the PineCones ENewsletter ~ 2017 September 1
Maine AFP Board along with the majority of State AAFP Chapters has signed on to the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative’s “ Shared Principles of Primary Care ” recently released by t he Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, the " Shared Principles " is a list of shared principles that can serve as a vision statement for the future of primary care. ( continue reading for more Information )

Announcing a Special Opportunity from ABFM!

The American Board of Family Medicine ( ABFM) has announced that it is offering the PRIME Registry FREE for the first three years to the first 2,000 ABFM board-certified family physicians who sign up!

After the initial 3 years, PRIME cost is only $295/ABFM Diplomate/year. For all other family physicians, primary care colleagues, and mid-level providers, the cost is only $360/clinician/year. 

The PRIME Registry is currently helping nearly 3,000 primary care clinicians use the data from their EHRs to view any performance gaps and reduce their reporting burden. Many have been able to use the PRIME registry to identify gaps in care at the individual patient level. PRIME is also supporting hundreds of family physicians in reporting data for MIPS and CPC Plus. PRIME participants can also take advantage of the new Performance Improvement (PI) Activity Module that will be released this fall, simplifying continuous certification activities for diplomates.

For more information or to take advantage of this offer visit:
www.primenavigator.org or call 877-223-7437
New Quality Counts Project: Launching the Caring for ME Clinician Leadership Program
Quality Counts (QC) and the MMA are teaming up to launch a new project called Caring for ME Clinician Leadership Program . This will build on the work of the Caring for ME over the last year and offer a unique opportunity for Maine clinicians (Physicians, NPs, and PAs) to improve their ability to respond to public health crises, with a focus on leading change to address the opioid epidemic. 

With support from a grant from the Physicians Foundation, we will be working over the next two years to offer an opportunity for up to thirty medical providers across the state to develop leadership skills to impact a range of public health issues, and specifically to develop stronger skills to lead practice and policy change needed to address the opioid epidemic.  

See Clarifications to Opioid Prescribing and Dispensing Rules from Maine DHHS
Since these documents have not gone through the rule-making process, they do not have the force of law; however, they do describe the Department’s interpretations of the rules, so they may be used as guidance by prescribers and dispensers trying to figure out how the Department will enforce the rules. 



Improving Opioid Prescribing and Patient Safety: 3-hour presentations in September
Registration is open for two 3-hour programs scheduled for September 19 in Augusta and September 27 in Caribou. Read More