Happy Tuesday! Here is today’s NCMS Morning Rounds.Dec. 15, 2020TONIGHT: From 6 to 7 p.m., State Health Director Betsey Tilson, MD, MPH, and other state health experts will hold a Zoom webinar for health professionals on North Carolina’s plan for the COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Pediatrician Named Chair of Carolina Complete Health BoardLast week, Yun Boylston, MD, MBA, FAAP, a longtime NCMS member and alumna of three NCMS Foundation Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership programs, was elected chair of the Carolina Complete Health (CCH) Board of Directors. Dr. Boylston, who is a partner at Burlington Pediatrics/Mebane Pediatrics, takes over the role of Board Chair from Abigail DeVries, MD, a family medicine physician with Piedmont Health Services, a community health center in Carrboro. “I am honored to serve as chair and have some big shoes to fill as Dr. DeVries has done an outstanding job as the founding chair of CCH. We are so grateful for her vision, dedication and service,” Dr. Boylston said upon accepting the chair position. “This is a challenging and also very exciting time for health care in North Carolina and I look forward to helping CCH fully realize its potential as an innovative physician-led health plan for the state.” CCH is one of the five state-contracted Pre-paid Health Plans (PHP) that are part of the state’s transition to Medicaid managed care, slated to begin in July 2021. The CCH Network is part of a joint venture with the NCMS and Centene. Learn more about the state’s Medicaid managed care transformation here. Dr. Boylston is an alumna of three KIPL leadership development programs – Leadership College, Health Care Leadership and Management and Clinical Quality University. She currently is a member of the NC Pediatric Society Board of Directors and in 2017 received the Society’s ‘Rising Star Early Career Physician Award.’ Dr. Boylston is heavily involved in her community through a variety of organizations including as a Cone Health System trustee and as a clinical preceptor for the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. As a pediatrician she has championed the medical home and advocated for children in various capacities. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University in biochemical sciences, Dr. Boylston completed her medical degree and pediatric residency at Baylor College of Medicine. She is a recent graduate of the executive MBA program at Duke University, and is a 2020 Margolis Scholar at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. “We are thrilled to have such an esteemed pediatrician chair the CCH Board of Directors,” said CCH CEO Chris Paterson. “Dr. Boylston is a true physician leader and the health plan will benefit from her leadership and physician perspective.” NC Sees Outbreak of Hepatitis ANorth Carolina has seen a marked increase in hepatitis A cases reported in 2020. You can find the latest data on the outbreak broken down by county here. In a memo last month, State Epidemiologist Zack Moore, MD, MPH, stated that hepatitis A outbreaks are expanding nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has received reports from multiple states of more than 35,949 cases of hepatitis A infections associated with person-to-person transmission beginning in late 2016. These outbreaks have been prolonged and costly. Cases have occurred primarily among three risk groups: (1) persons who use injection or non-injection drugs; (2) persons experiencing homelessness; and (3) men who have sex with men. In his memo, Dr. Moore outlines ways physicians and PAs can help in preventing and mitigating the outbreak, especially when faced with the additional challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the memo here. Tracking the Impact of COVID on NC PracticesPlease take just a moment to complete our latest practice survey. Watch your NCMS Morning Rounds for an upcoming summary of the trends we have tracked since last March, when the NCMS along with the NC Medical Group Management Association and Curi, began the survey to assess the needs and challenges facing medical practices throughout the state as you grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. The data gathered over the last nine months has proved valuable as each organization works to provide help and resources to you and as points of information for state officials and policymakers as they weigh how to respond. And thank you to the many practices that have already responded and have done so consistently over the past year. In the NewsGoing Home for the Holidays? For Many Americans That’s a Risky Decision, Kaiser Health News, 12-11-20 Learning OpportunityDON’T FORGET – today’s, Tuesday, Dec. 15, Lunch and Learn webinar from noon to 1 p.m. “Intentionally Creating Culture at a Startup Practice.” Scott Paviol, MD, and Pamela Myers, practice manager with Paviol Dermatology, will share their experience in establishing a new practice in place of a long-standing, well- established 44-year old dermatology private practice in the Charlotte area. They will discuss how they decided to pay tribute to the old while creating a new way to work with patients, staff. Learn more and register here. If you have policies you’d like your NCMS Board of Directors to consider, please complete the Board input form here. Thanks for reading!
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