Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians Newsletter
April 13 , 2017


Upcoming Events
April 21-23, 2017
Jackson Marriott
Jackson, MS

Annual Meeting
July 15-19, 2017
Baytowne Conference Center
Destin, FL


MAFP 
Board Meetings 

April 21
MAFP Office
Ridgeland

July 15 & 19
Destin, FL

December 8-9
Indianola, MS

Welcome
New Members
Rob Cannon, MD
Vicksburg, MS

Philip Kim, MD
Biloxi, MS

WCUCOM Students
Ashley Elizabeth Day
Mitchell Craig Moffett
Michael Gabriel Vanderloo

UMMC Student
Tasnuva Hassan

Keep up with us on
Social Media
MSAFP
 



 

'Physician Wellness & Resilience' Session 
Added to Spring Conference 
Would you like to improve your patient satisfaction rates and reduce your own error rates? Physician wellness has been shown to do both of those things. Want to know more?
 
Dr. Jennifer Gholson of Summit, MAFP Past President, will present a session at the Spring Conference designed to identify ways to promote personal wellness at the individual level. Using practical, easy-to-implement solutions, Gholson will discuss ways to find work-life balance in the session, with a focus on Self-Awareness, Self-Care and Self-Improvement. Don't miss this great meeting. 

Registration Now Open for Summer Meeting
- Get on Track with Family Medicine -

All Aboard the Family Medicine Express! Join the MAFP July 15 - 19 for the 2017 Annual Scientific Assembly at the Baytowne Conference Center in Sandestin, Florida.  With over 20 hours of CME, this meeting will offer numerous opportunities to engage with expert faculty, colleagues, and exhibitors.  Register and reserve your room early for planning purposes.  
MAFP Hosts Aledade Meeting April 7
Blaine Lindsey, left, conducts an Aledade meeting at the MAFP office with partner physicians.

Friday, April 7, the MAFP's partner ACO, Aledade, hosted a workgroup of primary care physicians at the MAFP office. The group met by webcast with other groups around the state to compare notes about how to improve patient care and break down barriers.

Aledade is an Accountable Care Organization with 143 partner physicians in its Mississippi/Tennessee organization. All told, Aledade has 1,200 providers in 15 states. Meetings like the one last week bring together a network of like-minded physicians who strive for value-driven care. These workgroups discuss varied topics ranging from 'Transitions of Care' to 'Evidence-Based Medicine.'

Here are other benefits of membership in Aledade:
- Aledade's specialists visit each member practice's office to help staff members improve workflows, generate savings and realize revenue
- Aledade provides each practice with a list of high-risk patients coming to the office that day, giving the staff members time to consider how best to serve each vulnerable patient
- Aledade offers webinars to educate staff members on legislative and policy changes that affect each practice on a daily basis
- Aledade's cloud-based software integrates into EHRs and workflows. Its platform also gives members insight into local ADT feeds to allow for proactive support to local people who need it most.

MAFP partnered with Aledade in 2015. For more information, contact Blaine Lindsey, Executive Director and Chair Aledade Mississippi ACO LLC at 504-982-0379.
Last Chance to Renew!
Membership Dues Deadline is May 1

MAFP staff have sent mailings and called unpaid members to remind them to renew.  We have made some progress, but still have members who need to renew.  We don't want to lose you, but If you have not renewed your membership for 2017 by May 1, you will be dropped from our rolls.  What does that mean? You won't receive this informative newsletter, invitations to great CME, updates on what is happening on national and state levels, and so much more.  Make sure you have paid by May 1. Contact Claire at the MAFP office if you have questions.
Tag - You're It! Join Us and Live Healthy
MAFP member Susan Chiarito, MD, is the first person who purchased a Live Healthy tag in 2013.

Launched in 2013 to raise funds for the MAFP Foundation, more than 400 'Live Healthy' car tags were sold in Mississippi this past year. All told, more than $32,000 has been raised for the foundation since the tag was introduced. Each county tax collector's office sells the tags to auto owners for $31, and $24 of the funds collected comes directly back to the Foundation. Much of the monies raised is returned to the community in the form of scholarships for high school students, medical students and residents.

Let us see your tag by taking a photo of yourself with it and posting to social media with the hashtag #LiveHealthyMS. Don't have yours yet? Next time your tag is up for renewal, ask for it at your tax collector's office, and Live Healthy!
FOODPLAY comes to Vicksburg
A group of children onstage at the FOODPLAY presentation April 11 at Bowmar Elementary in Vicksburg.

Eating fruits and vegetables. Exercising each day. Cutting out junk food. Making these healthy choices is something kids need to learn early in Mississippi, where one out of every five middle- and high-schoolers is already obese. Teaching young kids to make healthy choices is the goal of FOODPLAY, the program performed at eight Vicksburg Warren School District elementary schools this week, April 10-13.
 
More than 4,600 children saw these presentations, sponsored by the MAFP in connection with Vicksburg Medical Foundation and the Vicksburg Warren School District.
 
"In my practice, I have seen so many patients with high blood pressure and diabetes, which can be prevented with good eating habits," said Susan A. Chiarito, MD, FAAFP, of Mission Primary Care in Vicksburg. "I see FOODPLAY as a great way to get through to young kids who have their whole lives ahead of them to make healthy choices."  Chiarito is a member of the MAFP Foundation Board, as well as the Vicksburg Medical Foundation board.
 
Created by a nutritionist, FOODPLAY has as its slogan, "Good Eating is Great Fun." With a team of juggling performers, the group turns a school assembly into a high-energy presentation that teaches kids the importance of:
-   Making healthy food choices
-   Eating a healthy breakfast
-   Increasing their level of physical activity
-   Reading and understanding nutrition labels on foods
-   Thinking critically about junk food marketing ploys
 
Chiarito and other Vicksburg-area physicians attended the FOODPLAY presentations at each of the elementary schools to introduce the program and answer questions. Those physicians who gave their time included Lee Giffin, MD; Carlos Latorre, MD; and Rob Cannon, MD.
NMMC hosts 'Health of the Family' Conference 
in Tupelo May 5-6
Need CME or prescribing credits? North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC) is planning a Family Medicine Conference May 5-6 at HealthWorks! in Tupelo.
 
This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit (TM), and CME credit application is pending with AAFP. If attending Saturday only, NMMC is offering 5 prescribing credits to assist physicians in meeting licensure requirements.
 
Friday's topics include: gout, COPD, heart failure, clinic coding, anti-infective utilization, screening for skin cancer, and splinting and casting. Saturday's topics all focus on controlled substance prescribing, including chronic pain, opiate prescriptions, pharmacology of pain medications, chronic pain as a secondary diagnosis, and preventing legal problems with narcotics prescriptions. Call (662) 377-3900 for more information or click here for complete details, including costs.

Nominate A Colleague or Yourself for 
MAFP Board

Samuel Crosby, MD, Nominating Committee Chair
Now's your chance to serve on the MAFP Board of Directors.  Board members are expected to attend meetings, and to take part in the decision-making process.  They are also required to exercise a reasonable degree of knowledge, skill and care in bringing their best judgment to the performance of their responsibilities.  It is the duty of the Board members to stay informed on the issues of the Mississippi Academy; to study the materials that are distributed to them; and to exercise sound judgment in arriving at decisions. At a meeting of the Board, it is important that Board members ask questions, express their thoughts, and receive ideas from other Board members to weigh pros and cons before reaching a decision. Please contact MAFP Executive Director  Beth Embry  or Nominating Committee Chair Dr. Samuel Crosby if you are interested. The following positions on the board will be filled by the Nominating Committee this year:
  • Vice President (1-year term)
  • Secretary (1-year term)
  • District 1 Director representing George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone counties (2-year term)
  • District 3 Director representing Adams, Amite, Clarke, Copiah, Franklin, Jasper, Jefferson, Kemper, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lincoln, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Pike, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Walthall, Wilkinson and Winston counties (2-year term)
  • District 5 Director representing Madison and Rankin counties (2-year term)
  • District 7 Director representing Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, DeSoto, Lafayette, Lowndes, Marshall, Monroe, Oktibbeha, Panola, Tate, Union, Webster, Yalobusha (2-year term)
  • Member at Large (2-year term)
Medicaid Pharmacy Reimbursements

The regulations for reimbursement of covered outpatient drugs in the Medicaid program recently changed, and all states were required to amend their plan to be in compliance. Mississippi submitted its plan and is awaiting approval of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Pharmacy POS claims with a date of service on or after April 1, 2017, will be mass adjusted retrospectively when CMS approves.

Additionally, May 1 is now the deadline for 340B-covered entity attestation form to be completed and returned to the Office of Medicaid. The billing requirements will be effective July 1, 2017. More information about 340B can be found here.
RESIDENTS: Jump in with both feet! Get involved in MAFP by attending the Annual Meeting

Now's your chance! If you're a resident, you can apply for a scholarship to attend the MAFP Annual Scientific Assembly in July, and it will cover your room, registration and meals at the 5-day event. The MAFP Annual Meeting provides opportunities for family physicians from across the state to connect with each other, network with those in collaborative roles and earn continuing medical education credits. If you're chosen, you'll enjoy the meeting at no charge.
 
A financial endowment was given to the MAFP Foundation in Dr. Dewitt G. Crawford's memory by Mrs. Dewitt G. Crawford to fund this scholarship. How does a resident qualify? One Dewitt G. Crawford, MD Scholarship will be awarded each year to a deserving resident who best demonstrates the character qualities of:

    - leadership gained through life experience in their job, education, and/or service or volunteer opportunities

    - shows a commitment to future involvement as a leader with the MAFP


 

All completed applications must be submitted to Kay-Lynn Meador  no later than May 1 to be considered. Click here for the scholarship application.

MAFP Needs Medical Students 
to Help With  Summer Meeting

Are you a medical student interested in attending the Annual Scientific Assembly this summer? Have we got a deal for you! MAFP is looking for medical students interested in Family Medicine who can join us to help with registration, events, exhibits and more. In exchange for your help, your rooming and meals will be provided by MAFP. We promise there are lots of opportunities to network with members and enjoy a little free time at the beach! The event is July 15-19 at the Baytowne Conference Center in Sandestin, FL.  Click here  for the application due by May 1.