Recruitment Resource Established for Seminole County Medical Society - In the past, the office managers have expressed a need for recruitment services due to the complexity of finding a qualified candidate. Therefore, as Executive Director my mission began by researching several companies that would best benefit the Society at minimal cost. On Friday, May 16, 2008 SCMS partnered up with Jobing.com to provide its members with this service. Jobing.com committed to create and manage the classified section through the SCMS website.

SCMS and Legislation - The legislative process directly impacts the medical profession. The 2002 medical-legal crisis brought painful awareness of how much our profession is affected by politics, how essential it is to be involved, and the price we pay when we let others dictate our future said Dr. Glen Davis. To make sure our voices are heard, SCMS physicians are politically involved on both the state and national level. On the national level, SCMS influence comes through the AMA and our representatives in the FMA’s delegation to the AMA. On the state level SCMS works closely on legislative and political issues with the FMA — which does an outstanding job in both arenas.

Dr. Davis Legislative Sessions Update - He stated that the FMA Managed Care Bill (HB 405 & SB 1012); to force insurers to honor assignment of benefits, reduce their “look-back period” (currently 30 months), and eliminate silent PPOs. These bills have already passed through the first Committees in both the House and the Senate; for more information,
http://scmsociety.typepad.com/scms/files/dscms_er_access_white_paper.pdf

Representative Chris Dorworth provided additional updates regarding recent legislative activities. He explained that this has been a unique year as 8% of the state’s budget has been cut. This has made it difficult to introduce any new legislation that is not cost neutral. He provided some outlook for the future including his opinion that the political climate currently does not favor any new tort reform measures in the near future.

Leslie Witkin President of Physicians First reviewed upcoming regulation changes for CMS including rules related to “incident to” billing procedures. She also discussed the new requirements for practitioners involved with durable medical equipment. (for more information, visit www.Physiciansfirst.com)

As this will be my last editorial, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the readers that I have resigned from my position as Executive Director with SCMS. Many thanks, to all the SCMS members, who assisted in making my transition into the ED position seamless and effortless. A special thanks to both Dr. Udita Jahagirdar and Dr. John Robertson for their guidance and support. Thanks to John Kelly from Orlando Medical News, for providing the Society with this tool to keep our readers informed. The new ED; Carrie Gilbert will continue my work by updating the community monthly. I will continue to support the Society in the future….Growth is Key!


ORANGE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY: Advocacy in Action
The interests of physicians and their patients in Orange County are being well represented at the State and Federal level. What happens In Tallahassee and Washington D.C. directly effects how physicians practice medicine and care for their patients. The Orange County Medical Society assisted the Florida Medical Association during the 2008 Legislative Session to achieve several significant victories for organized medicine.

• The Managed Care bill (SB 1012) balances the playing field between physicians and managed care organizations by reducing the “look back” period from 30 months to 12 months for MCOs to demand refunds for overpayment. This bill also makes silent PPOs transparent by requiring MCOs to notify network physicians any time the MCO sells or leases their discounted physician fee information to another entity. Lastly, this bill requires MCOs to directly pay in-network physicians for services provided, rather than sending the payment to the patient.
• The FMA deleted a provision in an autism bill that would have mandated a two-hour developmental disability CME course for all physicians.
• PRN Sovereign Immunity bill extends sovereign immunity to the Professionals Resource Network (PRN), which by contract with the Florida Department of Health, provides impairment services when needed to all Florida physicians.
• In a year when the Legislature was forced to slash spending on health care due to a $3 billion budget deficit, the FMA was able to avoid cuts to physician Medicaid reimbursement, but was unable to raise Medicaid rates to Medicare levels.

• Allied health professionals were unable to legislatively expand their scope of practice.
• Legislation that would have severely impacted a physician’s ability to self- insure was stopped. The bill would have prohibited defense-only policies and would have almost certainly led hospitals to require insurance as a condition of staff privileges.
• A bill to effectively end the use of binding arbitration agreements as a dispute resolution mechanism between physicians and patients.
• The FMA stopped legislation that would have increased the cost and burden on physicians who treat deaf and hearing-impaired patients.