• Legislative Summary
• WY Healthcare Workforce
• WDH Updates
• WWAMI is Hiring
• Cyber Attack - Change Healthcare

• OUD Medications & Treatment
• WMS Organizational News
• Healthcare in 2033
• Measles Report

Click the PDF image to view the legislative summary.

Thank you to all of our 2024 Doc of the Day Volunteers!

• Dean Bartholomew, MD
• Jason Bloomberg, MD
• Travis Bomengen, MD
• Jody Cousins, MD
• James Eggert, MD
• Brendan Fitzsimmons, MD
• Philip Gard, DO
• Kristin Graf, MD

• Donald Kirk, MD
• Kellan Klubben, MD
• Ronald Malm, DO
• Robert Monger, MD
• Evan Norby, DO
• Matt Strang, MD
• John Winter, MD

Governor Mark Gordon has signed an Executive Order creating the Wyoming Healthcare Workforce Task Force, a continuation of efforts to address the shortage of healthcare professionals in Wyoming and to look to the future needs of the state.

WMS Executive Director was appointed to serve on the Wyoming Healthcare Workforce Task Force by Governor Gordon, ensuring that the medical society continues to have a seat at the table for the most important healthcare conversations happening in Wyoming.

The Task Force will develop recommendations to streamline the healthcare licensing process; develop strategies to better support Wyoming students pursuing healthcare certification and degree programs; and determine reimbursement strategies for all certified and degreed behavioral health professionals.

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“Strengthening and expanding our healthcare workforce is critical to Wyoming’s future. That’s why it’s so important to have our state entities work collaboratively to make it easier for healthcare professionals to practice, and for students preparing for a career in healthcare to access educational programs. This task force is an important step in this process.” 

- Governor Mark Gordon

Wyoming WWAMI is hiring.

Director - Wyoming WWAMI Medical Education

The incumbent will serve as the Director of the Wyoming WWAMI medical education program in the University of Wyoming (UW) College of Health Sciences, holding a joint appointment with the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM). Reporting primarily to the Dean of the College of Health Sciences at UW and secondarily to the Vice Dean for Academic, Rural, and Regional Affairs at UWSOM, the Director is responsible for oversight and management of academic/curricular activities, pipeline, personnel, facility, operations, accreditation, and fiscal matters of the Wyoming WWAMI program, an innovative medical education program in which five states share one medical school (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho). Wyoming WWAMI students complete 18 months of preclinical training at the UW campus in Laramie before completing clinical training throughout the WWAMI region and ultimately graduating with an MD degree from the University of Washington. The target start date is July 2024, with a flexible start date for the right candidate.

Click for More Information 

STERN is hiring.

We are announcing an exciting opportunity to support WWAMI faculty development in Wyoming. The Stern Regional Education program focuses on supporting medical education for faculty working with University of Washington medical students across the WWAMI region.  There is an educator for each WWAMI region. The holder’s role will be to teach, coach and mentor faculty.  The expectation will be the Educator will provide one day per month to this work and receive $10,000/year. The Educator will report to the Stern Endowed Chair for Medical Education.  

Please contact Heidi Combs at hcombs@uw.edu to learn more.

Heidi Combs, MD, MS

Professor

Vice Chair of Education

University of Washington Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Stern Endowed Chair for WWAMI Faculty Development

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is continuing to monitor and assess the impact that the cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group’s subsidiary Change Healthcare has had on all provider and supplier types. Today, CMS is announcing that, in addition to considering applications for accelerated payments for Medicare Part A providers, we will also be considering applications for advance payments for Part B suppliers. 

Read Full Statement from CMS

CMS Fact Sheet

Additional Resources:

• AMA: Change Healthcare cyber outage
• AMA: Change Healthcare breach: Financial relief, resources and next steps for physicians
• HHS: Letter to Healthcare Leaders on Change Healthcare Cyber Attack
• Aledade: Change Healthcare Cyber Incident Response
• Aledade Accelerate: Change Healthcare One-Time Advance
• MHCO: Mountain Health CO-OP Offers Relief to Doctors affected by Change Healthcare Cyber Attack

SAMHSA releases final rule modifies and updates certain provisions of regulations related to Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) accreditation, certification, and standards for the treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) with Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) in OTPs.

This includes making flexibilities put forth during the COVID–19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) permanent, as well as expanding access to care and evidence-based treatment for OUD. The final rule also removes all language and rules pertaining to the Drug Addiction and Treatment Act (DATA) Waiver from the regulations pursuant to the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023”.

The effective date of this final rule is April 2, 2024, and the compliance date is October 2, 2024.

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The Wyoming Leaders in Medicine program is now accepting applications for the 2024-2025 cohort! Apply today!

WMS is excited to announce plans for the 2024-2025 Wyoming Leaders in Medicine-Physician Leadership Academy. If you are an alumni of the program, please talk to colleagues in your community who would enjoy the program. Help us reach every corner of the state! The application process is short, and the memories will last a lifetime!

If you have any questions about the program please email info@wyomed.org or call the WMS office at 307-635-2424.

What U.S. Healthcare Will Look Like in 2033

Executive Summary

Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Doctors Company and TDC Group

American healthcare faces persistent issues with consolidation, workforce shortages, integration of new technologies, and unrelenting economic pressure. In 2023, technologies such as clinical decision support (CDS) and other artificial intelligence (AI) tools have continued to emerge, offering both promise and risk. Meanwhile, even as long-standing care and business models are upended, the ripple effects of COVID-19 continue. Physician shortages are growing, especially in primary care, though advanced practice clinicians (APCs) are filling many of the gaps.

Healthcare organizations are looking to their vast wealth of data for insights that can be harnessed to improve care for patients, promote professional satisfaction for clinicians, mitigate liability, and streamline medical practice.

Each year, TDC Group looks ahead to healthcare trends over the next decade, focusing on challenges, key lessons, and emerging risks. We remain committed to serving those who provide care by delivering insights into healthcare’s evolution to help guide the actions of medical leaders making critical decisions. This examination, though certainly not exhaustive, lays out some of the most pressing issues medical professionals must address as we look ahead. Our 2022 analysis examined the impacts of the pandemic, health equity challenges, and healthcare costs on the changing landscape.

Measles reported in multiple states; be prepared to take infection-control steps

As we enter the spring and summer travel season, clinicians should be on alert for cases of measles. Measles cases often originate from unvaccinated or undervaccinated U.S. residents who travel internationally and then transmit the disease to people who are not vaccinated against measles. 

Healthcare providers should consider measles in patients presenting with febrile rash illness and clinically compatible measles symptoms, especially if the person recently traveled internationally or was exposed to a person with febrile rash illness. 

Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that typically begins with a prodrome of fever, cough, coryza (runny nose), and conjunctivitis (pink eye), lasting 2-4 days prior to rash onset. Measles can cause severe health complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), and death. 

Ensure that your patients 6 months of age or older who will be traveling internationally are protected against measles. 

It is crucial for healthcare providers to immediately notify local or state health departments about any suspected case of measles to ensure rapid testing and investigation. Measles cases are reported by states to CDC through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) and can also be reported directly to CDC at measlesreport@cdc.gov. Additionally, healthcare workers should be adequately protected against measles; adhere to standard and airborne precautions when evaluating suspect cases regardless of their vaccination status.  

Attached you will find information and talking points to help guide discussions on measles with patients and other healthcare staff. To view the most up-to-date case count, please visit: Measles Cases and Outbreaks | CDC 

For More Information 

• Rash Micro-Learn (cdc.gov)  
• For Healthcare Professionals – Diagnosing and Treating Measles | CDC 
• Interim Measles Infection Prevention Recommendations in Healthcare Settings | CDC 
• Measles – Vaccine Preventable Diseases Surveillance Manual | CDC 
• Rubeola / Measles | CDC Yellow Book 2024 

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