Monday Rx: Physician Advocacy, Patient Care Foundation and Election Day! November 5, 2020 2020 Election, California Medical Association, Coronavirus, Election Day, LA County, Los Angeles, Medical Associations, MondayRx, Nonprofit, Pandemic, Patient Care Foundation, Physicians, Provider Relief Funding, US Department of Health and Human Services, Voter Guide 999 Defending Physicians Statement from President and Immediate Past President Today, we face the worst public health emergency in more than 100 years. Answering the call to duty and public service, physicians, nurses and frontline health care workers have risked their lives to treat patients with Covid-19. And now, more than 1,000 frontline health care workers, including physicians, have lost their lives to this pandemic. Earlier this year we witnessed attacks on public health officers as they promoted public policy based on science, including masking in public, hand-washing, and social-distancing. Now more recently, some politicians have turned their attention on physicians, falsely and maliciously claiming that doctors are over-reporting Covid-19 patients for financial gain. To the medical community who have suffered lives lost due to the virus, this is an insufferable, erroneous, and intolerable charge. Continued misinformation will only erode trust and confidence in our health care teams. It’s time to stop attacking those who care for the ill, and to stand by the physicians, nurses, and health care workers who have saved countless lives from Covid-19, while risking their own. Diana Shiba, MD President Los Angeles County Medical Association Sion Roy, MD Immediate Past President Los Angeles County Medical Association View official letter here. We want to include the names of front-line workers who have died from COVID-19 including those physicians from Los Angeles County and Orange County. View More L.A. County’s Hope for Fast Reopening Fades as Coronavirus Cases Continue to Climb As we continue to see a rise in COVID-19 cases Los Angeles County's economy is still far away from reopening for the holiday season. We remain in the most restrictive reopening tier, Tier 1 (purple) and must meet the next tier's criteria for two weeks straight. During a briefing, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer advised. “This is a pandemic of a magnitude we have never experienced in our lifetimes, and the faster we get it under control, the faster we return to being able to do the types of things we love to do.” Read the full article here. $20 Billion in Provider Relief Funding The US Department of Health and Human Services announced another round of funding for providers. The $20 billion in new funding for providers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Providers that have already received Provider Relief Fund payments can now apply for additional funding beyond the 2% of annual revenue previously allowed to account for revenue losses and changes in operating expenses attributed to coronavirus. Providers have until November 6, 2020, to apply for this Phase 3 General Distribution funding Here is a link for more information or visit here. Patient Care Foundation Web Site Gets Facelift The Patient Care Foundation, the charitable arm of the LACMA serves as a link between physicians and the community, expanding the pool of medical professionals who attend to underserved populations. Visit the new link here. There Isn’t A Corner to Round, Yet As of today, there is an estimated 46% spike in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the US. In the past 7 days, nearly a half-million Americans contracted the virus, according to a Reuters tally. As of last Wednesday, the unofficial U.S. COVID-19 toll was 8,779,839 cases and 226,728 deaths -- up 74,712 and 989, respectively. Currently, for Los Angeles County, there are 1,406 (310,595 to date) cases and 2 new deaths (7,076 to date) with 24,683 hospitalizations to date. The November General Election is tomorrow! We hope that you will show up to the polls (or drop off your vote-by-mail ballot) and ensure the voices of physicians are heard loud and clear. Many counties recently changed their elections process under the “Voter’s Choice Act” and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. View your official CMA Voter Guide below to walk you through the process. Voter Guide Your Chance to Win PPE! We are raffling off 2 boxes of PPE every 2 weeks until December 31, 2020. There will be 2 winners (every 2 weeks) and each box contains a 2 month supply of PPE valued at nearly $4,500. Eligibility: Individual self-paying members are eligible for this raffle. How to enter: To be eligible for this raffle, simply renew your annual membership online or send in your renewal check in the mail and you will automatically be entered for the raffle drawing during that 2-week time frame. Please note that your name will be entered for only one raffle. Winner Announcement: You will receive an email from Lisa Le informing you that you’ve won. Questions? Email Lisa Le at lisa@lacmanet.org Enter the current raffle now by clicking the renewal link below. Renew Membership #MondayMotivation “The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of a private citizen.” Gustavo Friederichsen Chief Executive Officer Los Angeles County Medical Association “If it matters to our LACMA members, it matters to me.”