
Jerrie Weith is Director of AMD Health Care Services. Jerrie has worked with physicians and health care organizations of all sizes to improve physician practices. If you have questions, contact Jerrie 314-655-5558 or jweith@amdcpa.com.
Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program - Prescription Information Library
What is the PIL?
The PIL is a government run website dedicated to preventing the misuse, abuse and diversion of controlled prescription medications.
Goal
The goal of the PIL is to assist prescribers and dispensers in the effective treatment of individuals seeking medical care.
Voluntary
The program is voluntary and is intended only to assist medical providers to better serve their patients.
Easy To Use
It is minimally disruptive to healthcare providers and there is no barrier to patient therapies.
What Does The PIL Contain?
- Schedules II – V controlled substance prescriptions
- Records viewable for six months and kept on record for two years
Who Submits Prescription Data?
Retail pharmacies dispensing in Illinois report on a weekly basis
Who Can Access The Website?
Physicians
Pharmacists
Dentists
Veterinarians
Physicians Assistants and advanced Practice Nurses
Other Prescribers and Dispensers
Benefits
Health Care Focused
The PIL is an electronic tool used to assist healthcare provider with accurate patient specific data to prevent potential drug interactions or accidental overdose.
Deter Drug Abuse and Diversion
Deterring or preventing drug abuse and diversion is possible with the PIL.
Mobile Accessibility
The PIL website provides full functional availability for mobile devices.
24/7 Access
The website provides users with 24 hour and immediate access to their patients prescription history.
Prescription History Printout
The PIL allows prescribers to acquire a complete history of the prescription that have been dispensed under his or her DEA number.
Drug Treatment
The PIL provides a brief intervention form and the SAMSHA link to treatment centers on the website.
Confidentially
HIPAA compliant privacy requirements
All patient information is confidential
Indirect law enforcement access
Register
To sign up for a free account, visit https://www.ilpmp.org/. On the home page, you will find a Pharmacist Registration link and a Prescriber Registration link.
Prescription Monitoring
401 North Fourth St.
Springfield IL. 62702
Program Questions: 217.588.0943
Of Interest: Safety in the Sun
As summer 2011 nears, you should start taking extra care to protect yourself from the sun. UV, or ultraviolet, rays have the ability to damage your skin cells and cause a variety of problems, including skin spots and skin cancer. In order to help protect yourself against UV rays, avoid being in direct sunlight for extended periods of time, especially during peak hours of daylight (10:00am and 4:00pm). Also use sunscreen that has an SPF of at least 15; be sure to reapply after swimming, toweling off, or being in the sun for more than an hour and a half.
USDA and HHS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Contact: USDA (202) 720-4623
HHS (202) 690-6343
USDA and HHS Praise Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today commended the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) for the new Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response. These guidelines assist local, state and federal agencies in preventing and managing foodborne disease outbreaks through planning, detection, investigation, control and prevention.
“Improving food safety is at the forefront of President Obama’s agenda, and these Guidelines will help local, state and federal agencies to prioritize prevention, strengthen surveillance and enforcement, and improve response and recovery,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Last week the Obama Administration took an important step forward by introducing tougher standards to reduce salmonella contamination and E. coli outbreaks, and the guidelines announced today will help government agencies further that goal.”
On March 14, 2009, the President created the Food Safety Working Group, co-chaired by Secretaries Vilsack and Sebelius. The working group is charged with enhancing our food safety system by building collaborative partnerships with consumers, industry and our regulatory partners.
“I would like to thank CIFOR for their hard work and for this vital contribution toward food safety reform,” said HHS Secretary Sebelius. “The guidelines show that by working together, we can all dramatically improve our food safety system and further protect the public health. We hope to further this collaborative effort through the Food Safety Working Group.”
CIFOR is a multidisciplinary working group that includes representatives of local, state and federal agencies with expertise in the fields of epidemiology, environmental health, and laboratory science. This working group, chaired by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the National Association of County and City Health Officials, was organized to reduce the burden of foodborne illness in the United States. USDA and HHS’ agencies, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are the federal representatives to CIFOR.
The working group released a draft version of these guidelines in June 2008, which then went through a public review and comment process.
To access the guidelines and more information about CIFOR, please visit www.cifor.us.
What is a Medical Reserve Corps?
A Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a community-based network of volunteers that assists public health efforts in times of special need or disaster, e.g. during a major communicable disease outbreak,
an earthquake, flood, fire, evacuation or an act of terrorism. Members of an MRC may also volunteer their time throughout the year in order to promote community public health and education.
What does a Medical Reserve Corps do?
MRCs bring volunteers together to supplement existing local emergency plans and resources. In order to be effective during times of emergency, volunteers must be organized and trained to work in
emergency situations. The MRC is designed to provide that organizational structure and promote appropriate training of volunteers according to local community needs and vulnerabilities.
Who volunteers for a Medical Reserve Corps?
MRCs may be comprised of any variety of individuals depending on community need. Volunteers may include, but are not limited to, current or retired health professionals (such as physicians, nurses,
mental health professionals, dentists, dental assistants, pharmacists, veterinarians), social workers, communications/public relations professionals, health care administrators, clergy, etc. Bottom line –
anyone with an interest in helping their community may volunteer in their local MRC.
