Welcome to SCMS Online...
the largest voice of organized medicine in Springfield and Sangamon County
President's Message By Laura K. Shea, M.D., SCMS President
We have an incredibly vibrant community of physicians and physicians in training here in Sangamon County. I believe the Sangamon County Medical
Society represents us like no other society or affiliation can.
My Goals as president in 2012 include:
• Encouraging other physicians to get involved.
• Supporting our new director, her staff, the CATCH Program and the Alliance.
• Promoting programs and policies that help our physicians practice good medicine.
We are always open to new members and anyone can get more involved, either with our local board or as a delegate to the ISMS. This allows you to meet physicians from all over the state and contribute to the recommendations we make to legislative entities.
I became an Alternate Delegate to the ISMS about six years ago because Dr. Leonard Giannone asked me. I may have initially and hesitantly said yes
because he is a friendly and persuasive individual, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the opportunity to meet nice people, eat good food and have stimulating conversations about things that could make a difference in our community.
Thank you for electing me. I will do my best! Please feel free to contact me or our Director, Carol Harms at 217-726-5106 or carol@scmsdocs.org if you have any questions or ideas.
SCMS Dinner and "Ain't Misbehavin"
Join the Sangamon County Medical Society for Dinner and "Ain't Misbehavin" on Saturday, January 28th, 2012, at 6 p.m., at the Hoogland Center for the Arts.
The SIU Voice Clinic will present "Ain't Misbehavin", the outrageously prodigious comic and musical soul of 1930's Harlem lives on in this rollicking, swinging, finger-snapping revue that is still considered one of Broadway's best.
Stop! Don't Hit the Snooze Button on HIPAA 5010 Compliance
Just to be clear — the compliance deadline for physicians to use HIPAA version 5010 electronic transaction standards is still January 1, 2012. But the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will not enforce compliance until March 31.
Even though compliance will be enforced at the discretion of Medicare through March 31, 2012, physicians should still prepare their practices to be compliant with the new HIPAA standards by January 1, 2012. Continue to test with vendors, trading partners and payers to determine readiness to accept the new standards.
Here's the sticking point of the 90-day grace period: CMS will be investigating complaints regarding non-compliance with version 5010 standards beginning in January. Physicians who face a complaint must provide proof of their efforts to become fully compliant.
Medicare 27.4% Doctor Pay Cut
Set for 2012 Unless Congress Acts
CMS says its hands are tied on the pay formula but agrees to scale back additional pay reductions planned for interpreting imaging scans.
By Charles Fiegl, amednews.com staff (Posted November 14, 2011)
Washington — The across-the-board Medicare physician pay reduction scheduled for 2012 shrank slightly from projections made earlier this year, but doctor organizations said the cut still would be catastrophically large.
A 27.4% reduction to doctor pay starting January 1 would have devastating consequences on all physicians and the millions of patients who rely on the insurance program for coverage, patient advocacy associations and organized medicine groups have warned. Beneficiaries would suffer from not being able to see the doctors of their choice, and physicians would weigh leaving the program and perhaps closing their doors.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published its 2012 Medicare physician fee schedule on November 1. The fee schedule updates the payment rates for thousands of medical services and establishes other regulatory policy. Most finalized changes are effective January 1.
The proposed fee schedule that was released earlier this year had projected a 29.5% cut in 2012 as mandated by a budgetary mechanism called the sustainable growth rate formula, but CMS revised the figure to 27.4% in the final rule. Despite the change, the fee schedule will serve as a stark reminder to Congress that there is a crisis in the Medicare program that only lawmakers can stop, said American Medical Association President Peter W. Carmel, MD.
ISMS Delivers "Knock-Out Punch" to Licensure Fee Increase
At this week's legislative session, the Illinois Senate passed S.B. 664 on a vote of 52 to 0 to extend the sunset of the Medical Practice Act until December 31, 2012. Two weeks ago, the Illinois House of Representatives passed the measure unanimously. The Act will immediately become law upon Governor Quinn's signature.
As a direct result of ISMS advocacy, legislators rejected the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation's proposal to double the licensure fee from $300 to $600. With the Medical Practice Act back up for renewal at year-end 2012, you can bet that a quest to "tax" physicians will resurface. As always, ISMS will be in Springfield advocating on your behalf.
The Illinois General Assembly convened its fall veto session on October 25, 2011. On the docket was the extension of the Illinois Medical Practice Act, the law that governs the practice of medicine in Illinois. In recent years the Act has been set to expire every one to two years, as it is set to do on November 30, instead of every 10 years. As such, this seemingly benign legislation has also allowed politicians and interest groups to use the Act as a tool for exercising political influence.
Each time the Act comes before the General Assembly, there are attempts to make changes that are detrimental to Illinois physicians: increasing licensure fees, forcing physicians to renew their licenses more often, and more. ISMS will be working on behalf of Illinois physicians during the veto session but we need your help by making your voice heard.
Springfield Physician Elected Speaker
Of Illinois State Medical Society House of Delegates
Donald R. Graham, M.D., Springfield, was elected Speaker of the House of Delegates for the Illinois State Medical Society (ISMS) during its 2011 annual meeting here.
Practicing with the Springfield Clinic, where he is chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Graham is a board-certified internist, specializing in infectious diseases. He is an active medical staff member at Memorial Medical Center and St. John's Hospital. Dr. Graham received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine, served his residency at the Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and returned to Washington University to complete a fellowship in Infectious Diseases. He also completed a fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he served as an epidemic intelligence service officer in the Hospital Infections Branch.
Dr. Graham has been an ISMS Trustee for nine years, serving on numerous councils and committees including the ISMS Committee on Drugs and Therapeutics. He has held the post of President of the Sangamon County Medical Society (SCMS), and was chair of the SCMS Community Health Committee.
Continuous Membership Is Now Available!
Great News! Continuous Membership is now available! Sign up or renew your membership
today and never receive a renewal billing again. Your regular ISMS and Sangamon County
Medical Society membership dues of $71.25 will be billed to your bank account or your credit
card in monthly payments, whichever is most convenient to you. Your ISMS membership will
roll from one month to the next without any need to renew your membership or risk a lapse in
membership benefits.
Of course there are always two options for payment:
• Option 1 - Pay one lump-sum payment and your membership is completely paid for the entire 2011 calendar year.
• Option 2 - Elect Continuous Membership and your renewal begins with a debit payment on January 10, 2011. New members will begin
with a debit on the 10th day in their first month.
Participants in the Group Membership Program are also eligible to take advantage of
Continuous Membership. Group program participants can make payments on an annual,
monthly or quarterly basis.
Let us know if you would prefer we debit the payment from your bank account or credit card
each month. And that's it! There are no fees to participate.
If you have any questions or would like help signing up, call 1-800-782-4767, ext. 1900,
or e-mail membership@isms.org.
Physician Locator Service:
Is Your Doctor A Society Member?
One key service that the Sangamon County Medical Society (SCMS) provides to the general public is our Physician Locator tool. Physician Locator is a directory search tool providing valuable information on more than 580 SCMS member physicians, which includes doctors of medicine (MD) and doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO). Information such as educational backgrounds and board certifications has been verified for accuracy and authenticated by accrediting agencies, medical schools, residency training programs, licensing boards, and other data sources.
In short, we have taken the guesswork out of evaluating a physician's credentials. SCMS also provides referral information for primary care and specialty physicians. Information may be obtained by accessing the Physician Locator on this website or by calling us at 217-525-0765.
Get On The SCMS
Or SCMS Alliance Group Email Lists!
If you have an email address, and would like to receive updates and action alerts from either the Sangamon County Medical Society or our Alliance, please let us know. More and more of our communications in the near future will be sent electronically. You can get newsletters faster and eliminate paper clutter on your desk. Don't worry, we won't inundate your inbox!
Your email address is safe with us. We do not share, sell or distribute email addresses to anyone. SCMS also sends periodic news by email to office managers of our members.
Send us your information to join either of our group email lists. Include your full name, which organization's email list you are joining, your email address, mailing address, phone number, office manager, and manager's email. Note: SCMS will promptly forward Alliance information to them upon receipt.
Donald R. Graham, M.D., Springfield, was elected Speaker of the House of Delegates for the Illinois State Medical Society (ISMS) during its 2011 annual meeting here.
Great News! Continuous Membership is now available! Sign up or renew your membership
today and never receive a renewal billing again. Your regular ISMS and Sangamon County
Medical Society membership dues of $71.25 will be billed to your bank account or your credit
card in monthly payments, whichever is most convenient to you. Your ISMS membership will
roll from one month to the next without any need to renew your membership or risk a lapse in
membership benefits.
