A bi-weekly newsletter from your physician organization to keep you informed of today's healthcare news

Diabetes impacts over 40 million Americans, with a staggering 115 million facing pre-diabetes, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). Working with patients on prevention and management can be impactful in helping improve health outcomes.

Diabetes management also impacts numerous quality measures. Practices have many opportunities to positively impact these measures through patient engagement to ensure closing gaps in care.

The Physician Alliance created an array of complimentary marketing and education materials to assist with patient engagement.

Diabetes-specific patient education materials are below. Additional health topics can be found on the Learning Institute section of the website. A diabetes toolkit, coding resources and social media graphics are available on the member portal.

• 6 ways to manage your diabetes poster
• 7 tips for lowering diabetes risk poster
• Diabetic eye exam poster
• Diabetic eye exam prescription form
• Patient diabetes self management form
• Patient diabetes action plan form
• Understanding diabetic retinopathy infographic poster

No period in a patient’s life is more important for long-term immune system protection than the first 12 months. From the moment of birth, the protective antibodies passed from mother to fetus during pregnancy - a form of borrowed immunity – start fading, leaving a narrowing window during which vaccines must step in to provide active immunity.

For pediatric and family medicine providers, this unique period provides important opportunities to create proactive plans for ensuring immunizations occur in a timely schedule.

Infant immunization schedule is deliberately front-loaded, and the biology behind it is straightforward. By the time a child reaches their first birthday, they will have received protection against up to 14 diseases across six or more well-child visits.

However, there are a lot of hurdles that may prevent children from getting vaccines. Missed appointments, parental hesitancy, scheduling conflicts, transportation issues and navigating the overwhelm of a caring for a new baby are common obstacles. Keeping patients on track requires more than a schedule on the wall. It takes proactive coordination, consistent communication, and an understanding that the timing of each visit matters as much as the visit itself.

These tips can help providers ensure patients stay on track to receiving these life-saving immunizations:

• Start the conversation early. The prenatal period is an underused opportunity to introduce vaccine-hesitant families to the immunization schedule. Addressing concerns before the first well-child visit gives families time to process information and arrive prepared.
• Use a presumptive communication approach. When it is time to administer vaccines, framing them as the expected next step has shown to increase acceptance and reduce hesitancy-driven delays. A clear, confident recommendation from a trusted provider carries significant weight.
• Leverage every visit as a vaccination opportunity, including sick visits. When a child presents for an illness and vaccines are due, administering them at that appointment reduces missed opportunities. The 9-month age visit typically includes no new routine vaccines so is a natural checkpoint to review immunization status and address any gaps before the 12-month milestone.
• Implement reminder/recall systems. Patient reminder interventions consistently improve childhood vaccination rates, and Immunization Information Systems (IIS) make it easier to identify who is due, who has fallen behind, and where outreach is most needed. Standing orders allow clinical staff to assess/administer vaccines without a real-time provider order. These evidence-based tools reduce missed opportunities and supports efficient workflows.

Read full article here.

Source: Atlantic Health Partners is one of TPA's Affiliate Partners, providing competitive pricing on major vaccines. TPA members also are also eligible for an annual rebate on vaccine purchases. Contact Kimberly Thompson at kthompson@atlantichealthpartners.com or (800) 741-2044.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) is hosting a live webinar that provides tips and insight on closing gaps in care related to quality measures for adults.

Join the webinar on June 3 from 12-1pm.

The program is open to physicians and office staff responsible for closing gaps

in care. Physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and coders can receive continuing education credits for attending. This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

Log into BCBSM's provider portal to register for the webinar.

Physician compensation methodology is more than a formula; it reflects a practice’s culture, transparency, governance, and commitment to physician value. For physician-owned practices, it also plays a critical role in alignment, recruitment, retention, succession planning, and long-term independence.

Recent data from a Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) survey shows that while many groups review compensation methodology annually or every two to three years, one in four has not updated its approach in three or more years. For Michigan physicians and physician-owned practices, 2026 presents an important opportunity to reassess compensation strategy considering evolving market conditions, payer dynamics, workforce shortages, and CMS wRVU valuation changes.

Michigan’s aging population, significant Medicare and Medicare Advantage enrollment, Medicaid participation, and competitive physician recruitment environment all underscore the need for thoughtful compensation design. Practices using wRVU-based compensation, partner distribution formulas, productivity incentives, or associate bonus plans should proactively model the impact of 2026 CMS changes. Physicians may perform the same work but generate fewer wRVUs because the measurement changed - not because their effort, access, productivity, or value declined.

A strong compensation review should evaluate whether thresholds, conversion factors, productivity targets, incentives, call coverage, APP supervision, leadership, quality, and administrative responsibilities are appropriately recognized. It should also ensure methodology is understandable, current, documented, defensible, and aligned with practice goals.

For Michigan practices, compensation review is not simply about pay. It is about clarity, sustainability, fairness, competitiveness, trust, and protecting practice independence. Your work has value. Your compensation methodology should reflect it.

Read the full article here.

Source: Medical Group Management Association is one of TPA's Affiliate Partners, offering tailored consulting services to help with provider compensation, leadership development, revenue cycle optimization, workflow efficiency and more. For more details and TPA members' exclusive benefits and discounts, contact Jessica Minesinger, CMOM, CMPE, FACMPE, BBCC at JMinesinger@MGMA.com, (937) 210-9888.

Doctors press more states to cap malpractice payouts, Axios

Eroding ACA Enrollment Portends Higher Insurance Rates, Kaiser Health News

11 things hospital leaders need to know about the Ebola outbreak, Becker's Clinical Review

Kennedy fires heads of task force that sets insurance coverage rules, Axios

Hantavirus countdown: U.S. cruise passengers settle in for 42 days of waiting, NPR

Michigan lawmakers working on new bills for medical debt, Click on Detroit

Hantavirus response stokes questions about CDC, Axios

Measles cases set to pass last year's total, Becker's Clinical Leadership