Alabama MGMA Summer Conference
The Alabama MGMA held its summer conference July 30 through August 1 in Destin, Florida. The theme of the conference was Life is Still Good… Even in Healthcare. About 160 practice managers were in attendance, along with 50 healthcare companies that maintained booths in the exhibit hall.
The conference began with breakout sessions for managers of various medical specialties, followed by the opening general session where Mary Kelly, PhD talked about improving productivity and profits.
The conference included a number of learning sessions hosted by a variety of expert speakers including: Ashley Hattaway, JD of Burr Forman; Kim Garner Huey of KGG Coding and Reimbursement Consulting; Justin Barnes, Vice President of Industry & Government Affairs, Greenway; and Kathy R. White, FACMPE, of State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company.
American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE) credit hours have been assigned to the conference program.
James Andrews, MD Receives Top AOSSM Honor
James R. Andrews, MD was presented with the 2014 Robert E.Leach Mr. Sports Medicine award during the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting. This award is given annually to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the world of sports medicine and includes a $5,000 donation to the winner’s charity of choice.
Andrews is one of the founding members of Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham. He is also founder, chairman and medical director of the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) a non-profit institute dedicated to injury prevention, education and research in orthopaedic and sports medicine. In addition, he is a founding partner and medical director of the Andrews Institute and the Andrews Research and Education Institute in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
Currently, Andrews serves as Medical Director for Auburn University Intercollegiate Athletics and Team Orthopaedic Surgeon; Senior Orthopaedic Consultant at the University of Alabama; and Orthopaedic Consultant for the athletic teams of Troy University, University of West Alabama, Tuskegee University and Samford University. He also serves on the Medical and Safety Advisory Committee of USA Baseball and on the Board of Little League Baseball, Inc.
In the professional sports arena, Andrews is Senior Consultant for the Washington Redskins and Medical Director for the Tampa Bay Rays. He is also the Medical Director of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
Urology Centers of Alabama Provides Dinner to Cancer Patients at Hope Lodge
The doctors and staff of Urology Centers of Alabama were on hand to provide dinner to the American Cancer Society’s Joe Lee Griffin’s Hope Lodge, a home-away-from-home for cancer patients and their families. Urology Centers brought Jim ‘N Nicks barbeque to Hope Lodge which opened in 2000 as a haven for out-of-town cancer patients and their families.
At no charge, the lodge provides a bedroom, kitchen, living area, and transportation to treatment centers such as Urology Centers of Alabama. Brian Larson, MD, radiation oncologist at the Van Scott Cancer Center at Urology Centers of Alabama said that Urology Centers has been referring patients to the lodge for almost six years.
“It is such a valuable resource for our patients especially since patients would be reluctant to travel far from home for cancer treatments that require daily visits for weeks at a time,” Larson said.
LCME Grants Full Accreditation to UAB School of Medicine
The UAB School of Medicine achieved the highest level of accreditation available to a medical school in the United States by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education after a rigorous, two-year self-study process that began in 2012 and culminated in a visit from the LCME site survey team in March 2014.
The LCME notified UAB of the accreditation status, valid for eight years, and commended the School of Medicine on its strengths in allowing the exploration of diverse aspects of medicine through student electives and in present and anticipated financial resources.
“We are very pleased by the LCME’s review of our medical school,” said Selwyn M. Vickers, MD, dean and senior vice president for Medicine. “Many people deserve credit for years of hard work, including Dr. Ray Watts, who was dean when the LCME process began, and Dr. Anupam Agarwal, who continued leading the LCME efforts while interim dean and senior vice president.”
Vickers also credits professor and former dean Dr. Bob Rich and Dr. Hughes Evans, chair of the Department of Medical Education and senior associate dean for Education, for leading a small army of faculty and staff on a mission to achieve full accreditation.
LCME accreditation is a peer-review process of quality assurance to determine whether a medical school program located in the United States or Canada meets established standards in medical education. Full accreditation is not guaranteed, and many well-regarded schools receive less than a full eight years of re-accreditation.
MedWorksRx Merges With Proxsys Rx
MedWorksRx and Proxsys Rx are merging and will operate under the Proxsys Rx name. The company is focused on owning, managing and integrating outpatient pharmacies into the continuum of care for hospitals.
Proxsys Rx provides hospitals with an immediate financial benefit by capitalizing their pharmacies and assuming all pharmacy operating costs. The Proxsys Rx model strengthens patient care by improving outcomes and patient satisfaction by better integrating medication and proactive pharmacist engagement into the continuum of care. The Proxsys Rx approach provides health care systems with long-term cost savings by reducing readmissions, improving HCAHPS scores and improving other key health system strategic indicators that impact reimbursements and margins.
“The integrated outpatient pharmacy model we have developed represents the single most profound advance the health system pharmacy industry has seen in more than fifty years. It’s truly a paradigm shift driven by market forces that include government mandates and billions of dollars in reimbursement dollars at stake”, said Proxsys Rx CEO George B. Salem, who points out that hospitals and physicians are being held financially accountable for what happens to patients after they leave the hospital.
Baptist Health System Welcomes Birmingham Gastroenterology Associates
Birmingham Gastroenterology Associates, P.C. has expanded to include locations at Princeton Baptist Medical Center and Baptist Health Center Hoover. Birmingham Gastroenterology Associates includes 15 gastroenterologists who have served patients in the Birmingham area for more than 35 years.
“This relationship allows us to grow our services and combine the strength and experience of the BHS and Birmingham Gastroenterology teams to best care for our patients,” said Alan Craig, Jr., MD, chief medical officer at Princeton Baptist.
Rishi Agarwal, MD and Charles Dasher, Jr., MD are located on the Princeton campus. Additionally, Dasher also sees patients at Baptist Health Center Hoover. They treat patients with pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease and liver disease. They also perform procedures, including colonoscopies, endoscopies and flexible sigmoidoscopies.
“We are excited to expand our services and presence with Baptist Health System,” said H. Craig Philpot, MD, managing partner at Birmingham Gastroenterology Associates. “We look forward to continuing to deliver compassionate, state-of-the-art healthcare to our patients and collaborating with the Baptist Health System team of talented physicians and nurses.”
ART Fertility of Alabama Adopts New Technologies for In Vitro Fertilization
ART Fertility Program of Alabama has added three new technologies to their In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Lab that have the ability to decrease the miscarriage rate and increase the chance to have a healthy baby through IVF or Egg Donation. These technologies include Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) and Diagnosis (PGD), G185 Incubator System and Saturn 5 Laser by Research Instruments.
During the IVF process the fertilization occurs in the laboratory after the egg and sperm have been collected from a woman and man. The resulting embryo is then transferred to the woman’s uterus where it will hopefully implant. Once this happens, the natural chain of events in the woman’s pregnancy may begin.
Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) and Diagnosis (PGD) are both used to perform genetic testing on biopsied cells taken from embryos during an IVF cycle. With PGD, embryos may be tested and diagnosed for a specific disease carried by the parents such as Cystic Fibrosis, Tay-Sachs, Sickle Cell or Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Most genetic diseases that have been identified by a study of the parents for a gene mutation can be tested for with PGD.
With this new technology, a higher percentage of ART Fertility of Alabama’s patients will potentially receive a single embryo transfer leading to fewer high-risk pregnancies. The chance for delivery of a healthy baby will also be increased with the use of PGD and success rates will vary with the use of PGS with each unique situation.
Another advance, the G185 Incubator System, provides a more compartmentalized system, which creates a better environment by limiting exposure of embryos to the room conditions. Due to the higher quality environment, ART Fertility of Alabama has seen an increase in embryo quality leading to more embryos being available for transfer and vitrification, as well as a trend towards an increase in pregnancy rates.
Results with the Saturn 5 Laser, used for Laser Assisted Hatching, have shown a trend towards improvements in implantation and pregnancy results, thus allowing patients a higher chance to have a baby with IVF.
Robson Araujo, DPM Earns Wound Care Certification
Robson Araujo, DPM, Cullman Primary Care, PC recently completed his Physician Certification in Wound Care through the American Board of Wound Healing.
In order to take the exam for certification, physicians must first hold a State Medical License, complete a minimum of two years in wound care and complete a minimum of twenty hours of wound care based continuing medical education credit.
In addition to serving as a Podiatrist with Cullman Primary Care, PC, Araujo is also a physician with Cullman Regional Medical Center’s Center for Wound Healing where he provides specialized treatment for chronic wounds.
Araujo attended Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine and completed his residency at Wellington Regional Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is a member of the Alabama Podiatric Medical Association, the American Podiatric Medical Association and a Fellow of the American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons.
Local Hospital Executives Serving Alabama Hospital Association
Several Birmingham-area hospital executives have been elected to leadership positions with the Alabama Hospital Association (AlaHA).
Glenn Sisk, president and chief executive officer of Coosa Valley Medical Center in Sylacauga, has been elected chairman-elect of the AlaHA.
Sisk serves on the boards of the Sylacauga Chamber of Commerce, the Talladega County Economic Development Authority and the Sylacauga Alliance of Family Enhancement. He has also served as a member of the Alabama Certificate of Need Review Board, the Alabama Public Health Licensure Board, and is a current member of the board of directors for BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama.
John O’Neil, president and chief executive officer of St. Vincent’s Health System in Birmingham, was elected to serve another term on the AlaHA Board of Trustees, representing the Birmingham Regional Hospital Council.
Prior to joining St. Vincent’s, O’Neil was the president and CEO of Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital in Binghamton, New York, and also served as ministry market leader for Ascension Health in the New York and Connecticut markets.
He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and has served on many community boards including the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and local Chamber of Commerce boards.
Luke Standeffer, senior vice president of DCH Health System and administrator of Northport Medical Center in Northport, was elected to the AlaHA Board of Trustees, representing the West Alabama Hospital Council.
Standeffer’s previous experience includes serving as the administrator/CEO of HealthSouth Medical Center in Birmingham and serving as assistant administrator/operations at Fayette Medical Center in Fayette. He earned a bachelor of science in commerce and business administration from the University of Alabama and a master of business administration from Mississippi State University.
State Volunteer Receives A Rating
State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company (SVMIC) has again received an “A” (Excellent) financial strength rating from A.M. Best Company. SVMIC has maintained an “A” or better rating for more than 30 years.
“SVMIC is committed to supporting our policyholders through the uncertainties they face now and in the future. Maintaining financial strength is a key to achieving this goal,” said John Mize, Chief Executive Officer.-
Founded in 1975, SVMIC insures physicians and surgeons in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.