MSSNY eNews: March 3, 2021 – Can I Order Vaccine?


MLMC Banner



Please Submit Names of Doctors and Family Members Who Lost Their Lives During COVID-19
Doctors Day is March 30. This year, to honor our physicians and family members who died of COVID-19 in 2020-2021, MSSNY is designing a poster with the names that are submitted. Please send the names to jvecchione@mssny.org


Open Payments National Provider Call
Thursday March 25, 2020 2:00pm – 3:00pm (ET)

REGISTER HERE

Join the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on March 25, 2020 for an informative session on the Open Payments Program and the upcoming review, dispute, and correction processes.

Reporting entities are currently submitting data to the Open Payments system on payments or transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals during 2020.  Beginning in April, physicians and teaching hospitals have 45 days to review and dispute records attributed to them. CMS will publish the Open Payments Program Year 2020 data and updates to previous program years in June 2021.

During this call, learn about the Open Payments program and how to access the system to review the accuracy of the data submitted about you before it is published on the CMS website.

A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation.

Topics:

  • Overview of the Open Payments Program
  • Program Timeline
  • Program Roles
  • Registration Process

Target Audience: physicians, teaching hospitals and office staff.

CMS requests that all press inquiries related to this call and the Open Payments program are sent to the CMS press office mailbox at press@cms.hhs.gov. Please include your professional contact information, specific concerns, and your deadline.

Note: The Review and Dispute period is targeted to begin on April 1, 2021 and end on May 15, 2021


ClearClix Banner


Volunteer Opportunity for MSSNY Members’ Children
During this ongoing pandemic, considerable additional responsibility has fallen on women, especially those who have had to become more involved in their children’s education due to remote schooling and limitations on childcare.

As a solution to this problem, the MSSNY Women Physicians Committee is launching a Virtual Volunteer Homework Assistance Program.  

Do you have high school or college students who would be interested in helping other members’ children with K-12 homework? This is a great volunteering and community service opportunity.

Do you have school age children (K – 12) who could use a helping hand with homework?

If so, please contact sbennett@mssny.org. Tell us if your child will be a tutor or a tutee, and include their email address.

  1. For tutors, state the subjects with which they would like to work (e.g., elementary math, middle school English, high school biology, etc.).
  2. For tutees, tell us the subjects with which they are most in need of support.

We will match up pairs as best we can. Tutors and tutees can then make the arrangements that work best for them. Sessions can be half an hour to an hour per week, depending on subject and participant choice, and can be held on the same day and time.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Rose Berkun, MD and Maria Basile, MD
Co-Chairs, MSSNY Women Physicians Committee


Have You Used the MTG Lookup Tool Yet?
This is a reminder of the availability of a recently released tool that is available in the Medical Portal related to the Workers’ Compensation Board’s New York Medical Treatment Guidelines (MTGs).

The MTG Lookup Tool allows users to quickly determine whether a particular condition or treatment/test combination is “Recommended,” “Not Recommended” or “Conditional,” according to the MTGs. When a treatment/test name is selected, the relevant section of the full MTGs for that condition will display. This online tool will help speed treatment decisions and ultimately provide more effective and efficient care for injured workers.

The MTG Lookup Tool also has a feature for use by providers that produces a Verification Summary document (PDF) that confirms a lookup was completed, provides treatment recommendations for that condition, and displays patient-specific case information. This document can be kept by the health care provider or attached to any request for service or medical bill being sent to an insurer as verification that the treatment adheres to the recommendations set forth in the MTGs.

To support the timely delivery of medical care consistent with the MTGs, the Board has made the MTG Lookup Tool available to all Board-authorized providers. For other stakeholders interested in utilizing the Lookup Tool, after logging into the Board’s Medical Portal and selecting “MTG Lookup Tool” on the Treatment card, you will be given contact information for ReedGroup to purchase a license for the tool. If you are an insurer that has previously licensed the ReedGroup Medical Treatment Guidelines in other states, you may be able to access the NYS MTGs via the Lookup Tool at no additional charge.

The MTG Lookup Tool is available for the following MTGs:

  • Elbow Injuries
  • Foot and Ankle Injuries
  • Hip and Groin Injuries
  • Hand, Wrist and Forearm Injuries (including Carpal Tunnel Syndrome)
  • Occupational Interstitial Lung Disease
  • Occupational/Work-Related Asthma
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Major Depressive Disorder

The full MTGs are available on the Board’s website and accessible via the Medical Portal.

To access the Medical Portal and these resources, visit the Board’s website at wcb.ny.gov and select “Medical Portal” from the Online Services menu at the top of the homepage.


Allergic Reactions to Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines Can Get J&J Shot as Dose, CDC
Patients who had an allergic reaction to their first dose of either Moderna’s or Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine could get Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as their second dose, a CDC scientist said March 1, CNBC reported. 

Jessica MacNeil, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said those who had an allergic reaction to vaccines from Moderna or Pfizer should wait at least 28 days before getting a second dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine. Ms. MacNeil said patients should only mix vaccine types in “exceptional situations,” and should be monitored by healthcare workers for at least 30 minutes after getting the second dose, CNBC reported.

The official CDC recommendations say patients who experienced severe allergic reactions to Moderna’s, or Pfizer’s vaccines shouldn’t get a second dose.

There have been 4.7 cases of anaphylaxis for every million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine administered and 2.5 for every million doses of Moderna’s as of Jan. 18, according to CNBC.

Ms. MacNeil also noted the efficacy of taking one shot of Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccine and one shot of Johnson & Johnson’s has not been tested in clinical trials. Read the full article here.


Sellers Banner


WHO Advises Against Hydroxychloroquine to Prevent COVID-19?
The World Health Organization published a new recommendation March 2 stating that hydroxychloroquine should not be used to prevent COVID-19. The recommendation, published in The BMJ, states that multiple clinical trials of more than 6,000 people have shown that hydroxychloroquine has no meaningful effect on death or hospital admissions in people with no prior exposure to COVID-19. The trials also showed a “moderate certainty” that hydroxychloroquine increases the risk of adverse effects. “The panel considers that this drug is no longer a research priority and that resources should rather be oriented to evaluate other more promising drugs to prevent COVID-19,” the WHO said.

Hydroxychloroquine is FDA approved to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.


Join NYSDOH Tomorrow at 1PM for COVID-19 DOH Update
Please join the NYS Department of Health, Thursday, March 4th at 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM for a COVID-19 update for healthcare providers.  To accommodate the large number of participants, find our webinar streaming via YouTube Live (and available for viewing immediately thereafter) on the NYSDOH COVID website for providers.

Audio number and code: 844-512-2950 Access code 7413229#

Recipients:
All Prescribers
Clinical Labs
Diagnostic and Treatment Centers
Healthcare Associations
Hospitals
Nursing Homes
Schools, Daycares and Colleges
BCDC 09 – LHD’s, Regions, NYSDOH-LHD’s, Regions, NYSDOH CCH
BCDC 13 – Internal Distribution-All who should be notified including exec staff, regions, and division
BCDC 17 – EPI-List of staff who should receive epi related informational messages
BCDC 18 – Immunization-List of BI staff to be included for weekly flu report distribution

Roles:
For questions: Please send an e-mail to bcdc@health.ny.gov, as notify01 is a non-monitored mailbox.
Click here when you are ready to confirm receipt of the email.
If you cannot click the above link, use the following URL by copying into your browser.
https://apps.health.ny.gov/doh2/applinks/pubforms/ihans/rest/AlertAcknowledge2?AID=c5a64f4d-ab99-4ebd-961e-339472af6a33


CDC Director to States: Don’t Roll Back COVID-19 Safety Measures
As COVID-19 cases improve, the head of the CDC said she is “really worried” about states rolling back public health measures, according to a March 1 article published in CNBC.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, said in a March 1 news briefing that the U.S. has declined to about 70,000 new COVID-19 cases each day.

“With these statistics, I am really worried about more states rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from COVID-19,” Dr. Walensky said.

She said emerging COVID-19 variants can disrupt the downward trajectory in infection cases.

“Seventy thousand cases a day seems good compared to where we were just a few months ago,” she said. “Please hear me clearly: At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.”


Garfunkel Wild Ad


Trending’ Clinicians’ Notes in EHRs May Help Predict Real-Time COVID-19 Surges
Tracking “trending phrases” in EHR notes may help hospitals forecast surges in infectious disease outbreaks, according to a Feb. 24 report in Nature Digital Medicine. The study analyzed keywords in EHRs to produce real-time maps of trending symptoms. Researchers monitored symptoms like “pneumonia” and “dry cough.”

The spikes resembled positive COVID-19 test result spikes reported by their respective hospital, indicating that tracking keywords could provide up to four days’ notice for hospitals to prepare for surges in COVID-19 admissions. Researchers said that tracking trending words is easy and cost-effective. While this study operated at the single-hospital level, the study says it can be scaled at the local and national levels.

Classifieds

Classified Ads Available for:

Physicians’ search services • allied medical placements • locum tenens • practice valuation • practice brokerage • practice consulting • real estate

For help, information or to place your ad, call Christina Southard 516-488-6100 x355 • fax 516-488-2188


Office Rental 30 Central Park South
Two fully equipped exam, two certified operating, bathrooms and consultation room.  Shared secretarial and waiting rooms.  Elegantly decorated, central a/c, hardwood floors. Next to Park Lane and Plaza hotels. $1290 for four days a month. Available full or part-time. 212.371.0468 / drdese@gmail.com.


Allergy Practice For Sale, Forest Hills, NY
Founded in 1988, this well-established Single Practitioner Allergy Practice has over 3500 active patients, with very positive patient reviews. The office is only one of a few in the area, but patients are seen from throughout the NYC Metropolitan Area, as well as Long Island. Potential for growth. Centrally located next to major public transportation.  Retirement planned. Lease is assignable. Well-trained, extremely personable staff of three, including a Registered Nurse. Payer mix85% private, 10% Medicare 5% other. Email any questions to: allergydoctorbn@gmail.com

Two (2) Prime Commercial Spaces
Two (2) affordable office spaces available for immediate occupancy.  Located in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn,  surrounded by multiple co-ops and private homes.  Space can be viewed at your convenience. Price negotiable. Call: Avi 212-736-3680 ext. 15


Physician & Other Healthcare Jobs. P/T & F/T
Check us out @….bit.ly/38xkgDv


Unique Rheumatology Practice Opportunity – Great Neck, NY
Partnership opportunity available at an established rheumatology practice in Great Neck, NY. Looking for a dedicated physician to join our practice or merge practices. Contact 516-972-2986 / susanrita1@msn.com for more info.