What are the Chinese Exclusion Laws?

The Chinese Exclusion Laws involved legislation Congress passed between 1879 and 1904 that explicitly discriminated against persons of Chinese descent based on race.

The laws imposed increasingly severe restrictions on immigration and naturalization. Congress repealed the laws as a wartime measure in 1943,

without any express acknowledgement that the laws violated fundamental civil rights.

To learn more go to  http://www.1882project.org/

Great News Everyone!

CMS Registration for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program is now open in New York State!

CMS registration for Medicaid EHR Incentive has just opened up in New York. Through the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, health care practitioners can qualify for up to $63,750 in incentive payments over six years.

Remember, in order to qualify for the Medicaid EHR Incentive, you must, over a 90 day period, have adopted, implemented, upgraded, or demonstrated meaningful use of certified EHR technology and your patient volume during the 90-day reporting period must be at least 30% Medicaid (some exclusions apply).

To begin the process, register here: https://ehrincentives.cms.gov/hitech/login.action

 ECAP and MDLand are here to help. In order to help member physicians apply for the CMS EHR Incentive Program, ECAP is working closely with MDLand (a preferred vendor of multiple REC centers throughout the country) to host a series of informational sessions geared specifically toward the Medicaid Incentive Program which will include some background on the program, payments, and a look at how by using new features in the ONC certified version of iClinic, MDLand can assist you in if you qualify for the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. Please contact MDLand for more details at (212) 363-8000 or support@mdland.com.

For more information regarding the NYS Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, please visit the NYS Department of Health.

From Medscape Medical News

Appeals Court Voids Lower-Court Ruling Against Individual Mandate

Robert Lowes

September 8, 2011 — Citing technical grounds, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, today tossed out a lower-court decision that declared the healthcare reform requirement to obtain insurance coverage unconstitutional.

Today’s decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth District in Richmond vacated a ruling by US District Court Judge Henry Hudson, also in Richmond, who said that the individual mandate “would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers.” In a unanimous decision by a 3-judge panel, the appeals court stated that the state of Virginia, which was the plaintiff in the case, lacked legal standing to bring its suit. The appeals court did not rule on whether the individual mandate was constitutional or not. Continue reading →

From Medscape Medical News

Congress Passes Debt Deal; Could Reduce Medicare Payments

Robert Lowes

August 2, 2011 — With a 74 to 26 vote by the Senate today, a contentious Congress finally passed a bill that both shrinks federal spending and raises the $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling, just in time to beat an August 2 deadline and avert a catastrophic government default.

The House did its part yesterday by approving the bill 269-161 in a grudging bipartisan vote, with Democrats unhappy that envisioned spending cuts topping $2 trillion were not accompanied by any tax increases, which Republicans vehemently opposed. Next comes the expected signature of President Barack Obama, who had crafted the measure with congressional leaders.

The agreement may calm the financial markets by maintaining the credit worthiness of Uncle Sam, but it is troubling physicians and hospital executives, who could see their Medicare reimbursements trimmed in the process. Those potential cuts would come at a time when providers already face other major Medicare reductions. Continue reading →

Lawsuit Targets Medicare Pay ‘Bias’ Toward Specialists

Robert Lowes

August 10, 2011 — Six family physicians in Georgia have accused the Medicare program in a federal lawsuit of illegally relying on a committee of the American Medical Association (AMA), which they hold responsible for paltry reimbursement rates for primary care physicians and inflated ones for proceduralists.

The lawsuit, filed this week in a US district court in Maryland, is the latest sign of a long-standing rift between primary care clinicians and specialists over Medicare compensation. The professional feud has been obscured recently by organized medicine’s united efforts to replace the sustainable growth rate formula that Medicare uses to set physician pay.

Continue reading →

 Medscape Medical News

Updated Influenza Vaccine Recommendations Issued

August 18, 2011 — Updated guidance for influenza vaccination in the United States for the upcoming 2011-2012 influenza season has been released by federal health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“There are relatively few changes from 2010-2011 recommendations,” Carolyn Bridges, MD, associate director for adult immunization, Immunization Services Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, said during a telebriefing today.

As a result, the 2011-2012 recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices have been issued in a shortened format, Dr. Bridges noted.

The report was published online August 18 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The 2010 recommendation for routine annual influenza vaccination for all persons aged 6 months or older in the United States has not changed.

“We continue to recommend that people age 6 months and older be vaccinated,” Dr. Bridges emphasized.

To allow time for production of protective antibody levels, “vaccination should optimally occur before onset of influenza activity in the community, and providers should offer vaccination as soon as vaccine is available,” the report reads. “Vaccination also should continue to be offered throughout the influenza season.” Continue reading →

Quality of care need time spend with patients, only works well in the pay for value not pay for volumn healthcare deliverry system.

Article From Medscape Business of Medicine

Rebuttal: Concierge Practice Is a Doctor’s Right

Leslie Kane, MA; Bernard Kaminetsky, MD

Editor’s Note:

Medscape’s recent video commentary by ethicist Arthur Caplan, PhD, “Concierge Practice: Unjust for Patients and Doctors Alike,” provoked a flood of heated responses. To present the contrasting point of view, Medscape interviewed Bernard Kaminetsky, MD, board certified in internal medicine and nephrology.

Dr. Kaminetsky is the Medical Director of MDVIP, a company with a national network of primary care physicians who provide personalized care, focusing on wellness and prevention, and use a concierge-type model. Dr. Kaminetsky was a founding partner in a primary care practice based in Boca Raton, Florida. In 2001, he transitioned his practice to the MDVIP model. He recently left his primary care practice to serve as the national representative for MDVIP. Dr. Kaminetsky has testified before the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress on the importance of wellness and prevention. He is a graduate of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a former assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine.

Medscape: In a concierge medical practice, doctors generally charge an annual access fee, have a smaller number of patients, and spend more time with each patient. Some have said that this is unjust or unfair, particularly given the shortage of primary care doctors. How would you respond to that?

Dr. Kaminetsky: Let’s look at it from the patient’s perspective: Is it fair for patients to have an experience — as is common in conventional practice — where visits are very short and doctors are essentially reactive to acute problems because they have very little time for prevention and wellness? And the doctor knowingly is neglecting his or her ability to spend the time necessary with the patient to actually prevent the heart disease or diabetes from forming because there simply isn’t time. Is that fair to patients? Continue reading →

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