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Nov. 18, 2015 | Issue 126 |
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Government Affairs and Practice Advocacy
State Budget Impasse Nearly Resolved?
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Since Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed the legislature’s budget on July 1, negotiations and legislative maneuvers have kept the executive office and the legislature busy. The main components of the debate have boiled down to these items: an overall spending limit, sales and property tax reform, new primary education monies, liquor sales reform, and public pension reform. We are nearing the sixth month of the stalemate. Should the debate linger into 2016, it is possible that a two-year package covering fiscal years 2015-2017 could be contemplated. The Senate has just three session days scheduled after this week.
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Education
Obesity, Vaccines, Pain: Free CME Available Online
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You may have missed the PAFP’s Allentown CME Conference, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait until the next PAPF live event to get valuable, high-quality CME credits. Our online CME covers a multitude of clinically relevant topics like pain management, obesity, vaccines, and hypertension, presented by experts on each topic. Much of the lectures qualify for patient safety credit, and best of all, the vast majority of the CME is free! Click here for more.
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Public Health
Doctors, Please Get the Flu Vaccine
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendation that everyone over age 6 receive the flu vaccine especially extends to doctors and health care professionals. But Medscape reports there's a lot of room for improvement in this area - 23 percent of health care workers remain unvaccinated. We would love to see every family physician in Pennsylvania protected from the influenza virus this flu season!
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Quality Improvement
Free Webinar: CMS 2015-2017 Modification, Stage 3 Rules
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The Pennsylvania Office of Medical Assistance Programs is hosting a free webinar, CMS 2015-2017 Modification and Stage 3 Rules, at 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 pm today (Wednesday, Nov. 18). Main topics to be discussed are modifications to the 2015-2017 rule, including an overview of changes and requirements, public health objective, and the updated timeline. You’ll also learn pre-payment documentation and revalidation. Join the webinar here. If you can’t make it, the webinar will also be archived on pa.gov for future viewing.
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Residents and Students
Resident and Student Leadership; Research Day
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Leadership: Resident and student leaders successfully proposed their own recommendations for new governance within their assemblies to the PAFP Board of Directors on Nov. 6. Stay tuned for details – more opportunities for students and residents to get involved in leadership, advocacy, and education! Details will be finalized and released widely early 2016.
Research Day, March 12, 2016, Pittsburgh: This annual event brings together students, residents, fellows, and faculty presenting their original research on topics relevant to family medicine: quality improvement, prevention, public health, case presentations, and more. Online registration and abstract submission form will be available very soon at www.pafp.com.
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Are You or a Friend 'Family Physician of the Year' Material?
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You are a family physician – the person patients trust most when they’re not feeling well, when they have questions about their health, when they need everything from vaccinations to prescriptions. There are thousands of excellent family physicians in Pennsylvania, and we want to hear why you think you or a colleague is the best of all – maybe you’ll be chosen as the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians’ 2016 Family Physician of the Year!
Jan. 15, 2016 is the deadline for entries to the PAFP’s 2016 Family Physician of the Year contest – be sure to read the contest rules on www.pafp.com/topdoc.
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