CMS launches new peer support service for Colorado physicians

Many physicians having workplace or situational concerns would benefit from true peer-to-peer support from a physician wellbeing expert. Colorado Medical Society has launched Doc2Doc Wellbeing Consulting to provide pre-clinical assistance to any Colorado physician, resident/fellow or medical student without lengthy documentation or extensive evaluation.

Call 720-810-9131 for any concern -- stress, relationship issue, poor outcome -- and schedule a confidential follow-up with a physician trained in psychiatry (in person, video or phone call). Don't wait until a problem gets too big. Utilize these free peer consultation sessions whenever you need them!

Public Health Emergency is ending; help keep Coloradans covered

The Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 is expected to end May 11, 2023 -- and possibly sooner, given recent congressional action -- and with it comes the end of continuous coverage for your patients who are covered by Health First Colorado (Medicaid) and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+). The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) estimates more than 325,000 Coloradans may no longer qualify for safety net coverage and the department has asked providers and practices to help keep Coloradans covered. Here's how you can help:

• Display flyers in English and Spanish in your waiting room and utilize other KeepCOCovered awareness posters, social media images, virtual backgrounds and signature tags available here
• Help connect Coloradans who no longer qualify for these programs to alternative, affordable forms of health coverage; find tools to accomplish this shared goal and more at KeepCOCovered.com

ECHO Colorado webinar: What physicians should know about PFAS

Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are the "forever chemicals" that have been in the news. ECHO is partnering with Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to host a webinar to dive into what clinicians and public health officials should know. It will cover the recent EPA guidelines and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) report on PFAS.

• Wednesday, April 5, 5 p.m. MT OR
• Thursday, April 6, 12 p.m. MT

AMA launches educational resource to help physicians meet new substance use disorders and addiction training requirement

The American Medical Association developed a new resource on the AMA Ed Hub™ to help physicians and other practitioners complete the new, one-time eight-hour training requirement issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders. The landing page will serve as a one-stop shop to make the process as easy as possible for DEA-registered physicians and practitioners to earn required Continuing Medical Education (CME).

By completing this CME early, starting on June 27, 2023, physicians will be able to simply check a box on their DEA registration application or renewal form indicating that they have satisfied this training requirement. The free courses offered on the AMA Ed Hub™ page can be taken in any combination to fulfill the eight-hour requirement. The training does not have to occur in one session. Past trainings on the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders can count towards this requirement.

Two more sessions available: COPIC opioid seminars for 2023 licensure renewal

There are just two more sessions of the COPIC virtual presentations on opioids that providers may use to meet the two hours of training requirements as stated by the Colorado Medical Board for licensure renewal in 2023. There is no cost to attend these, and one COPIC point will be awarded per session for eligible insureds. 

• Opioid Management: A Practical Approach to a National Crisis - April 26, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
• Opioid Crisis: Strategies for Reducing the Burden - April 26, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

National Health Equity Grand Rounds education series provides CME for physicians in 2023

Next topic is Tuesday, May 9,12-1:30 p.m.

The American Medical Association is one of four founding partners presenting the National Health Equity Grand Rounds series in 2023. The second topic in the series is Follow the Money! Understanding the Structural Incentives for Inequity in Health Care and Beyond - May 9, 2023, 12-1:30 p.m. MT.

Speakers will discuss how profit in health care incentivizes inequity by perpetuating and exacerbating segregated systems of care, which serves to maintain class inequality. They will also highlight strategies for disrupting our existing systems to catalyze change within and beyond single institutions, and explore how the process of undoing structural incentives for inequity creates opportunities for collective liberation and healing.

CDPHE seeking applicants for its Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program Advisory Board 

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Women’s Wellness Connection (WWC) program has a vacancy on its Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program (BCCSP) advisory board.

• The mission of WWC is to promote and improve equity in breast and cervical cancer screening and early detection in Colorado.
• The BCCSP advisory board recommends guidelines for program services and rules and regulations that may be necessary to provide breast and cervical cancer screening where it is not otherwise readily available for reasons of cost or distance to suitable medical facilities purposes.
• The application is due at the close of business on April 9, 2023.

Visit the BCCSP Advisory Board page for the application and more information.

Third- and fourth-year medical students: Apply for Gilchrist scholarship by April 28

The Colorado Medical Society Education Foundation is accepting applications for the Alfred D. Gilchrist Student Leader Scholarship.

• Third- and fourth-year Colorado medical students who have demonstrated a significant leadership contribution to organized medicine
• Deadline: April 28, 2023

Questions? Contact kate_alfano@cms.org.