Category: Uncategorized
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Opioid Cumulative Daily Morphine Milligram Equivalents Limit – MME Decrease
Effective December 2, 2019, the Alabama Medicaid Agency will implement hard edits on cumulative daily MME claims exceeding 200 MME/day. A phase-in period for claims exceeding 150 MME/day, but less than 200 MME/day, will also be implemented. Examples of MME calculations/day include: • 10 tablets per day of hydrocodone/acetaminophen 5/325 = 50 MME/day • 6…
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ALAPAC Ends with Record Year!
Last week, ALAPAC capped off its FY 2018-2019 fundraising campaign on a high note. Although we narrowly missed our total fundraising goal, ALAPAC set multiple new giving records thanks to the generosity of Alabama physicians. In total, nearly 120 physicians gave more than the standard amount of $250! Specifically, 10 physicians contributed $1,000 or…
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Alabama Hospitals Want to Limit Physician In-Office Procedures
The Alabama Hospital Association (ALAHA) submitted a letter to a state health agency this week complaining of increasing instances of physicians performing interventional procedures in their offices instead of in acute care hospitals. The ALAHA letter states “We strongly believe most interventional procedures should be done in a general acute care hospital setting.” It further states…
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Sign-on Letter: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act
September 9, 2019 Dear Members of Congress: The undersigned patient, physician, health care professional, and other health care stakeholder organizations strongly support the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2019 (H.R. 3107) recently introduced by Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Roger Marshall, MD (R-KS), and Ami Bera, MD (D-CA). This bipartisan…
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First Impressions
In the last few years, healthcare providers have come to realize the effect of consumerism on their practice. Consumers increasingly view healthcare as a commodity to be compared and shopped. Social media has allowed patients to share experiences, good and bad. Online reviews are visible on many websites, it is now more likely for consumers…
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2019 Women in Medicine Month Begins
September is the AMA’s Women in Medicine (WIM) Month, which serves to showcase the accomplishments of women physicians as well as highlight advocacy affecting female physicians and health issues impacting female patients. This year’s theme is Women in Medicine: Trailblazers, Advocates and Leaders. To celebrate the importance of current and future female physicians, the Medical…
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Get To Know Charlotte Meadows
1. While you have been active around Montgomery for quite some time, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Primary occupation? Interests? Hobbies? I grew up in Montgomery and graduated from Jeff Davis HS before going to Auburn for college. I married Allen in 1986 who, at the time, was a pediatrician in…
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What If No One Was On Call?
In times of illness, injury, and emergency, patients depend on their physicians. But what if no one was on call? Public health would be in jeopardy. The same holds true for organized medicine when the legislature is in session. If the Association had not been on call for its members, numerous inappropriate expansions to the…
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Meet Our New Officers
Aruna Arora, M.D. President-Elect Dr. Arora originally planned to follow her father into medicine as a pediatrician after watching him treat his patients and seeing his dedication to the children and their families. She, too, wanted to make a difference in the daily lives of people. But, when she was in medical school, her fascination…
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Medical Association Successfully Lobbies for PDMP Changes
MONTGOMERY — Registered users of the Alabama Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) should have noticed a different format earlier this year. The new platform, called NarxCare™, provides enhanced analytics and risk scores with features including prescription information displayed in easy-to-understand graphic representations and allowing the users to obtain prescription information by clicking on the graphics.…