Your Weekly News & Updates
MSNJ Member Update - COVID-19
March 16, 2020
Statement of MSNJ President, Marc J. Levine, MD
Colleagues,

Today, the NJ Assembly passed legislation to allow a physician to treat any appropriate condition via telemedicine and be paid for covered services. We expect the Senate will follow suit shortly.

This is a critical aspect of keeping physicians and allied health professionals safe. We have also listed some video conferencing vendors you can easily contact if you don’t have the ability to see patients virtually right now.

As the number of confirmed cases increases over the next few weeks, please contact your state medical society with problems, concerns or successes you are encountering in the delivery of healthcare services to your patients. We can be reached at [email protected] or call our member resource center at 609.896.1766 ext. 0.

MSNJ is being proactive by making all of our meetings virtual and by postponing our previously announced Annual Meeting which was scheduled for May 1 – 2, 2020. More details on the Annual Meeting coming soon. 

Thank you for the work you do for your patients every day. Stay safe and be well.

Marc J Levine MD – President.
MSNJ Actions
MSNJ has been actively working with NJ leaders on several initiatives to secure the healthcare workforce:
  1. Please review all the latest guidance at www.msnj.org.
  2. Last week MSNJ urged legislative leaders to remove all barriers for physicians to see patients via video means. Legislation was passed by the Assembly today to expand the ability of physicians to continue to see patients that can be appropriately cared for remotely via any platform.
  3. MSNJ is contacting DOBI to issue a bulletin directing insurers to pay for telemedicine services delivered during this crisis.
  4. MSNJ is aware of the limited amounts of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) available in the market. Supplies of PPE are being rationed in hospitals throughout NJ. A significant amount of PPE is manufactured in China, so we are focusing on streamlining the ability to see patients virtually.
  5. MSNJ and the NJ Hospital Association are debriefing daily on issues confronting physicians and facilities. Please forward issues, concerns or potential solutions you are seeing to MSNJ to bring to state leaders.
  6. Postponed the MSNJ Annual Meeting scheduled for May 1-2, 2020.
  7. MSNJ will host a COVID-19 update at its Board of Trustees meeting on March 18.
  8. Increased testing will be occurring this week with many more cases discovered. MSNJ has identified several video conferencing platforms members can access to continue to see patients during the crisis.
2020 © Medical Society of New Jersey. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the Medical Society of New Jersey.
Medical Society of New Jersey | 609-896-1766 |  [email protected]  |  www.msnj.org
2 Princess Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648