Society input heard in COVID-19 Response Bill Amendments

The Wisconsin State Senate took up fast-moving COVID-19 response omnibus legislation this week, with both committee and full Senate action on 2021 Assembly Bill 1 (AB 1) taking place on Monday and Tuesday. After receiving the bill from the State Assembly late last week, the Senate amended the bill following discussions with Governor Tony Evers’s administration on what he would be willing to sign into law.

The Senate amendment removed numerous provisions the Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) had flagged in testimony provided to the Senate Committee on Senate Organization, including eliminating the option for employers to decide vaccination requirements that can protect their employees and customers, as well as provisions weakening the tools local public health departments have for fighting communicable disease. The amendment did not alter items the Society supported: protecting health care workers from opportunistic lawsuits, including COVID-19 vaccinations in the state’s SeniorCare drug program and barring insurance companies from levying copays or coinsurance costs on policyholders who get vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.

The bill was amended and approved on a widely bipartisan 29-2 vote, and Governor Evers signaled that he would approve the bill if it reaches his desk in its current form. AB 1 now heads back to the State Assembly where its fate is uncertain, with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos using his rebuttal to the Governor’s State of the State address Tuesday night to criticize the Senate’s action.

Contact Society Chief Policy & Advocacy Officer Mark Grapentine, JD for more information.

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WisMed talks COVID-19 vaccinations at Assembly info. hearing

The Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) was one of a handful of organizations invited to speak earlier today before the Assembly Committee on Health as part of an informational hearing on the state’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations. Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) President and CEO John R. Raymond Sr., MD, appeared virtually on behalf of the Society and MCW. Other invitees included the state’s Department of Health Services and advocacy groups for the state’s pharmacists, dentists, local health departments and senior long-term care.

Dr. Raymond’s presentation attempted to move the debate over the state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout away from political acrimony (see this recent letter to Governor Tony Evers from the top two Assembly GOP leaders) to one of constructive analysis, with the hope that energies will be spent assessing what is working now and what needs improvement in the future. After providing an update on the latest COVID-19 numbers in the state and explaining some of the challenges physicians have faced in both administering and receiving COVID-19 vaccinations, Dr. Raymond emphasized four areas where policymakers can assist the state’s effort:

• empowering local public health departments to match those who need vaccinations and those have supply
• allow these local departments the flexibility to accomplish matchmaking in the way that works best for them and their health care partners in that area
• have state policymakers urge their federal counterparts to provide more complete information about the timeline for and amount of vaccine supply coming to Wisconsin
• help provide more widespread communication about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, including how vaccination is the best way to defeat a pandemic and will allow the state to get back to whatever “normal” will be following this event

A recording of the information hearing will be available on the WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network. Contact Mark Grapentine, JD for more information.

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Request for feedback – what additional PPE is needed

The Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) has been partnering with ActionPPE since April to provide much needed PPE to physician practices across the state. The Society is investigating expanding these current product offerings and would like feedback regarding what additional PPE products our members need. Please reply with a list of products that you wish we were offering or that may be in tight supply in your current environment.

Please add your suggestions to the thread on WisMed Community or email Jim Lorence.

To date, the Wisconsin Medical Society’s partnership with ActionPPE has resulted in the distribution of PPE to Wisconsin physicians consisting of:

• More than 104,000 units of PPE
• Totaling nearly $200,000 in purchases
• To 126 health care facilities
• To 52 Wisconsin Cities

The Society also partnered with ActionPPE for a group purchase opportunity to provide Honeywell NIOSH N95 masks. Physicians across 49 cities in Wisconsin ordered these masks. Nationally, ActionPPE has supplied more than 3.3M PPE items to more than 10,000 physicians.

Members receive a 5% discount on PPE orders and the Society receives 5% product in-kind for distribution to FQHC sites throughout the state. The Society has never generated any revenue from this offering.

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Society compiling group 1a vaccination county info

Knowing how important it is to cut through the confusion many independent group 1a physicians and health care staff are facing in acquiring COVID-19 vaccinations, the Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) is compiling information received from local public health departments related to group 1a access and sharing it on the Society’s COVID-19 vaccination page. Local public health departments will be key matchmakers between registered vaccinators and those who are seeking their doses.

“Nobody understands the complexity of combating the COVID-19 pandemic better than the physicians who are battling the virus every day,” Society CEO Bud Chumbley, MD, said. “While vaccine supplies are still slowly rolling out from the federal government and access is limited, we want to make sure physicians have useful local information that could help them and their patient-facing group 1a staff get the vaccinations they need.”

The Society is updating information for each county as it becomes available. If a county doesn’t yet have a specific plan for group 1a health care, physicians seeking vaccines should find their local public health contacts via this map created by the state’s Department of Health Services. For more information contact the Society’s Jim Lorence or Mark Grapentine, JD.

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Leadership Academy – business-focused CME for physicians

Wisconsin Medical Society Members who are taking on new leadership roles or responsibilities within their practice or system or transitioning from a patient care role to an administrative role in leadership are invited to join our virtual leadership academy. 

The Wisconsin Medical Society has partnered with Pennsylvania Medical Society to offer a program to help you achieve the foundational leadership skills you need to succeed in your new role. Enroll in these completely virtual mini courses focused on critical business acumen to set yourself up to be an effective leader and earn up to 12 credits of CME for just $400.

Courses include Ethical Decision Making, Health Care Finance 101, Project Management for Physicians, Strategic Thinking, and more.

This exclusive, member-only program has limited space available, so please register today by emailing Jessica Bourin-Schreiter. 

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Join the reimagined Reference Committee to help shape Medical Society policies in 2021

With the Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) evolving its policymaking process to a year-round schedule, the Society is seeking a special group of members to help review policy proposals that are submitted for discussion and eventual action by the Board of Directors. This group will include Society members from across the state to ensure widespread representation. The function is similar to the role Reference Committees had in the former House of Delegates structure: listening to testimony on policy proposals and making recommendations for final action to the ultimate deciding body.

The committee will include members from all eight Society districts and the young physician, resident physician and medical student sections. They will meet as needed leading up to each Society Board of Directors meeting. If you are interested in serving on this policy-reviewing committee, please fill out this form.

For more information, contact Society Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer Mark Grapentine, JD.

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WisMed and Pharmacy Society partner on distributing COVID-19 buttons to spark conversations with patients

In an effort to encourage conversations with patients about healthy COVID-19 behaviors and vaccine hesitancy, the Wisconsin Medical Society’s COVID-19 Task Force developed a button that can be worn by physicians and other members of the health care team to help spark those conversations. Through a partnership with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, buttons were produced and are currently being distributed around the state.

Buttons are free to Society members, but there is a limited quantity, so requests will be filled in the order they are received. Click here to order for you and your team today.

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Fostering Mental & Emotional Well-being in Future Leaders

OnRamp Healthcare is teaming up with American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact and Headstream to present "Fostering Mental & Emotional Well-being in Future Leaders," January 28, 2021, from 4-5 p.m. Highlighting three teen well-being champions and innovators who will discuss their approaches to innovation and their visions for the future of the mental, physical and emotional health of young people in 2021 and beyond. Click here to register today.

The event will feature a panel discussion from three Youth 2 Innovator (Y2I) program graduates. Each Y2I teen had the opportunity to create digital solutions for youth well-being in their communities. Attendees will learn more about these young innovators and the digital solutions they created and implemented in their communities.

About the OnRamp Healthcare Conference
Founded by the Wisconsin Medical Society, WisMed Assure and WEA Trust, the OnRamp Healthcare Conference brings together corporations, investors, startups and members of the health care team. The conference highlights innovations disrupting health care and the future of medicine, the health care leaders making such innovations possible and how new technologies and business models will reinvent the industry. Determined to lower cost, increase access and improve outcomes, OnRamp Healthcare is for anyone striving to change health care for the better. To learn more, visit onramphealthcareconference.com.

About American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact
The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact is the venture capital firm and partner of choice for exceptional entrepreneurs who are building scalable, sustainable businesses in a long-term effort to close equity gaps in America. To find out more, visit AmFamInstitute.com.

About Headstream and Youth 2 Innovator
Headstream supports a community focused on building positive digital places for young people with a focus on underserved communities including girls, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ teens. Headstream's Youth 2 Innovator (Y2I) initiative supports innovators ages 13-21 years old to rethink social technologies in order to shape digital technology's impact on well-being. Y2I was built on the belief that an innovative mindset, active community building, keen problem solving, diverse, equitable, and inclusive design, combined with art and storytelling, is a recipe to advance youth empowerment and development in digital spaces. To find out more, visit www.headstreaminnovation.com. 

Please email Olivia Heinze at olivia@gener8tor.com with any questions.

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Voluntary benefits can give employees more at no cost to employers

Balancing the costs of employee benefits with all other expenses can be a challenge. The good news is that employers can offer voluntary benefits at no cost to the company, or they can pay for a portion of the premiums (such as 10, 25 or even 50%). They can also make a flat dollar contribution and their employees can determine which benefits to apply it towards.

Now is a good time to consider this option since employees are experiencing a heightened state of concern due to COVID-19. A growing number are asking for additional benefits like life, disability and dental insurance, along with wellness options.

If you are interested in looking into these options, the first thing to do is to survey your employees. WisMed Assure is here to help. We have survey templates that make it easier to determine the best possible selection of voluntary benefits to offer. Once we find out which benefits your employees want and how many are interested, we work to find the best insurance for the lowest price.

While many carriers offer voluntary benefits, the key is finding one that provides all the different types of voluntary benefits you want to offer. Finding the right carrier with the right mix of benefits makes it simple to administer and more cost effective since most carriers provide a discount for multiple plans.

Once we finalize carrier and plans, the only thing left to do is to make these premium deductions in your payroll. There are a few different ways to set this up, but in most cases we recommend a pre-tax strategy to lower the taxable income for your employees and your company.

Voluntary benefits are not difficult to set up and manage when you work with an insurance partner you can trust and who is willing to serve your employees. That’s where we come in.

Please contact Chris Noffke to explore these opportunities for giving your employees more at no cost to you.

Chris Noffke
GBDS, Vice President of Group Benefits, WisMed Assure
608.442.3734

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