Doctor Day 2021 to include timely breakout sessions

Join your colleagues (virtually) for Doctor Day on May 5, 2021 to fight for your patients, profession and sound health care policy. Doctor Day 2021 will include morning breakout sessions on health equity, public health and the latest legal issues facing physicians so you can customize the day to your interests. Organizers are once again lining up presentations from premier experts and policymakers.

The schedule features three breakout sessions:

Health Equity
What are we doing to achieve long-lasting and equitable health outcomes for ALL Wisconsinites? The State of Wisconsin has an overall health disparities grade of “D” according to a recent University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute Health of Wisconsin Report Card. The Report Card notes that while Wisconsin's grade for overall health has remained the same since 2007, the health disparities grade has worsened since 2010. What are we doing to change this?

Public Health
Join us for an outbreak session on local public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. City of Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson will provide an overview of the challenges and successes Wisconsin's local public health departments faced throughout the last 12 months. As fellow frontline workers, local public health officers have experienced this crisis through the lens of both health care and governmental response to public health crises. 

Legal Update
The always popular and pertinent legal update will explore the latest “hot topics” physicians need to know about. Axley attorneys Guy DuBeau and Aneet Kaur will walk us through the landscape of litigation trends, scope of practice developments and more.

To learn more about this virtual day of advocacy, go to widoctorday.org to register (it’s free) and see the day’s agenda. Please contact Heidi Green with any questions.

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Are you ready for Blue Button? Kickstart your awareness before physician scoring goes mainstream

At the push of a button, many more patients and payers will be comparing the cost of the care you provide to the cost of the same care provided by other physicians. They will also be able to ask why your quality scores are different compared to other physicians.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established Blue Button, an application program interface (API), in 2010 to provide health information access to more than 53 million Medicare beneficiaries. Even though it has been slow to impact physicians, that is about to rapidly change as innovators clamor to produce tools that will compare and score physicians.

As a physician you will – at the push of a button – be able to review where you stand in cost and quality compared to your partners and competitors. You will also be able to determine where you can improve and grow your practice.

Not sure how to manage this? Register and attend CMS Blue Button: Physician Scoring - Kickstart Your Awareness on Wednesday, April 7, 2021, from 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. CST.

Hosted by OnRamp Healthcare, the webinar will introduce you to the cutting-edge innovators at Onyx Health who are speaking to physicians for physician benefit. Mark Scrimshire, Chief Interoperability Officer at Onyx Health will share Onyx Health's role in Blue Button 2.0, specifically how it enables marketplace changes, and how it will be used by innovative health care teams and patients in the coming months and years.

Attend the webinar and find out:

• What do physicians need to know now?
• Innovations that will give providers tools, like apps for their patients that can collect and share their health data with them.
• How this can improve care coordination between you and your patients, and between the entire care team and the patient?

The Blue Button vision is to use information technology to empower greater collaboration between health care providers and patients. If its goal of improving health is to be realized, physicians will have to be able to use this technology to their advantage. Click here to register.

Shawna Bertalot, CIC, ACI
President, WisMed Assure

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Register now for 2021 virtual annual meeting

WisMed Members are encouraged to attend the Wisconsin Medical Society’s 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting and Membership Briefing on Saturday April 17, 2021 from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. This is an opportunity for Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) physician leaders, management and members to illuminate the most pressing challenges facing members and discuss the strategic direction of the Society.

Although a virtual meeting is not ideal, we are committed to a format centered around conversations between Society officers and members in a way that will be engaging, inclusive and provide insights into what is most relevant and needed by members. To register, click here.*

The meeting is sponsored by WisMed Assure, the only Wisconsin-based insurance firm exclusively serving the health care community, and WisMed Financial. The Society created WisMed Financial to provide financial advice physicians can trust.

*Please note that Zoom may require you to sign up for a free Zoom account before registering for the event. You will receive a confirmation email once your event registration is complete. Please contact [email protected] for assistance. 

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MCW Master of Science in Global Health Equity

The Medical College of Wisconsin is proud to offer a Master of Science in Global Health Equity program. This program was developed to prepare future global health leaders who will learn by engaging with diverse local and global populations. The experiential learning program is hands on and project based. A common theme is health equity with an emphasis on community engaged approaches. Students will complete a global thesis project with one of our many international or local partners on a global health topic that is of interest to them.

Training in cross-cultural competencies can assist physicians, policymakers and individuals who work in public and private health sectors to provide care and make policies that equitably meet the needs of the people they are serving.

• 36 credits total
• $1,050 per credit
• Full-time or part-time study options
• Complete in as few as 16 months
• Application deadline is July 1, 2021

Click here to learn more and apply. Or connect with program staff at [email protected].

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Tax season tactics

With tax season in full swing, how much longer can taxpayers enjoy the tax benefits from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and the 2019 SECURE Act? Most of the provisions expire at the end of 2025, but Congress could make changes sooner, so it’s anyone's guess. Here are three strategies to consider.

Roth Conversions
One powerful way to lock in today's lower effective rate is to convert some of the money in a tax-deferred Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA this year. You will owe income tax on the entire amount you convert, which then grows tax-free for the rest of your life.

Two potential benefits for converting to a Roth in 2021

1. Increase retirement funds with a lower tax rate on the conversion, at the same time bypassing probable future tax-rate creep that could result in higher taxes during retirement.
2. Traditional IRA account balance decreases, which in turn potentially shrinks the required minimum distributions at age 72, keeping more money in your pocket.

Considerations before using this strategy

1. You might be better off waiting until retirement if you expect a sizable drop in income at that time.
2. Conversions are now permanent, so unlike previous years you cannot recharacterize.

Use an IRA for Charitable Gifts (over age 70 ½ only)
Although the required minimum distribution (RMD) age is now 72, taxpayers 70½ and older are still eligible to make a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD). Under current rules, up to $100,000 can be withdrawn from your Traditional IRA and sent directly to the qualified charity of your choice, with no tax consequences for you. If you have RMDs this year, you won't be taxed on the amount you donate.

Overcome the standard deduction limitations
Many taxpayers lost the ability to itemize deductions due to TCJA limitations on state and local tax deductions and the larger standard deduction. Fortunately, there are several ways you can accelerate expenses and/or deductions into this tax year to regain the benefit of itemized deductions.

1. Stack charitable donations. Rather than granting your usual annual amount, make a larger contribution that covers several years. Or use a donor advised fund (charitable account) to time your deduction and gifts.
2. Accelerate or prepay medical expenses before year-end. Your medical expenses must exceed 7.5% of your AGI to be deducted. Many expenses can be prepaid, including long-term care premiums, some home modifications and some Medicare plans.
3. Pay certain taxes this year, for example, your property taxes. If your 2022 taxes are assessed in 2021, you can pay and deduct them in 2021. This is still limited to the $10,000 overall deduction limit on state and local taxes.

Please contact Mark Ziety, CFP®, AIF® at 608.442.3750 with any questions. Click here to learn more about tax strategy.

Mark Ziety, CFP®, AIF®
WisMed Financial, Inc. part of the Wisconsin Medical Society

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Honoring Choices Wisconsin seeks local champions

At its most recent meeting this week, members of the Wisconsin Medical Society’s Honoring Choices Wisconsin (HCW) Steering Committee discussed the opportunity to increase the number of patients expressing their future medical treatment wishes through the use of advance directives. HCW will continue to partner with Respecting Choices – a Wisconsin-born, internationally-recognized program promoting a shared decision-making process among physicians and other clinicians, individuals and families that helps achieve an individual’s health care goals.

HCW will continue to promote advance care planning and advance directives while advocating for a statewide Advance Directive repository similar in utility to the Wisconsin Immunization Registry. HCW will also encourage promotion of National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16, helping promote how people can complete or update their advance directive to ensure wishes are followed.

Local champions can help promote all of the above in their own communities, and HCW can help empower those willing to step up. Please reach out to Society Past President George M. Lange, MD for more information or to find out how you can help spread the word to your peers and others in your community.

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MEB approves prescribing CME requirement extension; begins work on potential chaperone rule

The State of Wisconsin’s Medical Examining Board (MEB) at its most recent monthly meeting advanced a proposed administrative rule that will extend for another biennium the requirement that most physicians obtain two credits of continuing education related to opioid prescribing. The requirement applies to physicians who hold a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number, with the two credits being part of the 30 credits required each biennium. Courses must be approved by the MEB in order to satisfy the subject matter requirement.

The Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) spoke in favor of the rule at the MEB public hearing March 17, noting how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated opioid abuse across the county. The Society also expressed appreciation that the rule widens the scope of qualifying coursework beyond opioid prescribing to include “other controlled substances.” This will allow physicians who hold a DEA number but may not prescribe opioids to access coursework more relevant to their practice.

The MEB also began to discuss whether to add a provision to the “unprofessional conduct” section of the MEB’s administrative code (MED 10) that could require physicians to offer patients a chaperone for certain sensitive physical exams. The idea comes from a January 2020 ACOG Community Opinion paper recommending that a chaperone be present for all breast, genital and rectal examinations. While the MEB discussed the issue only generally during its meeting March 17, it will review potential language at its April meeting.

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

Beware – false information regarding COVID-19 vaccination impacting life insurance policies

The Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner sent out a press release earlier this week alerting consumers to misinformation that getting a COVID-19 vaccination could void a policyholder’s life insurance coverage. The Wisconsin Council of Life Insurers confirmed that vaccine status is not currently considered by life insurers when determining coverage or rates for new applicants.

These false social media posts have been spreading this past week and could increase vaccine hesitancy. Policyholders are encouraged to reach out to their insurers with questions about their policies.

The press release is available here. Contact WisMed Assure for insurance questions.