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Some highlights from the current issue of MMS Vital Signs this week we want to share with you:
posted March 7, 2021
DOI and MassHealth listening sessions on telehealth provisions
The Massachusetts Division of Insurance (DOI) and MassHealth have scheduled information sessions (see below) to discuss the implementation of telehealth provisions of the new state health care law (Chapter 260 of the Acts of 2020) enacted on January 1, 2021. During these information sessions, DOI and MassHealth are interested in hearing from physicians, consumers, insurance carriers, and other interested parties about guidance that the Division of Insurance and MassHealth might provide through bulletins, regulations, or other communications to allow for the implementation of the new provisions.
The Massachusetts Medical Society will actively engage in each session, advocating on behalf of physicians.
• Friday, March 12, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.. Topics: Definitions of primary care, chronic care, behavioral health care, and “health care services appropriate to be provided through telehealth”
• Wednesday, March 31, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.. Topics: Reimbursement and billing
• Wednesday, April 14, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.. Topics: Utilization review for telehealth and telehealth standards to be added to managed care accreditation reviews
To join the Zoom meetings click here.
• Meeting ID: 290 289 5643
• Passcode: 501
Join via telephone: (646) 558-8656 ET or (646) 518-9805 ET
• Meeting ID: 290 289 5643
• Passcode: 501
Upcoming MMS CME Program on Risk Management
Reducing the Risk of Medical Errors and Mistakes
To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, published in 1999, the Institute of Medicine defined medical errors as the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim. That report found that adverse drug events, improper transfusions, surgical injuries and wrong-site surgery, suicides, restraint-related injuries or death, falls, burns, pressure ulcers, and mistaken patient identities are some of the most common medical errors. This course explores these common medical mistakes, studies around medical errors, and their impact on patients, safety and the practice of medicine.
Updated guide for medical office safety during & beyond COVID-19
An updated guide to creating and maintaining safe medical offices practices during the pandemic and beyond is now available from the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety.
The straightforward, 16-page guide synthesizes current guidance and was created in partnership with the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) and the Board of Registration in Medicine. It provides links to a curated set of tools and resources on risk reduction, communicating with patients, office space and supplies, telehealth, and more. Resources to support clinicians, staff, and patients are included. The MMS Committee on the Quality of Medical Practice and Committee on the Sustainability of Private Practice contributed to and reviewed the guide’s content.
