Table of Contents

Message From The Chair

Focus of the Week - Clinical

Announcements

Faculty Presentations/Publications

Frankly Speaking Podcast

Clinical Services Spotlight

Message From The Chair

Last Thursday was a painful day for the Family Health Center of Worcester, its staff, and our faculty and learners based there. A large number of staff were laid off or furloughed, as were a few faculty. Needless to say, residents, fellows and faculty are shocked, hurt and very concerned. The ramifications of these personnel cuts are extensive for patient care and education. The department is committed to supporting our faculty and learners through these challenging times. We will begin by holding listening sessions with FHCW faculty and residents to hear their concerns and fully understand the implications with regard to the learning environment. Please reach out to any member of the Senior Leadership Team if you have questions or concerns about your area of responsibility. As always, I know we will come together as a community to support our faculty, residents and fellows who are directly or indirectly effected by these events. 

Focus of the Week - Clinical

Patient Satisfaction

Our goal is to be the provider of choice.

These are some essential tips to help us reach the mark:

• Be punctual.
• Notify patients of delay.
• Set expectations.
• Improve timeliness.
• Set visits at reasonable durations.
• Educate the patient.
• Ensure cleanliness
• Listen.

Information for members of the American Academy of Family Physicians:

To report CMEs on the AAFP website, search activity number 95264 for a listing of all 2022 FMCH Faculty Development sessions, 91384 for a listing of all 2021 FMCH Faculty Development sessions, and 88033 for a listing of 2020 FMCH Grand Rounds.

Health Equity and the Well Child Care Visit

• Health Equity in healthcare means that every patient can achieve their full potential of health. 
• The American Academy of Family Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics support the prevention of illness from ages 0 to 21 years old.
• Through our Well Child Health Equity Initiative, we are committed to improving the care of all children.
• Key ways to improve well-child visits:
• Remind parents about the importance of visits.
• Evaluate social determinants of health that might impact getting to visits. 
• If a child comes for an emergency visit, consider doing the WCC visit at that visit.
• Schedule WCC visits for newborns before leaving the hospital. 
• Educate parents about the schedule for WCC visits. 

Announcements

FMCH GME Leadership Team

The quarterly FMCH GME Leadership meeting will be September 7th, 2022 at Peppercorn’s Grille and Tavern. Please RSVP through your Outlook invite or contact Erica White at Erica.white@umassmemorial.org

Warren Ferguson will be hosting the STFM Conference Proposal Development Workshop on September 7^th from 8:00 am – 9:00 am, via zoom, if you would like to attend please contact Erica @ Erica.White@umassmemorial.org

Hepatitis C and General Hepatology

Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes)

You are invited to join an exciting virtual collaborative learning opportunity!

What? Hepatitis C ECHO, a virtual case-based tele-mentoring educational model

Who? Primary care interdisciplinary team members (providers, nurses, social workers, community health workers, patient navigators, etc.)

Why? Tele-mentoring model that links specialists to primary care providers (PCPs) via video conferencing from any computer; Case based, iterative learning facilitated by specialists and related experts; through guided practice, PCPs become proficient in specialty care

When? A new cohort begins Friday, September 9th, 2022, 12:30 - 1:30pm ~ with 10 sessions held bi-monthly.

Curriculum content includes:

·   HCV screening

·   Acute HCV

·   Chronic HCV: Workup

·   Treatment of non-cirrhotic patients

·   Treatment of cirrhotic patients

·   Monitoring during treatment

·   Monitoring post treatment

·   "Topic by request"

·   Other hepatitides in the context of HCV/Hepatitis A&B

·   Treatment of special populations

Register Today!

The annual Family Medicine Education Consortium meeting is September 16-18 in Arlington, VA. The residencies will be represented at the recruitment fair, and many faculty, residents, and students will be presenting their great work. Find more information here: 2022 Annual Meeting (fmec.net). Medical student scholarships are available. Consider encouraging enthusiastic students.

There will be an evening celebration on Thursday September 15^th for Larry Bauer, the founding CEO of the FMEC. If you are interested in joining, please contact Stacy Potts, she will be sponsoring a table for department members. 

Stacy.potts@umassmemorial.org.

We are only weeks away from the 2022 ICGMV Conference! A VIRTUAL conference dedicated to all things related to group visits! You are invited to join for two days of engaging presentations by leaders, researchers, and colleagues on Friday, September 16th and workshops on September 17th to build your skill set and learn financing and facilitation strategies. This year's conference is dedicated to the power of community and connection through group visits. Presenters from all over the globe will be meeting to share their best practices and insights. You can check out the final schedule and preview the sessions on our website. Continuing Medical Education credits will be available. Thanks to our amazing sponsors, scholarships are available and our costs are low! If you could benefit from a scholarship to attend the conference, please apply here.

Putterman Lecture: SAVE THE DATE

Please join us on Tuesday, September 20^th, 12:00 - 1:00pm, for our Family Medicine and Community Health Grand Rounds 23rd annual Putterman Lecture, being presented by Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH. Her lecture topic will be on "Building Alliances and Sharing Power for Health Equity and Racial Justice". For those of you who wish to join us in person, a location is to be determined. As for those who would like to join via Zoom, please copy this link into your calendar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/191986273?pwd=NEtlZmNkdWlSUGwyeTJQU3dCeUs1QT09.

We look forward to you joining us for this event.

Calling All Fellows and Chief Residents

The FMCH Fellows and Chief Residents are invited to a dinner gathering and get to know each other on September 29th, 2022, 6:30 - 8:30pm. Location TBD.

Please RSVP through your Outlook invite or contact Erica White at Erica.white@umassmemorial.org.

Teaching of Tomorrow (TOT) is a nationally recognized and highly acclaimed faculty development program that focuses on building and refining foundational skills for effective clinical teaching in inpatient and ambulatory settings. Preceptors from any specialty and discipline will enhance their clinical teaching skills through discourse and practice. Workshop dates are November 18-19, 2022 and March 10-11, 2023 and will be held at the Hotel Northampton. Participants must attend all four days. See brochure for details and how to register. 

Faculty Presentations/Publications



Daniel Mullin, PsyD, MPH, is a co-author on a recently published paper describing improvements to the Practice Integration Profile (PIP). The PIP is a survey that measures the degree of integration of behavioral health and primary care services. More information is available at www.practiceintegrationprofile.com.

Frankly Speaking Podcast

A weekly Podcast series covering newsworthy topics in primary care medicine.

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frankly-speaking-about-family-medicine/id1194659367.

Please join us for an overview: Alcohol use disorder is common, but effective medications to treat this disorder are not widely prescribed in the outpatient primary care setting, despite being available and having relatively good formulary coverage. Join us to hear how the use of medical treatment can decrease the incidence and progression of alcohol-associated liver disease. Guest: Jillian Joseph, MSPAS, PA-C, presents: "Reducing the Risk of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease". - Frankly Speaking Ep 292.

COVID-19 UPDATES

COVID-19 MA Summary

• In MA, there were 7,790 new cases of COVID in the last 7 days. 
• The 7-day average of percent positivity is 7.61%.
• On 8/30/22 there were 199 patients hospitalized for COVID related illnesses.
• There are 606 patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
• Confirmed deaths: 20,112.

COVID-19 UMMMC

• The 7-day average percent positivity is 13.7%.
• In-house cases on 9/4/22 are 48.
• Of the 48, 63% are fully vaccinated and 5 are in the ICU. Of the 5 in the ICU, 3 are fully vaccinated.

Total COVID cases (the documented actual number of people with COVID)

• White 759,827
• Hispanic 325,429
• Black 117,236
• Asian 73,985
• American Indian/Alaskan Native 1,862
• Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 678
• Unknown 562,243

Case Rates (the number of cases of COVID/the population during the period; case rates are expressed in terms of a population of 100,000)

• Hispanic 37,025
• Native America/Pacific Islander 36,825
• Black 24,581
• American Indian/Alaskan Native 18,733
• White 15,744
• Asian 14,504

Total Deaths (the ratio of deaths to the population of a particular area or subset)

• Whites 15,415
• Other Race, non-Hispanic 2,041
• Hispanic 1,997
• Black 1,312
• Asian 582
• American Indian/ Alaskan Native 11
• Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander 5
• Unknown 70

Death Rate (the number of deaths in a given period divided by the population exposed to risk of death in that period)

• White 319
• Black 281
• Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 271
• Hispanic 227
• Asian 114
• American Indian/Alaskan Native 110

Raising the Bar for COVID-19 protection

• Omicron-specific booster will be available in September.
• The vaccine will target omicron BA.4 and BA.5.
• CVS and Walgreens have rolled out the Omicron-specific vaccine. 
• The bivalent formulations are used as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination.
• Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 18 years of age and older.
• The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent, is authorized for use as a single booster dose in individuals 12 years of age and older.

Monkeypox MA

• Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is reminding physicians and other providers to report Monkeypox patient demographic data to DPH as required by Regulation 105 CMR 300.000: Reportable diseases, surveillance, and isolation and quarantine requirements with complete demographic information within 24 hours. 
• There are 19,962 cases noted in the US with 317 patients diagnosed in MA.
• To date, only one death in the US. 

Who is at risk for occupational exposure?

• Research Personnel.
• Laboratory personnel performing diagnostic testing for the orthopoxvirus. 
• Response team members at risk for occupational exposure.
• Healthcare members who administer ACAM2000 or who care for patients with replication-competent orthopoxvirus.

https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/occupational-exposures/orthopoxvirus-vaccine-guidance.html