MCMS Pulse Points
Let Your Voice Be Heard
Attend the next MCMS Board Meeting

Tuesday, November 5, 2019
6:00 p.m.
491 Allendale Road, Suite 323
King of Prussia, PA 19406

Email [email protected] to RSVP
MCMS' New Board Chair

Dr. Mark Lopatin, MD has stepped down as the Board Chair to pursue his Vice President Candidacy for the Pennsylvania Medical Society in the upcoming year. The MCMS board unanimously voted Jay Rothkopf, MD as the new Board Chair for MCMS to fill the vacancy. The board also unanimously voted in support of Dr. Lopatin’s decision to run for Vice President at the Pennsylvania Medical Society.
A Message from Dr. Lopatin:

As outgoing chairman of MCMS, I want to send a message to each of you. We are in unprecedented times in health care, with physician burnout at an all-time high and an estimated 400 physician suicides occurring each year. Physicians have never been so disrespected. Nurse practitioners promote the idea that our training is superfluous and that they are interchangeable with physicians despite having had about 5 - 10 % as much training. Certifying boards challenge our integrity, by dictating that we place our belongings into a locker prior to taking recertification exams, tests that they promote as measurements of our qualifications to practice. Middlemen interfere with our ability to care for patients. We are forced to ask insurance companies for their approval before our recommendations to patients can be honored. I did a recent peer-to-peer to get approval of a medicine for one of my patients. My peer was a pharmacist, with no training in my specialty. We are labeled as “providers” rather than physicians. EHR’s have made us glorified data entry operators forced to comply with government and insurance mandates. These are only a few examples of the issues that affect us and our ability to practice.

To see Dr. Lopatin's full remarks, click here .
MCMS Endorsement for Montgomery County Commissioner

Val Arkoosh, MD was a guest at the recent MCMS board meeting and provided a brief summary on her background as a physician and how she became involved in politics and as the Montgomery County commissioner. She is seeking re-election this year, and is also seeking endorsement by the MCMS. Her accomplishments as County Commissioner include reducing street homelessness by 45% in the last several years and being deeply involved in working with first responders in the opioid epidemic. 

Montgomery County has been one of the 1st counties in the Commonwealth to equip 50 police departments with Narcan. She has been actively working on the infrastructure of the county over the last several years. The board voted unanimously to endorse Val Arkoosh in her campaign for County Commissioner. 
"Why Doctors Should Organize"

This article from The New Yorker discusses reasons why physicians should organize, how organization could help reduce the rate of burnout, and the importance of patient interaction.

For a link to the full article, click here .
Maintenance of Certification

Click here to watch a video from Dr. Wes Fisher that discusses Maintenance of Certification, and the negative effects that it can have on physicians. Dr. Fisher has been a national leader in fighting against the current status of MOC.
Advocacy Update

  • Prior Authorization - The Prior Authorization Reform bill has not yet been introduced. You are encouraged to contact your legislators to ask them to support the bill once it is introduced.
  • Act 112 - Amendments are being discussed for the Patient Test Result Information Act (Act 112). The amendments would seek to clarify the term "significant abnormality," which could cause confusion for patients.
  • HB 100 - HB 100, which amends the Professional Nursing Law, is still in the committee on House Professional Licensure. You are encouraged to contact your legislators to voice your opposition to this bill.
  • Act 96 - Act 96 of 2018, Pennsylvania's e-prescribing law, is set to take effect on October 24, 2019. More information on Act 96 is available here.

For more information regarding issues important to you, click here .