News

Monday Rx: New LACMA Members, LACMA Marketplace, Surprise Bill AB72, and VIP Remote Health Partnership.

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New Members, New Opportunities

I want to take this opportunity to welcome Dr. Gary Ott, FACOG, medical director of Premier Women’s Health Associates. Dr. Ott recently moved to the Los Angeles area from the Northeast, started a practice after managing a successful OBGYN practice for several years and joined LACMA last week after learning about our benefits and how we serve physicians. Dr. Ott immediately took advantage of the LACMA discount program with PatientPop, the practice growth platform partner and will begin to see new patients soon along with a redesigned web site, online marketing, and reputation management tools. Welcome, Dr. Ott!

I am pleased to announce an imminent agreement with Foothill Cardiology Medical Group. Thanks go to Dr. Sion Roy and Dr. Bill Averill for reaching out to fellow cardiologists to help make this agreement possible. The signing will take place this week for 18 physicians that are part of a three-year agreement.

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A Win For the Physician Community

Assembly Bill 1404 (Santiago) has been put on a two-year suspense, meaning it will not be heard this current legislative cycle which is good news for physicians! This poorly written bill would have made physicians' salaries and retirement plans public. The bill would have required a health care entity to disclose a contracted physician’s compensation information, including base compensation, deferred compensation, and any bonuses or incentives that are part of their total compensation. Assemblymember Santiago decided to make it a 2-year bill, which typically happens when the author is unsuccessful at securing enough votes (verbally) in their favor. Also, the Legislature passed CMA’s sponsored bill, AB 744 which is now heading to the Governor’s desk. The physician community was heard loud and clear!

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Shop in the LACMA Marketplace

Now that the new and much improved LACMA web site is more accessible and easier to find (ladocs.org), I’m pleased to share that the LACMA Marketplace is also more intuitive and user-friendly. Members can take advantage of discounts on supplies to vaccines.

Visit Marketplace

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Surprise Billing Fight Wages On

 

We continue to urge our members to contact their members of Congress about the surprise medical billing legislation moving through Congress. Several of the bills moving through Congress mirror California’s unsuccessful surprise billing law (AB 72). While California protects patients from surprise medical bills, the rest of the law is not working. Insurers across the state are canceling long-standing contracts with physician groups or imposing significant 25-45% payment cuts. Insurers have decided they no longer need to contract because they can pay the low rate established in state law.

Physician networks are diminishing and access to care is in jeopardy for in-network care, as well as for emergency physicians and on-call surgeons, anesthesiologists, and other specialists who care for patients in emergencies. If the on-call physicians no longer have a contract and will only be paid the low rate in the law, they cannot afford to accept call responsibilities. The Department of Managed Health Care has reported a 48% increase in patient access to care complaints since the passage of AB 72.

CMA and all of organized medicine, are urging Congress to support H.R. 3502, the “Protecting People from Surprise Medical Bills Act,” authored by physician Congressmen Raul Ruiz, M.D., (D-CA) and Phil Roe, M.D., (R-TN), which is based on the proven, successful New York model.

  • Protect patients from surprise medical bills.
  • Establish a fair process that incentivizes insurers and physicians to contract, with a dispute resolution process that uses a reasonable market-based payment benchmark.
  • Preserve patient access to in-network physicians, emergency physicians, and on-call physician specialists who care for patients in emergencies.
  • Cosponsor Ruiz-Roe H.R. 3502 “Protecting People from Surprise Medical Bills,” based on the proven New York model.

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The Importance of Beating the Clock:
Qualified Retirement Planning for 2019!

What we found last year is those who want to reduce their tax liability by implementing a Pension for 2018 were waiting to the last minute and some waited too long and had to implement for 2019. Sad because it was significant amounts of money they were forced to pay to the IRS because of procrastination. 

For some planning such as a Safe Harbor 401k Plan the deadline is 10/15 but even now might be stretching it for those who want to implement this for the first time because of implementation timing. Putting in a Retirement Plan for 2019 could bring a Doctor's taxes down 50%-70%. In our recent webinars, most Doctors don't even know they can do this or they were told false information so they ditched the idea in the past.  Misinformation hurts the best as we all know.

Are you a successful and profitable Medical Group, Private Practice, Solo Practitioner and owner of a Medical Business that is looking to reduce your tax liability and keep the money in your possession?

Now is the time to start the process to prevent disruption from taking advantage of the Deductions for 2019! Email our preferred partner, Jonathan M. Barrera of WestPac Wealth Partners for more information about qualified retirement planning for 2019.

Email: jonathan.barrera@WestPacWealth.com

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We are pleased to welcome VIP Remote Health as a preferred LACMA partner!

VIP Remote Health allows for clinicians and patients to communicate quickly, share data, and manage healing and wellness in new and convenient ways. They offer three remarkable products that your patients are sure to enjoy, with technology covered by most insurance!

  • The WB-100 Smart Band is a lightweight health band that offers a great way to monitor and track your health with little to no effort. This elegant WB-100 Health Band gives you health data insight of your daily activity and ranges. Connect the Health Band WB-100 to the smartphone APP and you can take control of your health and live a healthy, balanced life.
  • The VIP Health Monitor APP gathers personalized real-time data that helps manage and prevent healthcare outcomes. You can check your blood pressure or heart rate any time anywhere! Pair the Smart Health Band with the VIP Health Monitoring APP to gather personal health data to send to your healthcare professional for review. The VIP Health Monitor APP is compatible with any Android or iOS smartphone.
  • Assisted by artificial intelligence, a powerful online HIPAA Compliant Doctor Dashboard displays patient health information in a proprietary format to be reviewed by the physicians only. Physicians can visualize and analyze your wellness metrics such as Heart Rate that includes; PTT, Respiration Rate, Blood Oxygen Saturation, Blood Glucose, Body Temperature, Hypertension, Sleep Pattern, and others. Remote patient monitoring achieves this effective communication through a specific series of functions: Once the user activates the patient monitor, information is collected, stored on internal systems, and formatted for transmission to the patient’s healthcare physician. Physicians can access relevant patient data in real-time, providing oversight and effective care management for their patients.

Learn how VIP Remote Health can transform your Physician-patient relationship. 

Visit VIP Remote Health

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Finance for Physicians 101: Part 2 - Los Angeles City Business Tax Explained.

Do you operate a business within the City of Los Angeles? Did you know that you must have a business license and pay an annual tax?

In Part 2 of our Finance for Physicians webinar series, in partnership with the Los Angeles County Medical Association (LACMA), ACap’s Ara Oghoorian will take us through a deep dive of the City of LA business tax: how it is calculated, what are the exemptions, strategies on how to lower your business tax, and lastly, we will compare the City of LA business tax to the equally unpopular LA County Unsecured Property Tax.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019, 11 AM PST

Register Here

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The Billion Dollar Identity Theft Scam

 

WHY SHOULD MY HEALTHCARE PRACTICE CARE ABOUT DATA BREACHES AND IDENTITY THEFT?

HOW DOES A DATA BREACH AFFECT MY PATIENTS?

YOU ASKED, WE LISTENED!

Many healthcare professionals are unaware of the billion-dollar scam that will affect their healthcare practice after a data breach. LibertyID, an expert in helping healthcare practices prepare for and respond to potential data breaches, will be sharing how healthcare practices may not be as prepared as they think they are because of a billion-dollar scam. Paul Ferron, the Vice President of LibertyID, will be hosting this webinar on September 24, 2019, at 2 p.m. (PDT).

RSVP to lauren@libertyid.com to attend the webinar.

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Celebrating Women in Medicine

Please join the Los Angeles County Medical Association starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 28, for a very special event at the Le Meridien Delfina Hotel in Santa Monica – our annual Celebration of Women in Medicine!

This year’s honorees include:

Anna Yap, MD – Rising Star of Physician Leadership Award
Christina Ghaly, MD – Extraordinary and Inspirational Achievement Award
Elaine Batchlor, MD, MPH – Rose Talbot Bullard Award – Woman Physician Champion and Trailblazer

This event is free to members of LACMA; guests of LACMA members are $25 and the cost for non-members is $50 per person. Please contact Lisa Le, for further information and to RSVP for the event.

Email: lisa@lacmanet.org

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The annual Los Angeles Healthcare Awards honors LA County’s top physicians, healthcare leaders and institutions for their work to improve healthcare in LA County. Honorees are individuals and organizations whose outcomes are positively impacting the lives of LA County residents and improving our local communities.

The Patient Care Foundation will also announce this year's scholarship recipients at the awards ceremony at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills on November 8th, 2019.

Get Tickets Here

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Register Here

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#MotivationMondays

“Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.”
– Nathaniel Branden

 

 

Gustavo Friederichsen
Chief Executive Officer
Los Angeles County Medical Association
“If it matters to our LACMA members, it matters to me.”