UMass FMCH Tuesday Talk - August 5, 2025/CLINICAL

Welcome to the FMCH Tuesday Talk

This is the time of year when we clean up our contact list for Tuesday Talk. If you received this newsletter via several emails or want a different email used, please email FMCHTuesdayTalk@umassmed.edu to tell us the email you prefer. If a colleague did not get Tuesday Talk and wants to be added, please also let us know.

Table of Contents

Focus of the Week - Clinical

Announcements

Publications and Presentations

Frankly Speaking Podcast

Resources

HOLD the DATE

Tuesday, September 9th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM, the 27th Annual Steven L. Putterman Memorial Lecture FMCH Grand Rounds will be presented by guest speaker Matilde (Mattie) Castiel, MD, City of Worcester Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Location TBD and via Zoom. More details to come!

Reminder: there will be NO grand rounds for August!

See you on September 2nd. 

Let's Talk Advocacy- Impact of Legislative Changes on Minoritized Populations

1. Work Requirements Will Increase Coverage Losses

• Who is affected most:

Black and Hispanic adults are overrepresented in the Medicaid expansion population. Many work in unstable or informal jobs (gig economy, caregiving, seasonal work) that don’t provide documentation required to prove eligibility.

• Consequences:
• Loss of coverage despite working.
• Increased bureaucratic hurdles = missed renewals.
• Heightened stress, delayed care, worsening chronic disease outcomes.

2. Renewal & Eligibility Changes Create Churn

• Barrier: Language access, digital literacy, and housing instability (e.g., frequent address changes) make it harder for minoritized patients to complete renewals.
• Impact:
• Procedural terminations spike in Hispanic and immigrant households.
• Children and postpartum patients lose continuous coverage.
• Fear of reapplication due to immigration status or public charge concerns (despite updated guidance).

Hot Topics - Key Federal Legislative Changes

1. Budget Reconciliation Law (Passed July 4, 2025)

• Medicaid Cuts: $911 billion over 10 years.
• Work Requirements: Starting Jan 1, 2027, ACA expansion adults must verify 80 hrs/month of work.
• Twice-Yearly Eligibility Checks introduced.
• Impact: Estimated 5+ million may lose coverage; states must rapidly build new compliance systems.

2. GLP-1 Drug Pilot Program (Planned for 2026–2027)

• CMS to launch pilots allowing Medicaid and Medicare to cover weight-loss medications (e.g., Wegovy, Mounjaro).
• Timeline: Medicaid pilots start April 2026; Medicare in Jan 2027.
• Potential Benefit: Expanded obesity treatment access in underserved communities.

3. Rural Health Transformation Program

• $50 billion over 5 years to stabilize rural hospitals impacted by Medicaid reductions.
• The Rural Health Fund includes $50 billion, with half to be distributed equally among states with approved applications and half to be distributed based on an approach determined by CMS within broad requirements.

4. Medicaid Coverage Landscape

• ACA Expansion: 41 states + DC have expanded Medicaid.
• Postpartum Coverage (12 months): Permanent authority; 46 states, including MA, have implemented.
• COVID Unwinding Impact: ~20 million disenrollments nationwide; states resume

regular redeterminations by Jan 2026.

5. Massachusetts Medicaid (MassHealth) Highlights

• Work Requirements Concerns: State projects up to 300,000 residents at risk; potential $3.5B federal loss over 10 years.
• No-Copay Policy: Extended for all MassHealth-covered services (as of Jan 2025).
• FY26 State Budget: Increased MassHealth allocation (~$22B) to buffer provider rate pressures and potential disenrollments.

Learn How to be an Advocate for Healthcare

1. Define Your Advocacy Focus

Reflect on your clinical experiences:

• What health care issues frustrate you most?
• Which populations are underserved?
• Examples: Medicaid access, maternal mortality, addiction care, immigrant health, racism in medicine.

2. Learn the Landscape

Understand how policy shapes clinical care:

• Federal vs. state policy (e.g., Medicaid, ACA, drug pricing)
• Social determinants of health (SDOH)
• Trusted resources:
• AMA Advocacy Center
• Kaiser Health News
• Local/state medical societies

Optional: Take a health policy, advocacy, or public health course.

3. Get Involved with Professional Organizations

Join advocacy arms of:

• Specialty societies (AMA, AAFP, ACOG, ACP, etc.)
• Local medical societies.
• National advocacy groups (Doctors for America, White Coats for Black Lives)

4. Use Your Clinical Authority

As a clinician, your voice matters.

5. Start Local

Drive change in your own institution:

• Join DEI or ethics committees
• Improve processes (e.g., SDOH screening, language access, inclusive care)
• Lead QI projects tied to advocacy goals

6. Teach and Mentor

• Incorporate advocacy into residency or student education
• Develop or deliver talks on health equity, policy, and justice
• Lead advocacy projects (letter writing, legislative visits, voter registration,

community events)

7. Collaborate Across Sectors

Build bridges with:

• Public health departments
• Legal aid and community-based organizations
• Media and social platforms

Announcements

Worcester Canal District Community Cleanups

Want to help clean up a vibrant part of our city - the Canal District?

• 3rd Saturday – August 16th
• 5th Saturday – August 30th
• 🕘 Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
• 📍 Meet at Worcester Public Library (3 Salem Square, Worcester, MA)

Spread the word, help us mobilize volunteers, come with your family. For more information, email famjameventgroup@gmail.com.

Inspire the next generation of Family Physicians! MassAHEC is planning for AY25-26! Longitudinal Preceptors Needed! With the next academic year fast approaching, 

Longitudinal Preceptors are needed for incoming MassAHEC Rural and Urban Health Scholars. Students work with LPs for 6 sessions in year one and 6 in year two. More than 30% of these scholars have gone into Family Medicine due to the lessons learned during these early years of med school. This feedback summarizes it best: 

“Working with my Longitudinal Preceptor has been one of the most enriching aspects of the program. …taught me to tailor my interviews to the patient population to better address their needs.…taught me the importance of interprofessional teamwork and integrating behavioral health into primary care. Observing how she collaborates with other healthcare professionals has emphasized the significance of a team-based approach to enhance patient outcomes.” If interested, please contact Linda.Cragin@umassmed.edu.

Reminder! Complete your annual performance review in Interfolio with your supervisor as soon as possible. Please contact Heather Garron (heather.garron@umassmemorial.org) if you have any trouble accessing Interfolio. Resources for faculty and supervisors are available here.

FAQs: 

• Q: When is the Annual Performance Review (APR) due?

A: The preliminary due date for your APR meeting was July 21. Given the transition to Interfolio, please complete your supervisor meeting by mid-August so chair review and comments can be submitted to the school by a hard September 1 deadline.

• Q: Should I be completing the CV portions of Interfolio?

A: No. The CV function is still being built to make sure it is useful for faculty. Right now, faculty do not need to enter CV info. You only have to paste accomplishments for the past year into the APR.

• Q: What should I do with any supplemental materials (if applicable)?

A: Send your UMass format CV, evaluations, and supplemental materials (if applicable; may include maternity care and residency teaching supplements) to your supervisor. Your supervisor can cut and paste summary comments into the "additional feedback" section. Alternatively, there is a way to upload the supplemental materials into Interfolio by clicking "add file" after you log into Interfolio. 

American Family Physician is recruiting experienced authors for several topics listed here. Encourage experienced authors to mentor a less experienced coauthor from a group underrepresented in medicine. Authors who can engage in this invaluable mentoring process will still be expected to serve as first and corresponding author; there should be 3 authors or less per article. https://www.aafp.org/journals/afp/authors.html.

If interested, lead authors must indicate their top 3 ranked preferences via ScholarOne by Friday, August 8th. If you do not already have an account, you will need to create one. To submit, log into our ScholarOne site (mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/afp), click on your author center tab, click “Begin Submission,” then select “Call for Authors” from the list.

We will assign authors to topics within the next few weeks, and send formal solicit letters out at intervals over the following 2-3 months (August through October) with due dates roughly 3 months from receipt of the solicit letter. Preference will be given to authors who have previously published in a peer-reviewed journal, provided high-quality reviews for AFP, who have experience with an evidence-based approach to writing, and who have clinical experience on the topic being discussed. Less experienced authors must have an experienced coauthor who will serve both as lead (first and corresponding) and mentor

author.

CIPC is offering a free webinar on the care of Adult ADHD in Primary Care on Wednesday, August 20th at 1:30pm. See this flyer or register here: 

https://umassmed.zoom.us/meeting/register/5jdW-4qTTdiO9_OKLNMv-g#/registration

Private Funding Opportunities

The Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR) team distributes via email a bi-weekly digest summarizing upcoming private funding opportunities to the UMass Chan Medical School community. Sign up today by emailing DevelopmentFundingDigest@umassmed.edu. The CFR team is here to help members of the UMass Chan community generate curated lists of foundation and institutional philanthropy opportunities. Contact us to learn about tools and foundations that support faculty, postdocs, predocs, graduate students and medical school students. Please contact the CFR team before approaching any foundation or private philanthropic funder.

Another funding resource is: https://www.rwjf.org/en/grants/active-funding-opportunities/2025/exploring-equitable-futures.html?rid=003VN00000FHgqEYAT&et_cid=2199758

Due October 15th, 2025.

Looking for Volunteers

Mission of Mercy is coming to Worcester on November 15th. They will provide free dental care for 300 patients at the DCU. Looking for medical clinicians to volunteer to provide medical clearance. Sign up here or contact Hugh Silk hugh.silk@umassmemorial.org.

Teaching of Tomorrow (TOT) is a nationally recognized and highly acclaimed interprofessional 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. The workshops will be held at the Wellsworth Hotel in Southbridge, MA, on November 14-15, 2025, and March 13-14, 2026. Attendance is required for all four conference days. For more details, please refer to the attached flyer. Registration is now open. Registration link below.

https://umassmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bBoZ9s7WSfhUdyC

Publications and Presentations

Phil Bolduc, PI for the New England AIDS Education and Training Center and colleagues from across the country published an invited perspective: Persistence is Resistance: The fight to End the HIV Epidemic Hangs in the Balance. J Infect Dis. 2025 Jul 28:jiaf389. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaf389. Online ahead of print. 

Pdf of publication available here or for free at link below.

https://academic.oup.com/jid/advancearticle/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiaf389/8214287 

50th Anniversary Videos!

Photos from our 50^th celebration on March 15th: https://vimeo.com/1090097186/96a27f4d34?share=copy

Photos from 50 years of department history: https://vimeo.com/1067353936/5af9ebbea9?share=copy

Frankly Speaking Podcast

Please join us for a weekly Podcast series for an overview: An estimated 30% of women worldwide are affected by bacterial vaginosis (BV), and although treatment is typically successful, recurrence rates remain high. Traditional strategies, such as treating male partners, have not significantly reduced recurrence. In this episode, we discuss a recent study that used a new approach to partner treatment and review its potential to reduce BV recurrence. Guest: Susan Feeney, DNP, FNP, presents, "Treating Two: Partnering Up Against Bacterial Vaginosis Recurrence". Frankly Speaking Ep 444. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frankly-speaking-about-family-medicine/id1194659367

Resources

Past editions of the Tuesday Talk are available at 

https://www.umassmed.edu/fmch/ under Resources.

The UMass Memorial Caring for Caregivers Program is available at 508-334-HELP,

EAP at 866-263-3525, and the UMass Chan EAP at 800-322-5327.

www.LiveandWorkWell.com 

Yoga Classes with Dr. Liz Erban.

New members always welcome. 

Please join us on Wednesday(s), 6:30-7:30am, for a gentle awakening yoga session led by the talented Liz Erban.

https://umassmed.zoom.us/j/91343267992?pwd=ZHF3NHVrVlR1MVdMV09HSE5lTzdsQT09