Dr. Douglas R. Murphy Jr. of Ocala is the new president of the Florida Medical Association.

Murphy, a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who has served the Ocala community in private practice for almost 40 years, was installed Saturday, July 31.

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Physicians who intentionally spread misinformation or disinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines could be disciplined by state medical boards and may have their licenses suspended or taken away, said the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB).

More than one year into the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is grappling with a highly transmissible delta variant that has caused a renewed surge in infections in countries from the U.K. and the U.S., to those in Africa and Asia.

The delta variant, which was first detected in India last October, has been found in more than 130 countries globally, according to the World Health Organization.

Delta is the most transmissible variant of the coronavirus that first emerged in China in late 2019, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist and technical lead for Covid-19 at the WHO.

The W.H.O. calls for a moratorium on vaccine boosters. The Delta variant has reached nearly half China’s regions. In the U.S., Pfizer’s vaccine could gain full approval by early September.

Moderna said Thursday that people will likely need a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose to protect against future mutations of the coronavirus, touting the “robust” antibody response generated by the additional shot.

Vaccine developers at Moderna “are looking forward towards our vision of a single dose annual booster that provides protection against COVID-19, flu and [respiratory syncytial virus] for adults. … We believe this is just the beginning,” CEO Stephane Bancel said.

Children are increasingly becoming infected by coronavirus, as cases and hospitalizations surge in Florida. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show Florida leads the nation in the rate of children hospitalized.

Florida hospitals are struggling to get enough oxygen to treat their COVID-19 patients as virus cases surge because of the delta variant, Bloomberg reported Aug. 4.

Restrictions on how long truck drivers can be on the road went back into effect when the state's public health emergency rules were lifted, and there is a shortage of qualified drivers to transport oxygen to hospitals, according to Bloomberg.

Hospitals in Tampa Bay said doctors are trying to reach the public about vaccines, but also – their own co-workers.

The Florida Medical Association is recommending that all healthcare practitioners and medical support staff get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Members of the state’s largest physicians association approved a resolution recommending that healthcare workers be vaccinated and wear masks as the numbers of COVID-19 infections in the state skyrocket. Florida reported 21,683 new infections on Friday, the largest amount since Jan. 2, when the state reported 30,531 cases.

Marking a victory for colleges and universities that shut down campuses last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Tuesday shielding the schools from lawsuits seeking refunds for students because of the closures.

Physicians at some U.S. hospitals are worried an unseasonable spike in respiratory syncytial virus combined with an uptick in COVID-19 cases among children could soon overwhelm pediatric units, The New York Times reported Aug. 1.

The American Medical Association (AMA) and dozens of physician groups are pushing back on the Department of Veterans Affairs' plan to establish new national standards of practice, which, they argued, would override current state practice and licensure laws and allow non-physicians to operate outside of their training.

CMS released its annual Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule Aug. 2, which increases Medicare payment rates for acute care hospitals and removes some price transparency requirements.

The rule applies to discharges occurring on or after Oct. 1.

UF Health Central Florida recently began notifying patients that their personal information may have been exposed in a May cyberattack that shut down the Leesburg-based health system's IT systems.

In a July 30 cybersecurity event notice, UF Health said that an investigation into the May incident revealed that some patient information may have been accessible to unauthorized users on its computer network between May 29 and 31.

Medicine is a calling. Over the past year we have heard so many stories of healthcare heroes putting themselves at risk to care for patients and providing care in suboptimal situations. Policies and protocols take time, understandably, but in the interim, the immediate needs of patients have needed to be addressed. Until March of last year, it would have been grossly against protocol to ever reuse a mask or perform a procedure without adequate personal protective equipment, and yet, we were encouraged to do so by both our institutions and our government because patient care necessitated it. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the loss of the lives of many healthcare workers. Despite this, we’ve continued to show up to work every day with a commitment to serve our patients.

✅ know their risk for depression

✅understand how it may show up in themselves and their colleagues

✅know how to get help

✅gain tools to improve their mental health throughout their career

✅Know that they are not alone!

Please go to www.whitecoatsafespace.com to become a book sponsor and help share a gift that will last a lifetime. Use the code “ambassador” to get 20% off whichever level of medical student support you choose. Choose the medical school to where you'd like the books sent or leave the entry blank and the books will be sent to you for distribution.

Electronic Prescribing Requirements (Florida Board of Medicine)

Florida ePrescribing Clearinghouse (Agency for Healthcare Administration)

The purpose of the Florida ePrescribing Clearinghouse is to provide information that contributes to the promotion and implementation of electronic prescribing by health care practitioners, health care facilities, and pharmacies in order to prevent prescription drug abuse, improve patient safety, and reduce unnecessary prescriptions. This Clearinghouse contains information on the advantages, processes, products, rules, and laws of ePrescribing as well as Florida ePrescribing reports.

2. Call 850-645-0747 to purchase over the phone and mention the promo code "CMS"

To view Physician Wellness resources, click here.

The Elephant in the Doctors' Lounge - With roughly 156 million Americans fully vaccinated for COVID-19, physicians are seeing signs of relief on the horizon. That relief can't come soon enough. The initial energy and adrenaline that drove physicians to treat their acutely ill patients in the early months of the pandemic have been replaced by fatigue, burnout, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It's time to talk -- and to act -- so these feelings of struggle don't drive more of our colleagues into a mental health emergency.

Re-envisioning Elder Care - CME Opportunity (Open flyer)

All-day Virtual Conference

September 10, 2021

8:15 am - 3:45 pm

Wolfson Children’s Hospital is proud to provide Continuing Medical Education opportunities to our partners and referring providers by offering monthly virtual CME sessions at no cost. If you have missed any of our previously offered live webinars and still wish to obtain CME credit for them, we have provided 4 recorded webinars for a total of 5.5 CME credits possible. Please follow the instructions below in order to take advantage of this opportunity!

1.      Open the flyer and choose which education session you would like to watch.

2.      Click the link in the attachment for the desired education session.

4.      Follow the instructions included in the video description to complete the required survey and input the associated activity code.

*Please note, if you are licensed outside of the state of Florida, you must contact the CME office at [email protected] to request an official transcript of your participation.

FreeCME.com 

Diagnostic error continues to be a top patient safety concern, a global burden, and cause patient harm from treatment delay, testing, or misdiagnosis. “Prevention of Diagnostic Error in Primary Care” is an on-demand CME activity that features patient safety expert Jeffrey A. Gold, MD, professor of medicine, vice chair for quality and safety, for the department of medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University. This program highlights major contributing factors of diagnostic error along with the diagnostic process of care framework with additional focus on strategies to mitigate risk of patient harm in the primary care setting.

TMH has a library of past CME courses for viewing on their MDnews page: https://www.tmh.org/mdnews/education. The recent CMEs cohosted by CMS and TMH may be found there or by opening: https://youtu.be/HJ50ZsIe2fc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjgnCn77HSc&t=5s.

The Capital Medical Society will publish its 2022 Membership Directory early next year. It will be distributed to all members. We have once again contracted with a company called E&M Consulting to produce the directory. E&M will be contacting our members over the next few months about advertising opportunities in the directory. E&M will manage all the ad sales, creative design, and formatting of the publication for us. This is a very professional group with experience in publishing association directories. If you have any questions or would like to advertise, please contact Rob Schmidt with E&M at 850-347-8182, 800-572-0011, or [email protected]. Information on the available advertising opportunities can be viewed here or can also be viewed online at https://www.emconsultinginc.com/adreservation/cms/. Please be responsive and help support this directory. Remember, it will include our entire medical community.  

Board-certified physicians are getting another extension on the deadline to maintain their internal medicine credentials.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) once again extended the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements through December 2022.

The State-Level COVID-19 profile for Florida. This data is collected from medical facilities in one of two system HHS protect or National Healthcare Safety Network  

The New England Journal of Medicine - A collection of articles and other resources on the Coronavirus outbreak, including clinical reports, management guidelines, and commentary

From the American Medical Association: COVID-19 (2019 Novel Coronavirus) Resource Center for Physicians

From the Florida Medical Association: Coronavirus Educational Resource Center

FMA's Step-by-Step Guide to COVID-19 vaccine enrollment for Florida physicians (FMA) 

See the latest state Department of Health data summarizing the number of people in Florida who have either received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine or completed the vaccine series (FMA) 

Florida Department of Health's COVID Vaccines in Florida 

COVID-19 Pandemic Planning FAQ (dated 11/19/2020) includes important information regarding procurement and handling of costs for vaccine administration. (FEMA) 

What Happens Once There is a COVID-19 Vaccine? Key Challenges to Vaccinating America (12/3/2020) - VIDEO or SLIDES (Kaiser Family Foundation) 

Mandatory Reporting of COVID-19 Laboratory Test Results: Reporting of Cycle Threshold Values (December 3, 2020)

Notable recent additions to CDC guidance include more detailed infection prevention and control recommendations for health care settings: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/hcp/infection-control.html.

Please continue to closely monitor the CDC novel coronavirus website for situation and guidance updates. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.

See Flyer 

Brochure & To Register 

Machine donations can be dropped off at Capital Medical Society Foundation's office at 1204 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee, FL 32308. Donations to Capital Medical Society Foundation are tax-deductible within IRS guidelines Federal Tax I.D. #: 59-2104510. For additional information, please call 942-5215 or email [email protected].

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