Society event updates - HOD, Reference Committees postponed

Reference Committees, House of Delegates, Board Meetings
Jay Gold, MD, Speaker of the House of Delegates (HOD), with authority granted him by the Wisconsin Medical Society’s Executive Committee acting on behalf of the Board of Directors has made the decision to postpone the House of Delegates and Reference Committee meetings. The HOD and the Reference Committee meetings will be held once it is feasible to do so given the current health care crisis. These meetings may be rescheduled as virtual meetings. 

Considering the postponement of the House of Delegates, Jerry Halverson, MD, Chair of the Wisconsin Medical Society’s Board of Directors has cancelled the April Board of Directors meetings scheduled for Thursday April 16 and Sunday April 19, 2020. The next Board of Directors meeting will be Saturday June 20, 2020 as previously scheduled. These meetings may be rescheduled as virtual meetings.

The CME conference Navigating the Transition Zone: from adolescence through young adulthood and the Foundation event Raising Hope: fostering a healthy tomorrow have unfortunately been cancelled.

Additional information can be found here.

Caucus meetings
There will not be in-person caucus meetings. The remaining District Caucus meetings are listed below and will occur virtually. Click here for details and to RSVP or use the links below.

• District 1: postponed
• District 2: postponed
• District 4: postponed
• District 8: postponed

If you would like to provide feedback on the resolutions, please log into WisMed Community* and participate in the Virtual Reference Committee.

Watch for upcoming Medigram articles for more information about upcoming events.

*WisMed Community is a members-only resource and will require you to log in. For questions or assistance please contact Anne Hauer.

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Physician resources for COVID-19

With the rapidly changing information regarding COVID-19, the Wisconsin Medical Society is providing our members and their teams with a focused list of resources so you can get the most up to date information for you, your patients and your families. This page will be updated as new information becomes available.

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Governance modernization

With the recent events related to COVID-19 and the impact it has had on in-person gatherings, never has it been a more important time to explore better tools and resources for digital engagement. The end of March brings us to the end of the development stage of the Governance Modernization process. Wisconsin Medical Society staff has been crisscrossing the state for the past 11 months, gathering feedback from nearly 200 members across 16 events. At these events, members learned about the latest developments in the proposed digital policymaking process, shared questions and comments with staff and engaged in dialogue with their peers about governance and the future of the Society.

Staff has put the final touches on the proposed new governance structure and will communicate it out to all members in the next two weeks. Members will have time to review the proposal and give final input before the proposal goes before the 2020 House of Delegates (HOD), which will be rescheduled once it is feasible to do so given the current health care crisis. The meeting may be rescheduled as a virtual meeting.

Members can experience one piece of the proposed model now, by leaving feedback on 2020 HOD resolutions via the Virtual Reference Committees, now powered by our WisMed Community platform.*

Information about a final proposed model will be communicated via Medigram. Feedback can be directed to HJ Waukau, or you can leave your comments on this online form.

*WisMed Community is a members-only resource and will require you to log in. For questions or assistance please contact Anne Hauer.

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Insurance and the coronavirus pandemic

WisMed Assure has provided information about short-term disability, long-term disability, worker’s compensation and business interruption insurance. However, as policies differ, please contact your insurance agent with questions about your policies.

Your team of advisors at WisMed Assure is working hard (remotely) to monitor insurance coverage and industry developments to support the work of our physicians and clinicians on the front lines.

Click here for the latest information on the insurance solutions you need to know about including:

• Disability coverage for physicians who test positive for coronavirus. Coverage is available through WisMed Assure and our Association Group Long Term Disability insurance contract with MGIS/Sun Life.
• We are working with MPL insurance carriers to expedite adding coverage for retired physicians, locums and telemedicine physicians.

Visit this page often for more information as it becomes available.

We thank all Wisconsin Medical Society members for your service and remain vigilant to protect you.

WisMed Assure, dba for Wisconsin Medical Society Insurance and Financial Services, Inc. is the Wisconsin Medical Society’s insurance agency.  Profits earned by WisMed Assure directly support the mission and vision of the Society.

Coronavirus and your insurance

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Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment announces funding to support Wisconsin’s COVID-19 response

Up to $5 million in awards available to support immediate actions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment (AHW) has announced the availability of up to $5 million in funding to support Wisconsin’s response to the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

This rapid-response funding opportunity is intended for Wisconsin-based, IRS tax-exempt 501(c)3 or government organizations, as well as Medical College of Wisconsin faculty supporting COVID-19 response efforts.

Applications must focus on immediate actions statewide that support prevention, risk reduction, and minimize transmission. Applicants are urged to identify opportunities that are upstream from clinical care, such as efforts to scale up effective prevention and risk reduction efforts, expand efforts to get information to the public, develop infrastructure to distribute testing resources or provide education on infection prevention, and more.

Award amounts will vary based on individual project needs.

Click here for funding overview and application.

Applications under this funding opportunity will be accepted through March 30, 2020 at 5:00 pm CST.

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HHS Office of Civil Rights enforcement discretion related to HIPAA

By The American Medical Association

In light of the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is exercising its enforcement discretion and, effective immediately, will not impose penalties on physicians using telehealth in the event of noncompliance with the regulatory requirements under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Physicians may seek to communicate with patients and provide telehealth services through remote communications technologies. Some of these technologies, and their use, may not fully comply with the requirements of the HIPAA Rules. 

However, today’s announcement means that physicians who want to use audio or video communication technology to provide telehealth to patients during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency can use any non-public facing service that is available to communicate with patients. This exercise of discretion applies to telehealth provided for any reason, regardless of whether the telehealth service is related to the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions related to COVID-19.

For example, a physician using their professional judgement may request to examine a patient exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, using a video chat application connecting the physician’s or patient’s phone or desktop computer in order to assess a greater number of patients while limiting the risk of infection of other persons who would be exposed from an in-person consultation. Likewise, a physician may provide similar telehealth services in the exercise of their professional judgment to assess or treat any other medical condition, even if not related to COVID-19, such as a sprained ankle, dental consultation or psychological evaluation, or other conditions. 

Under this Notice, physicians may use popular applications that allow for video chats, including Apple FaceTime, Facebook Messenger video chat, Google Hangouts video, or Skype to provide telehealth without risk that OCR might seek to impose a penalty for noncompliance with the HIPAA Rules. Physicians should not use Facebook Live, Twitch, TikTok or other public facing communication services. Physicians are encouraged, but not required, to notify patients of the potential security risks of using these services and to seek additional privacy protections by entering into HIPAA business associate agreements (BAA). HHS also noted that while it hasn’t confirmed such statements, Skype for Business, Updox, VSee, Zoom for Healthcare, Doxy.me, and Google G Suite Hangouts have said that their products will help physicians comply with HIPAA and that they will enter into a HIPAA BAA.

Additional information can be found at this notice from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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