Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park Pavilion/Playground

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity's minimum wage posters are not updated as of 9/17/21, but can be found here when they are. Updates expected soon.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it has taken control over distribution of the drugs. Gov. Ron DeSantis has been critical of the Biden administration over its COVID-19 mitigation strategies.

While Florida looks to round the corner on administering 100,000 monoclonal antibody treatments to people with COVID-19, Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged Thursday to “fight like hell” to continue receiving the treatments as the federal government this week took control over distribution of the drugs.

French law had set a Sept. 15 deadline for the country's 2.7 million health care workers to get vaccinated. The ones who didn't get a jab were suspended, the country's health minister says.

France's health minister has said that thousands of health care workers across the country have been suspended without pay for failing to get a required COVID-19 vaccine.

More than nine months after coronavirus vaccines were made available, inequities in Florida’s distribution process are still affecting some populations.

Medical boards in the U.S. continue to voice their support for sanctioning physicians who spread falsehoods about the COVID-19 vaccines.

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) issued a joint statement Thursday supporting the Federation of State Medical Boards, which warned physicians in early August that their licenses could be taken away or otherwise sanctioned by state boards if they disseminated misinformation about the COVID vaccines.

Their statement follows a similar one from the American Board of Emergency Medicine issued in late August.

With the April 5 implementation of the federal Information Blocking rule -- also known as "Open Notes" -- "actors" defined as any health provider (including physicians) must make 16 categories of electronic records available electronically to the patient upon request as soon as they're available, with more categories qualifying in the future.

Patients have had the right to access their medical records for nearly two decades, since specific HIPAA provisions took effect. Now that more medical records are in electronic format, the new Open Notes rule requires those reports to be accessible, too.

Some doctors still use the mail to send reports, or withhold them claiming they're the property of the practice. But the day is coming soon when far more patients will actively access those records via their patient portals.

When they do, many will actually read them, recognize all kinds of errors, and demand they be corrected.

Meditation has been linked to a number of health benefits, including decreased anxiety and lower cardiovascular risk. But research on the potential benefits of meditation for patients with PTSD has been inconclusive. Veterans interested in meditation are advised to try different types to see which one is most helpful.

I had an opportunity to sit down with my hospital (Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare) and record answers to some frequently asked COVID-19 questions. Eighteen COVID-19 questions covering vaccines, pregnancy, delta, masks, ivermectin, and more… You can view all 18 videos on Learn EM here, or on You Tube here.

This week brings two more COVID-19 educational resources. One highlighting a recent study from the CDC regarding COVID-19 hospitalizations in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients. The second is a set of images discussing the importance of FDA approval for medications.

I hope you find these helpful in discussions with family, friends, and patients.

To view the full report of actions and updates from the 2021 Florida Medical Association Annual Meeting House of Delegates, click here.

When do doctors retire, and what are they worried about in the future?

Last month, Dr. Simone Gold stood before a crowd at a conservative church in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and delivered a talk riddled with misinformation. She told people to avoid vaccination against the coronavirus. As an alternative, she pushed drugs that have not been proven effective at treating COVID-19 — drugs that she also offered to prescribe to the audience in exchange for $90 telehealth appointments.

The Capital Medical Society Nominating Committee will be convening in the coming months to consider nominations for the CMS Board of Governors and for the CMS FMA Delegation. If you are interested in being considered for nomination to the CMS Board of Governors or to serve as a CMS FMA Delegate, please complete the form (https://capmed.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-Succession-Planning-Questionnaire.pdf) and mail to Pam Irwin at:

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.

Join Dr. David Schaeffer as he discusses what you need to know to successfully manage your asthmatic patients, including a review of the updated 2020 stepwise approach for asthma management in children.

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.

Maguire Medical Library - Florida State University College of Medicine: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Basic & Current Information

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

Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination (CDC)

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].

Click here to access AmazonSmile and support the CMS Foundation today!