CalHealthCares Physician Loan Repayment Program Inaugural Application Cycle Begins April 1 CalHealthCares is a new loan repayment program that incentivizes physicians to provide care to Medi-Cal beneficiaries by repaying educational debt up to $300,000 in exchange for a five-year service obligation. All awardees will be required to maintain a patient caseload of 30 percent or more Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The inaugural application cycle for CalHealthCares will open on April 1, 2019. The program—which aims to increase access to care for California’s 13 million Medi-Cal patients—was made possible by Proposition 56, which provided a one-time allocation of $220 million for state loan repayment programs. ... April 1, 2019 Physician Workforce, Public Health #PhysiciansLoanRepaymentActProgram, #physicianworkforce, #Proposition56, #publichealth 0 0 Comment Read More »
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 ... March 15, 2019 Advocacy, Drug Prescribing/Dispensing, Patient Care Advocacy, Drug Prescribing/Dispensing, Patient Care 0 0 Comment Read More »
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 ... March 6, 2019 Advocacy, Drug Prescribing/Dispensing advocacy, Drug Prescribing/Dispensing 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Announces New Statewide Effort to Promote Physician Wellness As the delivery of health care undergoes fundamental shifts and the rate of burnout among physicians continues to rise, physician wellness and professional fulfillment have become hot topics throughout the health care community – and for good reason. In a recent Medscape survey, nearly two-thirds of U.S. doctors said they felt burned out, depressed or both. More troubling still, one-third of respondents said such feelings affected their relationships with patients. Burnout can erode the quality of patient care and decrease patient satisfaction. It can also limit patient access to care, as physicians experiencing burnout ... January 18, 2019 CMA, Physician Wellness CMA, Physician Wellness 0 0 Comment Read More »
Joint Statement Regarding Secure Prescription Forms Please click the link below to view a joint statement from the California Department of Justice, California State Board of Pharmacy, and the Medical Board of California regarding a new law, AB 1753 (Low, Chapter 479), which became effective on January 1, 2019. http://www.mbc.ca.gov/Licensees/Prescribing/AB1753JointStatement.pdf January 14, 2019 Drug Prescribing/Dispensing Drug Prescribing/Dispensing 0 0 Comment Read More »
