Maine Medicine Weekly Update - 11/20/2017  (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
•  Current News Moves MMA to Remind Physicians of Guidance on Boundaries in Physician-Patient Relationships
•  Webinars on Improving Opioid Prescribing and Patient Safety: 12/5 & 12/13
•  Health Insurance Marketplace 2018: 3 weeks left for Open Enrollment
•  MMA Leadership Listening Session in Portland on Tuesday, December 5
•  Improving Opioid Prescribing and Patient Safety: Wednesday, 12/6 in Portland
•  House Passes CHIP Reauthorization
•  2018 Another Transition Year for Quality Payment Program
•  News from the 2017 AMA Interim Meeting
•  2018 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Provides Regulatory Relief for Physicians
128TH MAINE LEGISLATURE
•  Legislative Calls to Resume When Legislature Returns
•  SAVE THE DATE: MMA Legislative Committee Meets December 11th to Prepare for Next Legislative Session
•  Highlights of Recently Enacted Legislation: L.D. 479 Requiring a Opioid Prescribing Policy
UPCOMING EVENTS
•  Online Learning Opportunities Offering CME Credits - from the Northern New England Practice Transformation Network
•  New Free CME on Alzheimer's Risk, Detection, and Management
HEALTHCARE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
•  Chief Executive Officer
•  Clinical Cardiology Opportunity
•  Family Medicine Physician/Clinician Leader
•  BC/BE Physician - C.A. Dean Memorial Hospital
•  VA Psychiatrist
•  BE/BC Family Practitioner - Lewiston, ME
•  Primary Care Physician - Eastern Maine Medical Center
•  Relocate to Beautiful Southwestern Maine - Medical Director/Family Practice Physician
•  Outstanding full-time opportunity for an experienced Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner with Central Maine Heart Associates in Auburn, Maine
•  Palliative Care Provider
•  Gastroenterologist - Brunswick, ME
•  Hospitalist - Brunswick, ME
•  DO or MD Physician - Augusta, ME
•  Family Medicine Physician - Pittsfield, ME
•  Outpatient Only - Internal Medicine with Loan Repayment & Sign-on Bonus
•  Anesthesiologist - Augusta/Waterville
•  Physiatrist - Brunswick, Maine
•  Opportunities at the VA for Volunteer Physicians

Highlights of Recently Enacted Legislation: L.D. 479 Requiring a Opioid Prescribing Policy

The general effective date for legislation enacted during the First Regular Session (2017) of the 128th Maine Legislature was earlier this month on November 2, 2017.  For the next several months, the MMA will highlight one enacted bill each week in this newsletter.  We hope this helps your organization's compliance efforts and please call the MMA legal staff with any questions you may have.

 The MMA staff has posted the Annual Report of the Legislative Committee, a summary PowerPoint presentation, and other advocacy resources on the MMA web site here.

This week, we'll highlight a bill that has generated several calls to MMA's attorneys for interpretive guidance.  It is L.D. 479, An Act to Inform Patients of the Dangers of Addicting Opioids (P.L. 2017, Chapter 186).  This bill requires health care entities employing prescribers of opioid medications to develop an opioid prescribing policy that includes risk assessment, informed consent, and counseling on the risk of opioid use by January 1, 2018.  This bill originally would have required a practitioner to follow specific steps to obtain informed consent for each patient encounter, something MMA regularly opposes at the legislature. We object to these well-intended proposals because of the compliance challenges presented by many different legislative requirements for informed consent for different procedures or conditions.

If you have questions about compliance with this or other laws recently enacted by the Maine legislature, please contact Andrew MacLean, Deputy EVP & General Counsel (amaclean@mainemed.com) or Peter Michaud, Associate General Counsel (pmichaud@mainemed.com).