Already Wednesday and time for your

NCMS Morning Rounds.

July 10, 2019

Fate of Health Care Bill to Expand Access Unknown

Yesterday morning the NC House Health Committee voted 25-6 in favor of HB 655 – Health Care for Working Families  and although the proposal had been scheduled to be heard by the full House yesterday afternoon, that body did not take it up. The NCMS has supported this proposal over multiple legislative sessions because it provides a realistic way for more NC families to gain access to affordable health care. The coverage would be provided through a new state-run insurance program using federal money and assessments on hospitals to fund the bulk of the program costs.

In an Action Alert sent yesterday morning after the committee vote, the NCMS called on you to ask your representatives in the General Assembly to support the bill. Thank you to those who responded. This is one piece of the solution needed to make sure that families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to qualify for Federal subsidies have an opportunity to get health insurance. Too often, those families would have to pay more than one-fifth of their take-home salary just to pay the monthly premiums on the open health insurance market.

While the future of this bill is still unknown, we ask you to reach out to your NC House member to let them know that you support increasing access to affordable health care through the passage of HB 655. Access the Action Alert.

Share Your Experience with Electronic Transactions

The Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) currently is collecting physician responses to its annual CAQH Index, a benchmarking survey designed to measure progress on the health care industry’s movement to electronic transactions. Tracking this information will help identify barriers that may be preventing physicians and health plans from realizing the benefits of electronic transactions and prompt new initiatives to address and reduce barriers.

The survey is open until July 22. Take the survey now.

Learn How to Be an Excellent Physician Leader

The NCMS Foundation’s award-winning Leadership College is accepting applications for its class of 2020 through July 30.

Being a Leadership College scholar will help you gain a better understanding of your leadership style, hone your skills to be a more valuable leader on the health care team, meet colleagues from throughout the state with whom to share ideas and insights into today’s health care environment. This one-year program is part of the Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership and boasts over 300 alumni (a few of whom are pictured above) who now hold leadership positions in their practice, health system and beyond.

Learn more and apply today. You’ll be glad you took this opportunity for career and personal development!

In the News

CBD is All the Rage Among Patients. It’s Launching Their Physicians into Uncharted Territory, STAT, 6-27-19

Learning Opportunity

The next meeting of the NC Population Health Collaborative will be held in conjunction with the CHESS Move to Value Summit on Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem. The theme is “Connecting Health to Health Care – Elevating Community Connections.” Get your ticket for the NC Population Health Collaborative meeting on the Move to Value Summit registration website.