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Senate Must Act Now on Medicare Payment Cuts

It’s coming down to the wire. As Congress continues to fight over a number of year-end priorities, time is running out to address the looming Medicare payment cuts that, if not reversed, would have devastating consequences for Medicare patients and our health care system. Tell your Senators to act NOW to protect America’s Medicare patients. On January 1, 2022 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will drastically reduce payments for certain health care providers. If Congress does not act to stop these cuts before the end of the year, it ...

AMPAC Candidate Workshop is Going Virtual

Ever wonder how Doctors get elected to Congress or your state legislature? Considering a run for office for yourself? The AMPAC Candidate Workshop will teach you how to run a winning political campaign, just like we taught many of your AMA colleagues over the years. The Candidate Workshop is designed to help you make the leap from the exam room to the campaign trail and give you the skills and strategic approach you will need to make a run for public office. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the AMPAC Candidate ...

Security Prescription Fix Signed By Governor Newsom; Delays Implementation Until 2021

After intense lobbying from the California Medical Association (CMA), Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Monday that will end the confusion caused by flawed implementation of the state’s new prescription pad law. AB 149 will delay implementation of the new law until January 1, 2021, ensuring that patients will continue to have access to the medicine they need while the state creates a system to better track prescriptions across the state. Physicians will be required to order a new set of prescription pads by that date, and the Department ...

Security Prescription Law Fix Heads to Governor's Desk for Signature

Implementation of the new state law that requires security prescription forms to have a uniquely serialized number law will be postponed, thanks to a legislative fix heading to Governor Newsom’s desk. Flawed implementation this past January caused mass confusion, leaving pharmacies unable to fill prescriptions and patients being refused necessary medications. The California Legislature on Thursday passed AB 149 (Assemblymembers Cooper, Arambula and Low) to postpone implementation of the new law, which was intended to improve the security of physician prescription pads as a solution to the opioid crisis. This bill will delay ...

Medical staff prevails in legal battle over medical staff self-governance

By Tina Tedesco Tulare, California is a small town in the Central Valley best known as the milk producing capital of America. More than half of its 60,000 residents are enrolled in Medi-Cal and served by a small, 108-bed health care district hospital – Tulare Regional Medical Center (TRMC) – with a separate medical staff of about 175 physicians. Two years ago, this small agricultural community became ground zero in a high-profile battle testing the legal scope of a hospital medical staff’s independence and right to be self-governing. Fundamentally, the question ...