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EHRs: Are you getting paid?

icd-10-cm is Still coming,

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EHRs: Are you getting paid?

chicago medical Society THE mEdicAl SociETy oF cooK coUnTy

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SPECIAL ISSUE!

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April 2012 | www.cmsdocs.org | 1

FEATURES12 ACOs Why form an ACO? Here are reasons you can bank on. By Bruce Japsen

15 Social PracticeSocial media means more than virtual socializing. You can use it in your practice, too. By Howard Wolinsky

18 The Ratings GameDo you know what your online reputa-tion is? by Howard Wolinsky

pRAcTicE mAnAgEmEnT 6 Meaningful EHRSBy Abel Kho, MD, MS

8 County Board President Highlights Changing CultureToni Preckwinkle makes tough decisions to build infrastructure for tomorrow. By Scott Warner

10 ICD-10-CM is Still ComingBy Nelly Leon-Chisen, RHIA

ASSociATion

20 Have a Say in Policy, LegislationCommittees are the backbone of CMS and are open to all members.

21 CMS Advocates for Payment ReformYour leaders express SGR concerns to congressional reps. By Elizabeth Sidney

22 Welcome to Our New MembersWe’re now more than 1500 voices stronger.

30 Reaching Out to SpecialistsCMS president meets with Chicago urologists. By Scott Warner

34 Calendar of Events

EdiToRiAl & ARTE x E c u t i v E D i r E c t o r

Theodore d. Kanellakes

a r t D i r E c t o r

Thomas miller @ thruform.com

c o - E D i t o r / E D i t o r i a l

Elizabeth c. Sidney

c o - E D i t o r / P r o D u c t i o n

Scott Warner

c o n t r i b u t o r s

Bruce Japsen; Abel Kho md, mS; nelly leon-chisen, RHiA;

Howard Wolinsky

cHicAgo mEdicAl SociETyofficErs of thE sociEty

P r E s i D E n t

Thomas m. Anderson, md

P r E s i D E n t - E l E c t

Howard Axe, md

s E c r E ta r y

Kenneth g. Busch, md

t r E a s u r E r

philip B. dray, md

c h a i r m a n o f t h E c o u n c i l

Robert W. panton, md

v i c E - c h a i r m a n o f t h E c o u n c i l

Kathy m. Tynus, md

i m m E D i at E P a s t P r E s i D E n t

david A. loiterman, md

cHicAgo mEdicinE 515 n. Dearborn st.chicago il 60654

312-670-2550www.cms.org

chicago medicine (issn 0009-3637) is published monthly for $20 per year for members; $30 per year for nonmembers, by the chicago medical society, 515 n. Dearborn st. chicago, ill. 60654. Periodicals postage paid at chicago, ill. and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send address changes to chicago medicine, 515 n. Dearborn st., chicago, il 60654. telephone: 312-670-2550. copyright 2012, chicago medicine. all rights reserved.

Volume 115 Issue 4 April 2012

12

2 | Chicago Medicine | April 2012

A new Beginning

MESSAGE fROM THE PRESIDENT

WElcomE To the newly redesigned and reconceived Chicago Medicine magazine. This issue marks the first redesign of our venerable magazine in more than 20 years, and is another reflection of our commitment to better serve you and keep up with the changing times.

The new Chicago Medicine will arrive at your home each month, giving you the opportunity to review it at your leisure.

Beyond the sleek modern appearance, you’ll find articles of greater range and depth. Each issue will help you to adapt in a shifting and uncertain healthcare environment. Thanks to our partnership with the American Bar Association’s Health Law Section, you’ll receive timely legal, legislative, and regulatory updates. Through columns, articles, and opinion pieces the maga-zine will address new technology, social media, advocacy initiatives, clinical and academic issues, public health, and medical education. Another focus will be the financial and economic trends affecting our profession, and helping you make your practices more efficient and prosperous. Our experts are well versed in contracting, risk management, practice sales and mergers.

A rejuvenated Chicago Medicine goes hand-in-hand with our redesigned CMS website. With new electronic capabilities, we are expanding the CMS physician community with online forums, committee sections, and blogs. In addition to a job board and career center, CMS now offers DocBookMD, a smartphone platform and HIPAA-compliant professional network for doctors to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate.

At members’ urging, we’re also building a coding exchange that will keep all specialties informed of coding updates and provide meaningful communication with medical billing experts. Students and residents, women physicians and senior members can access sections built around specific needs and interests.

The Chicago Medical Society was founded to raise the standards of medical practice and promote public health in the community. In keeping with that core mission, CMS launched its first publication in 1891, a periodical designed to inform and educate members. In 1902, CMS began publishing a weekly bulletin that eventually evolved into a newsletter and magazine. Now, as the magazine enters a new era, we welcome your feedback and suggestions for continued improvement.

Thomas m. Anderson, mdPresident, Chicago Medical Society

Thomas m. Anderson, md, is a radiolo-gist at mercy Hospital. He is the 163rd president of the chicago medical Society.

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meaningful EHRsmaximizing incentives and minimizing penalties by Abel Kho MD, MS

y noW, you have probably heard a lot about the federal incentive pro-gram to encourage EHR adoption and “Meaningful Use” (MU) of EHR systems. The incentive programs run

through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and are designed to help all prac-ticing physicians adopt a certified EHR system and use their EHR system in an effective man-ner, exchange electronic health information, and help health care providers examine and review and improve their quality of care. The incen-tives from both programs are significant: for the Medicare program, a qualifying physician can earn up to $44,000, and for the Medicaid program a qualifying physician can earn up to $63,750. CMS has developed a tool to help you determine your eligibility for the incentive programs at www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/15_Eligibility.asp.

Here’s what you need to know to maximize your incentives and minimize penalties for both programs:

"… for the medicaid program a qualifying physician can earn up to $63,750"

mEdicARE Administered by federal CMSYou are eligible for the full incentive payment if you have billed Medicare at least $24,000 during the past year.

You need to register at the Federal CMS incen-tive site before you can attest at www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/20_RegistrationandAttestation.asp.

The program runs from 2011 to 2016 and incentive payments are paid out over five years. To receive the maximum incentive payment, you must demonstrate 90 days of Meaningful Use starting in 2012. The deadline to attest to Meaningful Use for 2011 was February 29, 2012.

You can attest to Meaningful Use before you have accrued $24,000 in Medicare billing. Your incentive payment will not be paid out until your maximum billing has been accrued or the calendar year ends, whichever comes first.

Penalties will begin in 2015 in the form of fee schedule reductions for providers who have not become Meaningful Users of a certified EHR.

Incentives for physicians practicing in Health Professional Shortage Areas will be increased by 10% for those physicians who accrue the maximum allowable charges.

mEdicAidAdministered by Illinois DHFSYou are eligible for the full incentive payment if 30% or more of your patient volume is Medicaid.

If you are a pediatrician, you are eligible if 20% or more of your patient volume is Medicaid, but your incentive payment will be reduced if your volume is less than 30%.

You need to register before you can attest. Registration is a two-step process that starts with the federal CMS site. Get started by following the road map at Illinois DHFS at http://hfs.illinois.gov/ehr/path.html.

For the first participation year, physicians need only to demonstrate that they will adopt, imple-ment, or upgrade (AIU) to a certified EHR system.

The program runs from 2011 until 2021 and incentive payments are paid out over five years, though qualifying physicians may “take a year off” without penalty, as long as they start by 2015. To receive the maximum incentive payment you must attest to AIU by 2016 and demonstrate 90 days of Meaningful Use in 2017.

The state of Illinois opened up attestation to AIU in November 2011 with a deadline of March 31, 2012.

There are no fee schedule reductions or penalties for those who do not achieve Meaningful Use.

AnyonE pARTicipATing in either program has the option of switching to the other program once. There are no fee schedule penalties for the Medicaid program, but providers who see Medicare patients will be penalized starting in 2015 if they have not achieved Meaningful Use of an EHR, regardless of which program they participate in. Despite the challenges of adoption, the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs represent an unprecedented opportunity to support the transition to safer, high-quality health care.

The HIT Regional Extension Center program was established through the Office of the National Coordinator to provide assistance to health care providers working to achieve Meaningful Use. for more information and assistance, please contact the Chicago HIT REC at [email protected] if you practice in the 606xx zip codes in Chicago; otherwise, contact the Illinois HIT REC at [email protected].

Ehr incentive Program timelines

April 18, 2011Medicare MU

Attestation Begins

February 29, 2012 Last Day to Attest

to MU for 2011

September 5, 2011Illinois Medicaid

Registration Begins

February 28, 2013 Last Day to Attest to MU and Receive

full Incentive

november 17, 2011AIU Attestation

Begins

2015Payment Reductions

Start for Non-Meaningful Users

march 31, 2012Last Day to AIU Attest for 2011

december 31, 2016End of Medicare

MU Program

February 28, 2017Last Day to Attest to AIU and Receive

full Incentive

december 31, 2021End of Medicaid

MU Program

medicare incentive program

medicaid incentive program

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

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county Board president Highlights changing culture leadership makes tough decisions to build infrastructure for tomorrow by Scott Warner

ddRESSing THE Chicago Medical Society (CMS) Council on Feb. 21, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says she believes there is hope down the road for the Cook

County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) if all healthcare sectors collaborate with one another.

She highlighted CMS’ role in County governance as one such example. As a member of the nominating committee that selects candidates for the governing Independent Board, CMS makes recommendations whenever a vacancy opens up on the Board.

Preckwinkle said she is now partnering with that Independent Board, and CEO Dr. Ram Raju, to lay a new foundation for public health delivery, investing in the services that uphold County’s mandate and mission. A new foundation is the only way, Preckwinkle said, to push “the boundaries on what had for too long been the status quo.”

In 2014, the Affordable Care Act will dramati-cally expand the number of insured people, giving the 100,000 existing County patients a new lifeline. The legislation incentivizes providers to keep people healthy and away from expensive services. Preckwinkle called health reform a good thing because public health providers will finally receive compensation for the care they deliver.

However, she says, the legislation challenges the CCHHS to be more competitive.

“We have to make sure our system operates effectively and efficiently enough to support 100,000 newly insured patients. Because, the question we will soon face is this: if individuals have the choice—will

they continue to choose County?” Preckwinkle asked. “Or will we become a system for those who fall through the social safety net and the undocumented for whom we get no reimbursement?”

Last year alone, the CCHHS provided more than $500 million of uncompensated care to a patient population that has a high percentage of individuals with complex, serious illnesses,” she said.

Preckwinkle says the Independent Board assembled Vision 2015, a comprehensive plan to eliminate waste, lower costs and improve services. Every decision made—by the Board, Dr. Raju, and Preckwinkle—is shaped by four basic principles: fiscal responsibility, innovative leadership, trans-parency and accountability, and improved services.

In just nine months, the Board passed two budgets, solving a roughly $800 million gap. The Board also cut 50% from the president’s office, and Preckwinkle reported that she took a 10% pay cut.

Legislators in Springfield are considering a proposal that could significantly impact the health system, she said. The state of Illinois formally sent a request to the federal government seeking a Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver for the CCHHS effective July 2012. The waiver would allow current patients of CCHHS to enroll in a Cook County Medicaid network with absolutely no cost to the state if their income is less than 133% of the federal poverty level.

As Preckwinkle explained, “This would mean that more than 100,000 patients currently in the CCHHS system could gain coverage before 2014. And it’s important to emphasize—they are patients who are already being treated by our system without compensation.”

Emphasizing that the health care system’s problems are also the County’s problems, the Board President said that while she stands firmly by the independent provision of health care, “if there are administrative areas—budget and finance, human resources, where we can be of assistance, then we will assist.”

Preckwinkle stressed that care cannot be sorted into categories—public health, private, and charity. “There are no simple answers for improving the public health system. Progress will depend on effec-tive collaboration across many sectors,” she said.

On a final note, Preckwinkle said that she came before the Council to emphasize that County is serious about engaging health care stakeholders to work together, so efforts can move forward. “I want to hear from you!” she concluded.

Following her presentation, several physicians in the audience asked how they could volunteer their services.

"We have to make sure our system operates effectively and efficiently enough to support 100,000 newly insured patients."

A

county Board president preckwinkle with Joy cunningham, illinois Appellate court Justice; and cmS past presidents drs. Sandra olson and Robert Vanecko.

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icd-10-cm is Still coming! Why should you care, and will you be ready? by Nelly Leon-Chisen, RHIA

HE dEpARTmEnT of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement in February that it will delay the ICD-10 compliance deadline of Oct. 1, 2013, shook the healthcare IT world and left

many providers wondering what this all meant. Although a new date has not yet been set, it is clear that HHS still sees value in ICD-10 implementation and that the preparations should NOT stop.

This article will answer many of the questions you have and provide tips on organizing your implementation efforts.

What is it?Diagnosis codes are embedded in nearly every clinical and billing operation nationwide. And while physician payment per se may not be driven by diagnosis coding, the codes justify the services provided and demonstrate medical necessity.

ICD-10-CM is an upgrade and expansion of the current diagnosis coding system. The new coding sets include laterality (i.e., left, right or bilateral), combination codes, and identify the chronology of encounters for injuries (e.g., initial, subsequent or sequelae). Although the code set is huge, physician practices will use only a small subset. Non-specific codes still exist for use when the medical record documentation does not support a more specific code.

A companion procedure coding system

(ICD-10-PCS) will only affect hospitals reporting inpatient services. Physicians will continue to use CPT and HCPCS for their professional services.

Why is it important?ICD-10-CM implementation is a high-risk activity.Failure to carefully plan and coordinate can cre-ate coding and billing backlogs, cash flow delays, increase claims rejections/denials, bring about unintended shifts in payment, and place payer contracts and/or market share arrangements at risk due to poor quality ratings or high costs. Inac-curacy in clinical coding creates distorted or mis-interpreted information about patient care, which can also result in faulty investment decisions to improve health delivery. Worst case scenario? Your payments will stop.

Why should we change?ICD-9-CM is more than 30 years old and in spite of annual revisions, it cannot keep up with changes in medical knowledge or the demands for detailed administrative data needed to evaluate quality of care, value-based purchasing, and to support biosurveil-lance and public health initiatives. The final Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rule adopting ICD-10 as a standard was published in January 2009 and set a compliance date of October 1, 2013—a delay of two years from the compliance date initially specified in the 2008 proposed rule.

developmentICD-10-CM is the clinical modification of the Inter-national Classification of Diseases created by the World Health Organization. The clinical modifica-tion for use in the U.S. was developed in consultation with physician groups, clinical coders, and other users of ICD-9-CM. Examples of the organizations involved include the American Diabetes Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Acad-emy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Neurology, and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, to name a few.

Anticipated benefitsICD-10-CM incorporates much greater clinical detail and specificity than ICD-9-CM. Terminol-ogy and disease classifications have been updated so they are consistent with current clinical prac-tice. The modern classification system will provide much better data needed for:

• Measuring the quality, safety, and efficacy of care.• Reducing the need for attachments to explain

the patient’s condition.

T

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FEATURE icd-9-cm icd-10-cm

Minimum number of digits/characters 3 3

Maximum number of digits/characters 5 7

Number of codes 13,000 ~69,000

Supplemental classification V codes and E codes

No, incorporated into classification

Laterality (right vs. left) No Yes

Alphanumeric vs. numeric

Numeric, except for V codes and E codes

Alphanumeric with all codes starting with an

alpha character and some codes with alpha 7th character extension

Excludes notes YesExclude 1 and

Exclude 2

Placeholder characters No Yes “X”

Decimal point Yes Yes


• Designing payment systems and processing claims for reimbursement.

• Conducting research, epidemiological studies, and clinical trials.

• Setting health policy.• Operational and strategic planning.• Designing health care delivery systems.• Monitoring resource utilization.• Improving clinical, financial, and administrative

performance.• Preventing and detecting health care fraud

and abuse.• Tracking public health and risks.

major differences and similaritiesICD-10-CM shares many similarities with ICD-9-CM, especially in the classification format and conventions. The code structure has changed slightly to accommodate code expansion and improvements to the classification.

The table on the left shows the major differences.

ICD-10-CM has retained several conven-tions already familiar to users of ICD-9-CM, such as instructional notes, abbreviations, cross-reference notes, punctuation marks, and relational terms. One of the more significant changes for ICD-10-CM is the clarification of exclusion notes. ICD-9-CM provides a single type of exclusion note, whereas ICD-10-CM has two types of “excludes” notes—each has a dif-ferent use; but both indicate that codes excluded are independent of each other.

ICD-10-CM includes the following improve-ments and major modifications:

• Significant improvements in coding primary care encounters, external causes of injury, men-tal disorders, neoplasms, and preventive health.

• Advances in medicine and medical technology since the last revision.

• Codes that detail socioeconomic data, family relationships, ambulatory care conditions, problems related to lifestyle, and the results of screening tests.

• More space to accommodate future expansions (alphanumeric structure).

• New categories for post-procedural disorders.• The addition of laterality—specifying which organ

or part of the body is involved when the location could be on the right, the left, or bilateral.

• Expanded distinctions for ambulatory and man-aged care encounters.

• Expansion of diabetes and injury codes.• Creation of combination diagnosis/symptom

codes to reduce the number of codes needed to fully describe a condition.

• Greater specificity in code assignment.

• Inclusion of trimester information in pregnancy codes.

preparation Many professional societies and coding organiza-tions have already started developing tools and resources to expedite the transition. Along with specialty-specific tools, they are developing maps to crosswalk codes and data for analysis, while also preparing to train members and staff.

Yes, change is difficult and requires hard work. However, as Secretary Sebelius was quoted in the HHS press release, “ICD-10 codes are important to many positive improvements in our health care system” and worth the effort.

Ms. Chisen is Director of Coding and Classification, American Hospital Association.

1Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Quick Reference Information: ICD-10-CM Classification Enhancements. January 2010.

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

Organizing the effort• Emphasize a team approach • Identify a physician champion

for the practice• Enlist help from the practice

manager, coding, and billing staff • Establish a communication plan

and ensure that everyone is aware and kept up-to-date on progress. Early planning will make the transition smoother and less overwhelming.

Planning and impact analysis• Examine every application where

diagnosis codes are captured, stored, analyzed or reported

• Assess impact to electronic health record

• Contact system vendors and determine conversion plans and specifically whether your current systems will be supported

• Estimate budget based on whether new billing and collecting systems will be required or whether cost of upgrades are included in current maintenance

• Consider training budget for coding staff and develop training plan

• Develop detailed project plan• Analyze business processes and

determine whether workflow changes are required

• Develop to-do list of tasks, timeliness and assign responsibility

• Evaluate plans for introduction of new technology and determine impact on coding

Implementation• Assess level of preparedness

of business associates and vendors

• Determine software vendor timeliness for software upgrades

• Assess quality of medical record documentation

• Complete tasks identified during planning process

• Deploy codes and software changes

• Conduct training of coding staff• Convert any superbills or

other forms where coding is captured

• Conduct internal and external testing (clearinghouses and payers)

Post implementation and on-going evaluation• Evaluate software upgrades• Review quality of coded data• Conduct additional staff training • Reinforce physician

documentation training• Assess impact on

reimbursement

Preparation checklist


Quality Healthcare with Quantified Savings By Bruce Japsen

aCosTHouGH aN overwhelming number

of physicians across the country are unsure about whether to form—let alone participate in—an accountable care organization for Medicare patients,

Chicago physicians Lee Sacks, MD, and Scott Sarran, MD, are more than a year into a private sector effort designed to achieve the same thing.

Dr. Sacks, the top doctor at the Chicago area’s larg-est provider of medical care, and Dr. Sarran, the senior physician at the state’s largest insurance company, are leading Advocate Health Care and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois into what they think will be a national model in shared savings between provider and insurer.

ACOs work toward a common goal of pushing less expensive and higher quality medical care by reducing or eliminating unnecessary medical services by more effectively managing the care. An ACO is designed to have physicians and hospitals take responsibility for managing the care of a patient. The reward for a successful outcome is the provider being awarded with extra reimbursement from money saved by the improved quality.

“We need to bend the cost curve,” said Dr. Sarran, vice president and chief medical officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, which provides health benefits for more than seven million people in Illinois. “Current cost trends are unsustainable.”

The private sector effort between Advocate and Illinois Blue Cross was launched in January 2011 with more than 400,000 patients. Advocate expects to build on its experience this year when it applies this spring to form an ACO under the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which is a voluntary program formed under the landmark Affordable Care Act signed into law two years ago by President Obama.

“The current fee-for-service system creates a lot of bizarre incentives,” said Dr. Sacks, vice president and chief medical officer at Advocate Health Care, which operates a dozen hospitals in Illinois and has more than 250 sites of care. “Hospitals get paid for keeping people in the hospital as opposed to keeping people healthy.”

Though ACOs can vary widely in the private sector, the Medicare model involves doctors having to achieve about 30 quality measures.

The Advocate-Blue Cross model also has quality and outcome measures. Advocate will work to reduce the length of patient hospital stays and for the need to readmit patients who have already received treatment but later have been found to


AccountAble cAre

have had a complication or infection that war-ranted a return to the hospital within 30 days.

To achieve their goals, Advocate last summer hired nearly 60 outpatient “care managers,” who are largely nurses, with some social workers, who help physicians by monitoring their patients and making sure they adhere to their treatment plans.

“For a patient with chronic disease like congestive heart failure, you need to make sure the patient or their significant other really under-stands the condition,” Dr. Sacks said. “A doctor spends five minutes with a patient and (the patient) forgets what they need to do even before they leave the office.”

The care manager first meets with the patient in the doctor’s office and then follows up with a phone call or even a home visit as the patient’s first point person for everything from a medication refill to home care instructions or someone who can “fast-track” an appointment in an Advocate doctor’s office, Dr. Sacks said.

The case manager nurses are there to assist physicians in areas like follow-up, ensuring patients return when necessary or are following the doctor’s orders or taking their medications.

“Care managers also do the intangibles like connecting them to a community agency or church support group,” Dr. Sacks said.

By more aggressively managing the medical care and adding staff to make that happen, Advocate is hoping to reduce the need for patients to get sicker and end up in the hospital where medical care tends to be more costly.

Illinois Blue Cross’ Dr. Sarran, the insurance company’s vice president and chief medical officer, said physicians and hospitals in the ACO will be paid for outcomes rather than being paid for procedures and visits to the doctor’s office.

Some of the things Illinois Blue Cross measures include patients’ satisfaction and quality measures such as whether patients are getting breast cancer screenings and whether Advocate hospitals and health facilities are reducing their infection rates.

Advocate has also initiated pilot projects to reduce re-admissions. If successful, Advocate will figure the savings and quality improvement in “future ACO agreements with other payers,” Advocate said.

Doctors do not get an upfront payment to help fund their ACO with Advocate. Rather, a bonus waits if they achieve certain outcomes.

“There is no upfront payment,” Dr. Sarran said. “If there are savings by Advocate providers against a control group and if Advocate hits a set of quality, safety and service measures built around continu-ous improvement, they are then eligible to share in the savings. They have to create the savings and hit the quality, service and safety measures.”

In January 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began accepting applications from providers to begin forming ACOs. Advocate said it expects to have an application in this year.

“Hospitals get paid for keeping people in the hospital as opposed to keeping people healthy.”


“We applaud CMS for offering flexible and creative options to help Advocate and other provider organizations better serve our patients and communities,” Dr. Sacks said. “We are excited about the opportunity to partner with CMS to form an ACO. It’s just a matter of determining the best model for Advocate given our size and other business considerations.”

Physicians across the country are concerned about the potential high expense of forming an ACO that will contract with Medicare.

And there is reason to think that way. Advocate spent about $10 million in 2011 on

care managers, data systems and infrastructure. Unlike smaller doctor practices, and as the state’s largest medical care provider with more than $3 billion in cash on its balance sheet, Advocate has the access to capital to more easily invest in an ACO, according to the September Moody’s Investors Services report.

“A doctor practice on a smaller scale is going to struggle,” Dr. Sacks said.

But a small doctor practice of 10 or more physi-cians could get it done by either working through an independent practice association that has more resources or by investing in management resources and technology.

“You could do it on a smaller scale, but you have to be in an organized system of care,” Dr. Sacks said.

The Medicare shared savings program will have “significant start-up costs,” said Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the Medical Group Management Association, which represents more than 20,000 physician practices. “Challenges remain with this program.”

But after doctor groups complained last year and high profile practices such as the Mayo Clinic and Intermountain Health Care balked through their trade group, the American Medical Group Association, that they were unlikely to participate in the Medicare ACO effort, the Obama administration issued new rules through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ease physician concerns.

CMS said participating doctors will get access to $170 million in the first year of savings to the Medicare program. Doctors will be able to use that money toward building their ACOs. CMS also reduced by half, the number of quality measures doctors will have to comply with but a CMS spokesman said it will still be “more than 30” quality benchmarks.

CMS’ move late last year made ACOs more palatable to doctors.

“Coupled with massive start-up costs and the initial rule’s many burdensome requirements, such as reporting on 65 quality measures, physicians simply would not be able to make CMS’ planned ACO program work,” said Dr. Peter Carmel, the president of the American Medical Association, wrote in November on his blog, “On the Road,” after CMS issued its new rules on ACOs.

The AMA and Dr. Carmel now believe doctors

will at least consider participating in ACOs. CMS also expects about two million seniors

enrolled in the Medicare program to have doctors who will be participating in ACOs that have a contract with CMS.

But even if physicians don’t participate voluntarily in the ACOs contracting with Medicare or an effort like the Advocate-Illinois Blue Cross program, analysts don’t see today’s current system that pays for each treatment or procedure as an option in the future.

“Clearly, the government and insurers have decided that physicians will not be paid for services rendered,” physician blogger Dr. Kevin Pho, who writes on his site KevinMD said in a post last year. “Physicians will be paid based on patient outcomes and will share in any losses insurers sustain due to poor patient outcomes. There are going to be quality indicators and physicians with high quality scores will be paid more than those with low scores.”

Doctors with lower scores might find them-selves outside of networks like those being pursued by Illinois Blue Cross.

But Illinois Blue Cross is also working on other arrangements with smaller medical care providers to “align incentives,” Dr. Sarran said. “By doing so, we allow providers to share in the upside.”

Although not all arrangements with providers will be through ACOs, Illinois Blue Cross has negotiated with 75 medical group entities from large groups to independent practice associations through its HMO plans, HMO Illinois and Blue Advantage.

Insurance companies are under more pressure to spend money on quality medical care rather than quantity.

Another part of the Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of their premium dollars on medical care in health plans they will be selling on state-regulated exchanges.

The health law calls for such exchanges to be operational by 2014 when more than 30 million Americans who don’t have medical care coverage will be eligible for subsidies to buy private insurance.

Doctors will be held more accountable no matter how health care reform takes shape, Dr. Sacks said.

“If a doctor has patients going into the ER for asthma, there perhaps needs to be more education to that doctor about asthma,” Dr. Sacks said. “Care is more cost-effective and efficient when done with the same physician team.”

Bruce Japsen is an independent Chicago health care journalist. He was health care reporter at the Chicago Tribune for 13 years and is a regular television analyst for WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, CBS’ WBBM radio and WLS-News and Talk. He teaches health care writing at Loyola University Chicago and has taught in the University of Chicago’s Graham School of General Studies medical editing and publishing certificate pro-gram. He can be reached at [email protected].

“Physicians will be paid based on patient outcomes and will share in any losses insurers sustain due to poor patient outcomes.”

AccountAble cAre


How and why you should use social media in your practice by Howard Wolinsky

a DaY IN THE LIFE of the medical corner of social media on a late summer day in 2011:

Westby Fisher, MD, director of electrophysiology at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, has posted an amusing item at his Dr. Wes blog at http://drwes.blogspot.com about an 81-year-old woman who had the words “Do Not RESUSCITATE” tattooed on her chest to make her inten-tions known. He added a poll to his site where doctors can vote on whether they would continue or stop CPR/ACLS if they encounter a cardiac arrest patient with a DNR tattoo and no family available.

Kevin Pho, MD, a Nashua, NH, inter-nist with possibly the biggest following online, is posting on his Facebook fan page a link to a blog entry by George Lundberg, MD, MedPage Today Editor-at-Large and former editor of JAMA, naming the most powerful people in American medicine. Dr. Pho, who often comments on medical issues as well posting reports from other physicians gets more than 500,000 views per month at his blog and has over 100,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. He blogs at KevinMD.com.

Vineet Arora, MD, an administrator at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, leads readers of her Twitter feed at @FutureDocs to a New York Times article on how medical practices are work-ing on better ways to serve their patients and bottom lines. Dr. Arora also blogs at FutureDocs (http://futuredocsblog.com) about medical careers and ways to improve medical education and patient care.

You’d have to be a hermit in a Himalayan cave to be unaware of social media. Started in 2004, Facebook is the subject of a Hollywood movie and book. It has attracted 750 million members—with women age 50 and over as the fastest growing demographic.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project reported recently that half of American adults use social networks. They include your family, friends, your patients and probably you, at least to keep up with family and friends. Hospitals, medical practices, and solo practitioners are making their presence known with

Facebook sites and messages from the microblogging site Twitter.

Social media include services and sites that link people with similar interests, enabling them to interact over the Internet and share their thoughts, activi-ties, photos, links and videos.

Not about Blogging Your BreakfastSocial media isn’t about sharing what you had breakfast—unless that’s all you want it to do; maybe you had Bananas Foster French toast. It’s about sharing lives and building online communities.

Dr. Fisher, who trained as a biomedical engineer, found that social media, includ-ing his blog, which he started in 2005, and later, Twitter, fed his “inner nerd.”

“To me, the Internet is an incredible

forum to discuss the varied, complicated, and even ridiculous aspects of health care. Information moves so quickly now that keeping abreast of change has become difficult. The number of medical journals have expanded so dramatically in my short career that it is challenging to keep up with the voluminous information flow,” he explained in his blog.

“Thanks to the wonders of RSS (Really Simple Syndication), I have found that blogging has permitted me to stay abreast of thoughts and trends in medicine far better that I ever could with reading a small sam-pling of my field’s literature. (I mean, there are so many journals and so little time!”)

Dr. Pho started blogging in 2004 to help patients find reliable medical information online. It has become his passion. He devotes two or three hours a day to writing

Evanston’s Dr. Westby Fisher posted an item on his blog about an 81-year old woman who had the words “Do Not RESuSCITaTE” tattooed on her chest to make clear her intentions.

Social Practice


and editing while maintaining his full-time medical practice. His blogging lead to a monthly commentary in USA TODAY.

He contends that all physicians would benefit from using social media—whether writing a blog or establishing a fan page on Facebook or tweeting to express their views on medical developments.

At the very least, he said, physicians should check out their online reputation. (See accompanying story.) “Patients are going to Google you. You need to know your digital footprint,” he said.

Dr. Arora, associate program director for the internal medicine residency and assistant dean of scholarship and discovery at the University of Chicago, took an inter-est in social media when she saw so many students and residents using Facebook and blogs in 2009. A hospitalist, she had published frequently on medical education and patient safety issues. A friend in health information technology urged her to use social media to reach audiences she otherwise might not, including patients, government organizations, foundations, and the mainstream media.

Feeling the Pulse Through Twitter“Twitter happens to be my gateway to social media. That’s how I got involved, but then I was able to learn how to use other social media through my associations with

people I met on Twitter,” she said.She said Twitter and blogs have

helped her feel the pulse on fast-changing areas she’s interested in, such as health care reform. Through Twitter, she met an instructional technologist from another medical school who taught her how to incorporate into her class

social media, such as Wikis websites that enable the creation and editing of interlinked Web pages via a Web browser. Working with other physician educators she met through Twitter, Dr. Arora created a social media workshop, using Google Docs, a free Web-based text editor, which allows a group to edit a document.

“One of the greatest things about Twitter and social media is that you get connected to a lot of people who share your interests and your passions, but may

approach a problem from a worldview different than your own. You might learn things you did not know about,” she said.

She recommends that physicians restrict contact on personal pages at Facebook to close friends and family—not patients. She said there needs to be a boundary between physicians and their patients. To maintain that personal boundary, she does not invite patients or students to be Facebook friends.

However, she said physicians or a medical practice could create a basic fan page on Facebook, where they share infor-mation about hours, new personnel, public health information such as availability of flu shots, and comments on news.

She said physicians potentially could use Facebook or other social media to engage their patients. She mentioned a Texas oncologist who uses Facebook and Twitter to reach out to cancer patients. Online patient support groups exist for people with rare diseases; patients have used social media to create a clinical trial.

Dr. Arora noted that social media are not for everyone. “Right now, it’s still a new technology and people are very much trying to figure out what the boundaries of the technology should be.”

Given the statistics showing how many people are on Facebook and social media and using them to share information, I think that it’s important for more doctors to join the dialogue,” said Dr. Arora.

But she warned that the reimbursement system is not set up to pay physicians for using social media. “The incentive is to bring patients in and see them in your office,” she explained.

Possible DownsidesThere can be risks.

Dr. Arora said residents and medical students who grew up with Facebook and other social media can encounter prob-lems if they do not maintain professional-ism. “Friending” patients is something

SocIAl PrActIce

“at the very least, physicians should check out their online reputation. Patients are going to Google you. You need to know your digital footprint”

often commenting on medical issues, as well as posting reports from other physicians, internist Dr. Kevin Pho gets an astonishing 500,000-plus views per month at his blog.


they should avoid.Medical schools have also expressed

concern over students who violate professional boundaries or inappropriately showcase pictures or videos that don’t portray their medical training in a positive light. Students are moving from a low-stakes undergrad world into a high-stakes professional world where posting their opinions and comments about patients could land them in trouble.

“There have actually been cases (at other institutions) where patients have refused to be treated by a resident physi-cian because they saw their Facebook profile and saw some inappropriate pictures,” Dr. Arora said. “I have been involved in helping teach students and residents about the importance of setting their profiles to private.”

She said physicians and students using Facebook should be careful not to violate HIPAA privacy rules. “Twitter and Facebook are not be used for private conversations that should be HIPAA protected,” she said.

Chris Martin, MPH, who blends traditional medical public relations and social media in his Chicago practice, said, “The average physician is not using social media in her practice.”

He said they are missing an opportu-nity to reach out to and educate patients and potential patients as well as to build their practices.

He said physicians can use social media to keep patients up-to-date on breaking medical news, giving take on the latest study from the New England Journal of Medicine or a drug recall, as well as presenting news about their practices, such as new hours, the addition of new staffers, or the availability of flu shots or other public health messages.

Physician involvement can be as big or small as the doctors want. The physician or a staffer can handle social media, or they can pay an expert.

Including Social media in a marketing PlanMartin said physicians ought to consider social media as part of a marketing plan. Some larger hospitals may provide physi-cians on staff with social media support as part of their marketing, promotion, and referral programs.

But he said physicians in smaller practices ought to address social media on their own. “More and more, social media makes sense financially for small

practices compared with Yellow Page advertising,” he said. “But they have to realize, there is a time commitment involved, and time is money. Physicians shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that because it’s free to set up a Facebook, Twitter, or Tumbler account, that there are no costs. The costs just aren’t as easily identifiable as when you cut a check for the Yellow Pages or an ad in the local paper. Those costs are real.”

The cost is the amount of time a physi-cian or staff person devotes to blogging or hiring an outside expert to establish and manage a social media program.”

Martin said he would recommend a six-month public relations and social media program for small groups, costing $1,000 to $2,000 per month.

While advertising in the Yellow Pages allows physicians to have an arm’s length

relationship with patients, social media demands that physician get involved. “It’s a conversation,” he said. “Some people in health care might have trouble adjusting to this.”

Dr. Pho said social media will become increasingly important for the generation of patients and physicians who grew up on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. “These doctors are going to embrace it more because they realize the power behind it,” he said. “And patients increas-ingly want an Internet-savvy doctor.”

Howard Wolinsky is the former medical and technology reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. He previously worked as a staff writer for American Medical News as an instructor in the graduate program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

u of C’s Dr. Vineet arora helps educate young physicians by blogging about medical careers and ways to improve medical education and patient care.

SocIAl PrActIce


You maY not know it, but patients, especially younger ones, may be rating you online. Using social media, from Facebook to Yelp, they

may chat with friends or rate you along with their favorite eateries, on the usual physician rating suspects such as Vitals.com and RateMDs.com.

“Today’s patients under age 50, certainly under 40, don’t write letters (to complain). They go for revenge. One star reviews online,” said John Luginbill, a marketing expert and CEO of The Heavyweights in Indianapolis. “There is no such thing as a 20-, or 30-, or 40-year-old woman who isn’t reading about her doctor before she makes a decision about who her provider should be.”

Word of mouth—a referral from another physician or a recommendation from a new patient’s friend or neighbor—is how patients traditionally heard about you and your practice. Now word of mouth has spread from face-to-face or phone con-versations to the Internet, where positive and negative comments are amplified on a digital megaphone—and may last forever.

Luginbill, founder of RepuChek.com, an online service to monitor and manage physicians’ and health institutions’ digital reputations, said: “The only accreditation today’s patients trust are the opinions they hear from friends and other patients. RepuChek was created since 80% of word-of-mouth recommen-dations are occurring online.”

Kevin Pho, MD, an internist from Nashua, NH, a well-known blogger, said physicians ought to increase their aware-ness of their social media footprint: “A lot of physicians don’t know that people write about them. But they need to know.”

The growth of social media and its impact on physicians has not gone unnoticed by policy-makers in the profes-sion. At its meeting Nov. 8, 2010, in San Diego, the American Medical Association adopted guidelines to help physicians understand and deal with social media.

Noting that once posted on the Internet, information is likely to be there permanently. The AMA urges physicians to “routinely monitor their own Internet presence to ensure that the personal and professional information on their own sites and content posted about them by others is accurate and appropriate.”

The AMA added that physicians should “recognize that actions online and content posted can negatively affect their reputa-tions among patients and colleagues, and may even have consequences for their medi-cal careers.” (For more on the guidelines, go to: www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/meeting/professionalism-social-media.shtml)

Vineet Arora, MD, assistant program director for residency at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, who is well-known in social media circles, said: “We teach our medical trainees that they need to police their digital image and get out there and make sure they know what’s being said.”

Google Yourself An obvious stop is the search engine Google. Just go to Google.com and type your name and your practice into the search box and see what comes up.

You may know about Yelp at yelp.com for finding restaurant reviews. But did you know how the service promotes itself? “Yelp is the fun and easy way to find and talk about great (and not so great) local businesses.” Local businesses can mean

your medical practice. And many younger patients especially don’t think twice about throwing a rotten tomato at a physician who they feel mistreated them

Or you may know Angie’s List at Angieslist.com as a great place to find detailed reviews on roofers, plumbers, and house cleaners. Angie also carries ratings for physicians.

Almeta E. Cooper, former general counsel for the Ohio State Medical Association and now associate vice president of the office of legal services at the Ohio State University

Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, said, patients use of nontraditional means to complain about physicians can include blogs, Twitter and Facebook as well as the rating Web services. Cooper, who spoke on this topic at the American Bar Association conference in Chicago recently, said this poses special problems for physicians.

“If you’re complaining about your win-dows, about the person who installed them or about the manufacturer, the installer or manufacturer can respond and say, ‘No, I installed those windows correctly.’ But a physician who has to protect patient confi-dentiality can’t really respond and explain the patient’s medical care and treatment. Physicians aren’t really in a position to com-ment or really be able to defend themselves because of the physician’s ethical and legal obligations to the patient,” she said.

Cooper said large medical institutions, such as OSU Medical Center, have social media experts on staff to monitor tweets and Yelp for gripes and complaints and then try to resolve the issue with patients.

She said, “It’s a little easier for us as a medical center because our presence locally and nationally is very large and there are so many good things always com-ing out about the medical center—therefore one individual with a complaint doesn’t have quite the same impact as if you’re an individual physician and someone is specifically making a negative comment about you as an individual physician.”

Dr. Pho said there is not a lot that physicians can do about negative reviews. “A few doctors have tried suing patients. That’s generally not a good idea,” he said.

Getting ProactiveLuginbill recommends that physicians take a more proactive stance with bad reviews.

For example, he said, if a doctor has been criticized on Yelp, he can contact the patient and discuss the issue and if the patient is satisfied he may take down or modify the complaint. Another approach, he said, is to contact Yelp and ask to take control of the page. “They’ll give it to you immediately,” he said.

He said the doctor can update the site by adding his practice’s hours and photos. He said once the physician controls the site, he can complain to Yelp if he feels that a review is abusive or contains

Physicians: Watch your online reputation by Howard Wolinsky

“Patients use of nontraditional means to complain about physicians can include blogs, Twitter and Facebook as well as the rating Web services.”

The Ratings Game


unsubstantiated assertions. “Anybody can go on and express an opinion. And that’s information that Yelp will never take down. But if they say something is a fact that’s unsubstantiated, Yelp has got absolutely no dog in that fight. It does not want to get drawn into any kind of legal problem.”

Luginbill said physicians ought to encourage patients to rate them online.

“You just have to say, ‘If you’ve had a great experience today, we just want other people to find us,’” he said. He said in as little as a month, a physician could see his practice be top rated in his area.

Luginbill acts as a sort of social media coach for physicians. He said that in eight weeks at a charge of less than $10,000, he can set up an automated social media program for physicians, which monitors threats to one’s reputation and establishes a social media presence. After the program is launched, the practice spends about two hours a week running it, he said.

Google alerts vs. RepuChekLuginbill, who blogs about social media

and health care marketing at Turn Up Your Volume (www.turnupyourvolume.com) said his RepuChek.com helps physi-cians proactively monitor their reputa-tions, promote positive online comments, and respond to “negative online chatter.” RepuChek charges $297 a year for a basic program and up to $2,000 a year for a more comprehensive one, he said.

Chris Martin, MPH, a Chicago public relations practitioner who blends social media into his practice, said physicians might want to try a “home-made remedy” for checking their online reputation by using Google Alerts at www.google.com/alerts. “Doctors can set up free Google alerts using their name or practice as a key word, for instance. Visiting the sites that might be problematic on a regular basis can also help.”

Luginbill maintained that Google Alerts provide results from exact wording while RepuChek provides “more layers of capability to sort through many more places where conversations may be taking place and determines which ones are highly likely to be about the subscribing physician. Said another way: Google is like

a simple key word search while RepuChek is a complex contextually relevant listen-ing search tool that sorts and filters.”

At the very least, physicians should check their reputations once a week by Googling their own names, said Dr. Pho, who blogs at KevinMD.com.

He also urges physicians to ask their patients to rate them online. Research has shown that positive comments will outweigh the negative ones.

“If they want to go one step further, they can have a presence on Twitter or Facebook or Linked In. At least they can establish their online identity,” Dr. Pho said. “One of the more powerful applications of social media is to establish a doctor online because eventually patients are going to be Googling them, if they are not already.”

Howard Wolinsky is the former medical and technology reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. He previously worked as a staff writer for American Medical News and as an instructor in the graduate program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

FaCEBooK started in 2004 as an online tool for college students, but it has blossomed into a huge and bustling community with 800 million active users. You can maintain a private page for friends and family and a fan page for yourself or your practice. It’s called the “dual citizenship approach.” Kevin Pho, MD, a leading blogger, examines the pros and cons of Facebook for physicians at “How doc-tors can use Facebook responsibly” at www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/04/doctors-facebook-responsibly.html.

TWITTER is a social networking and microblogging service on which users can send and read texts, known as “tweets,” of up to 140 characters. tweets may be short, but tweeting is potent. the technology was launched in 2006 and has attracted over 465 million users. tweeters may comment on breaking medical news or provide links to their blogs where they comment in more depth, Westby Fisher, MD, an evanston cardiologist and blogger, said tweeting is like “instant messaging on your cell phone in near real-time.” He provides a primer on tweeting at http://drwes.blogspot.com/2010/03/for-cardiologists-twitter-primer.html.

GooGLE+ Search engine giant Google is taking on Facebook with Google+, which launched this summer and immediately attracted more than 90 million users. Google+ is a tad more serious than Facebook. british doctors exam-ine how Google+ can help physicians better match their

offline networks by using Google+’s circles feature. read more at www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/08/google-physicians-optimize-online-footprint.html.

LINKEDIN provides a home for anyone’s cV, but also is designed as a means to maintain professional relationships and a means of listing professional meetings you’re attend-ing or speeches you’re giving. this network was launched in 2003 and has over 120 million job-oriented subscribers. bryan Vartabedian, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist at baylor college of Medicine in Houston, in his 33 charts blog at http://33charts.com/2010/06/why-doctors-should-use-linkedin.html: “linkedIn is one element of your digital footprint that you control. too many physicians are not concerned with their professional digital footprint. that is, the record of stuff that appears when you conduct a vanity search on Google or bing.”

SERmo is a free “real-time meeting place” specifically for physicians. Sermo describes itself as “the largest online phy-sician community in the u.S. It’s where practicing u.S. physi-cians—spanning 68 specialties and all 50 states—collaborate on difficult cases and exchange observations about drugs, devices, and clinical issues. And find potentially life-saving insights that have yet to be announced by conventional media sources.” blogger ted eytan, MD, discusses Sermo at www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/06/discussing-social-media-physicians-sermo.html.

How Physicians Can Use Social Networks

tHe rAtInGS GAMe


Committees are the backbone of the Chicago Medical Society. They allow members to request the for-mal study of specific issues

in medicine, and ensure that a reviewing body will give direction to the organiza-tion. As the origin of new policies and leg-islative initiatives, committees are open to all members.

The Medical Society understands the time constraints on physicians, and so has created an online forum for each commit-tee. These online forums permit virtual meetings, where members can discuss the committee’s objectives or charge. To view a sample forum, please visit the Medical Society’s “CMS Connect” section of our Website at www.cmsdocs.org.

The 14 Chicago Medical Society committees range from public health to technology to advocacy. If you would like to become a committee member, follow the instructions at the end of this article.

Bylaws/Policy Review Reviews suggested changes in the Bylaws and recommends amendments to the Council when appropriate; reviews Council actions and statements in the CMS Policy Manual for appropriateness and timeliness.

Communications/technology Monitors the world of technology, and informs and educates members on the use of computer and technology applications in the clinical setting and for personal use.

Continuing medical education Ensures that CMS is in compliance with the Essential Areas and Standards for Commercial Support (SCS) of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME); initiates, implements and evaluates CME programs; and assists related groups in structuring CME programs under joint sponsorships.

Credentials/elections Determines the number of voting mem-bers present during Council Meetings, announces quorums, acts as tellers, if necessary, and takes charge of all general elections.

Health Care economics Monitors local managed care trends,

health delivery service and quality; advises CMS of significant trends, reviews the actions of the professional liability insurance industry, informs CMS about health planning in Chicago and Suburban Cook County; evaluates the effects of phy-sician reimbursement and medical policies proposed by the federal government and third-party payers.

Long-Range Planning Ensures that CMS has a well-conceived five-year strategic plan that includes an analysis of the Society’s trends, strengths and weaknesses, and the envi-ronment of medicine; prescribes actions to position CMS for the future. The plan is updated annually.

membership/imGDevelops strategic plans for the ongoing recruitment and retention of members, including residents and students; reviews all applications for new membership, status change requests, dues waivers and transfers, and report its recommenda-tions to the Council; reviews physicians who have resigned or forfeited their membership and wish to be reinstated; supports measures to encourage com-plete integration of IMGs into American medical practice; represents the issues of concern to IMGs in CMS and the IMG community.

senior Physicians GroupProvides a vehicle for CMS senior physi-cians to support CMS through outreach, education, and mentoring.

subcommittee on Joint sponsorshipHelps plan CME activities and provides detailed review of all applications received from related organizations for joint sponsorship; advises the full CME Committee on trends, concerns, and requirements; assures that CMS activities and joint sponsorship programs are in full compliance with the Essential Areas and Standards for Commercial Support of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Physician Advocacy Represents and protects the rights, responsibilities, and interests of physi-cians in all modes of medical practice,

including solo, group, employed, and academic; and in all hospital medical staff issues, including physician self-governance, credentialing, medical policy development, peer review, patient advocacy, and quality of care; resolves complaints, disputes, or con-f licts involving any physician member of a medical staff and any structured medical entity.

Public Health Reviews and responds to any request for advice, opinion, or for program approval directed to CMS by any health department, municipal health committee, or public health body in Cook County. Also initiates contact with such groups when directed by the CMS President, Executive Committee or Council, on matters of concern to organized medicine.

Resolutions ReferenceReceives all resolutions referred by the Council; holds hearings on those resolu-tions, and reports recommendations to the Council.

Join a Chicago medical society CommitteeTake a stand on legislation and policy matters affecting you and your practice. Share insight and ideas with your colleagues and people who make the deci-sions affecting your everyday life.

Each year the Chicago Medical Society (CMS) Committee on Committees appoints members to CMS committees.

Every member is unique and each has a contribution to make. The Medical Society offers committee assignments for every interest—from professional liability insurance to public health to physician education. As one of the largest county medical societies in the nation, the Medical Society needs your active support to achieve success. Together we will make a difference.

To sign up for a committee, please send a letter with your name, address, city, state, zip code, email address, phone, fax and committee(s) you wish to serve on to Ruby Bahena at [email protected] or fax to 312-670-3646. More information at www.cmsdocs.org.

Have a say in Policy, LegislationAssociAtions


AssociAtions

CHiCAGo mediCAL Society leaders were in Washington, DC, to advocate for reimbursement reform on behalf of CMS members. Before departing for the Feb. 15-16 trip,

they asked CMS physicians for their input and heard from many who are struggling to keep their practices afloat, as a result of inadequate and delayed Medicaid payments and the flawed Medi-care SGR formula.

During their visit, Dr. Thomas M. Anderson, CMS President, and Dr. Howard Axe, President-elect, met with one-third of Illinois’ congressional delegation, and Senator Richard Durbin as well. Concurrently, Congress was considering a perma-nent fix to the SGR by using the monies from the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund as an offset for the accumulated SGR bad debt.

Even though Senator Durbin supported this leg-islation, the vast majority of Congress members did not, much to the medical community’s frustration.

“Rather than implementing a lasting solution that guarantees fair payment to doctors who treat Medicare patients, Congress kicked the can down the road—for the 14th time in the last 10 years!” Dr. Anderson said.

Medicare administrators tell Congress that despite their numerous complaints about Medicare, 96% of all practicing American physicians accept Medicare insurance and treat Medicare patients. Since the care is still being delivered, Congress just doesn’t consider physi-cian payment a compelling issue.

“Congressional staffers told us that doctors would be well advised to encourage their patients to go viral on the Internet, Facebook or Twitter, and elsewhere, because a larger group of concerned voters would have a greater impact on congres-sional behavior,” Dr. Anderson said.

The CMS leaders expressed members’ concerns directly to Sen. Richard Durbin; Reps. Mike Quigley; Danny Davis; and Jesse Jackson, Jr.; a senior staff member of House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, and a legislative aide to Rep. Mark Kirk.

While Dr. Anderson affirmed that Senator Durbin, along with Representatives Davis, Quigley, and Jackson, were supportive, “overall, we’re not happy,” he said. He explained why:

“While Congress halted the 27% cut scheduled for March 1, and froze physician fees at current levels for the rest of the year, the issue will come up again after the elections and before the year ends. If not addressed, the SGR will require a Medicare physician payment cut of 32% starting Jan. 1, 2013. A permanent fix, if it ever happens, will be even more expensive then.”

Dr. Anderson asked of the legislators: “Why place innocent lives in jeopardy before taking action?”

He reassured CMS members that back home, CMS will continue efforts in each congressional district to urge legislators to do the right thing—replace the flawed SGR formula.

“I invite my fellow physicians to attend upcom-ing CMS Legislative Breakfasts and sign up for Mini-internships with lawmakers, and to engage their patients in legislative issues that have direct bearing on them.”

Cms Advocates for Payment ReformYour leadership expresses SGR concerns to congressional reps by Elizabeth Sidney

Cms leaders drs. Howard Axe, President-elect, and thomas m. Anderson, President, meet with senator Richard durbin in Washington, dC, to relay members’ support for medicare reform.

“While Congress halted the 27% cut scheduled for march 1, and froze physician fees at current levels for the rest of the year, the issue will come up again after the elections and before the year ends.”


AssociAtions

district 1Suhair S. Abdel-Jalil MDRoss A Abrams MDSimon M Adanin DOVictoria M Alagiozian- Angelova MDKerstin Alischoewski MDChristian S Altman MDBenita Anderson MDJanis M Atkinson MDGrace S Bai MDSheree Balkin-Lipkis MDAdrienne M Balsam MDAnita R Banoff MDToni L. Bark MDMariam E. Barouta Kharzo MDBonnie L Barsky MDNora F Beltran MDRichard A Berkowitz MDShailender K Bhatia MDEric E Bobrakov MDKathleen P Bogacz MDAlla Brodech MDAmy L Brodsky MDBetty Ann Brody MDMark B Brown MDElizabeth L Brumfield MDJeffrey Buckman MDStephen J Bundra MDAnne M Burke MDJohn E Butter MDJoseph D Calandra MDConstance A Catellani MDSteven J Charous MDEric L Chehab MDYuri Cherny MDJohanna B Chookaszian MDGene Combs MDJohn E Croghan MDJoseph J DeOrio MDPatricia A. DePoli MDStephen F Deutsch MDMark A Dorfmann MDSheila R Ehrlich MDGlynn J Elliott MDEduardo J Encinas MDMichael A Epstein MDMihail C. Epure MDElyse P. Erlich MDCharles M. Falcone MDCharles M Feinstein MD

Geoffrey C Fenner MDElysa B Fisher MDTherese E Fitzsimons MDRoma H Franzia MDJan Friberg MDMark D Gendleman MDAdi Gidron MDW Reid Glaws DOAlexander Golbin MDGail M Goldberg MDCarrie G Golden-Brenner MDSteven J Goldman MDHector J. Gomez MDDennis C Grygotis MDAnshu Gupta MDHarsh V Gupta MDYosef Hakimi MDMary C. Hall MDBenjamin C Harow MDDaniel M Haycraft MDXiaoying H Hensel MDLinda L Herman MDWalid A Hindo MDMichael A Hinz MDDennis Hoffman MDMary K Hoffman MDPeter Hsin MDSatyendra K Humad MDJeffrey M Jacobs MDTatyana Kagan MDNicholas J Karis MDKaryn I Karlin MDMuhammad M. Khawari MDRonald L Kirschner MDAlan Kogan MDDean E Kravis MDTraci A Kurtzer MDCarol Laderman MDJames G Lahti MDCatherine Landers MDMary I Lang Carney MDOlga Lansky MDTimothy J Laurie DOAndrey Lev-Weissberg MDCori A Levinson MDDennis J Levinson MDEdward S Linn MDEvan L Lipkis MDSteven R Lobacz MDPeter Lourgos MDSarah Lovinger MD

Daniel T Lum MDJonathan H Maks MDJames S McCullogh MDJohn McGillen MDHarsha V. Mehta MDJohn C Michael MDMary J Milano MDMichelangelo A. Milano MDAnwar M Mohiuddin MDFatima M Mohiuddin MDMary L Moran MDJack Morgan MDJoshua B. Nathan MDJory A Natkin DOEdward G Neyman MDGeorge R Nissan DOVictor E. Nutenko MDYevgeny Odessky MDTodd G. Oldham MDPeter C Paik MDRupal R Parmar MDSmita Patel MDAndrew M Pavlatos MDDimitri Perros MDHelen Plavnik MDAlan C. Pollak MDMark E Pomper MDCarole P. Prete MDAmy J Ptaszek MDLaura L. Raftery MDRuth G. Ramsey MDAmando A Reniva MDKimberly K Ricaurte DOAntoinette T Risdon MDDavid I Rosen MDRobert S Rosen MDScott L Rosen MDMark Rosenbloom MDLorraine S Roth MDEsmilkrys B. Salcedo MDPeter K Sand MDMark J Schacht MDDebra L Schlossberg MDElizabeth U Schneider MDIlana Seligman MDDipeshkumar H Shah MDRita A. Shapiro MDYury L. Shapiro MDLisa J Shives MDGail J Shorr MDMohammad A Siddiqui MD

Irwin M Silverman MDDonald H Singer MDAlan M Smookler MDJae-Hyun Song MDDonald L Spitzer-Cohn MDRichard D. Stagl MDKelly B Stein MDJoyce L Steinberg MDAlfredo P. Sy MDPeter M Thompson MDThomas C Tingle MDDonald W Trepashko MDSvetlana S Tsipursky MDMartha L Twaddle MDPeter T Vaselopulos MDJesse Viner MDCora C Wahl MDMichael S Wahl MDSherwyn E Warren MDDaniel Wee MDMargaret R Wein MDSuzanne L Westphal MDGregory M. White MDJohn M Wieland MDEric J Wilson Jr. MDWilliam R Wittert MDRobert J Wolf MDElizabeth K Woo-Strauss MDDavid K Yousefzadeh MDDaniel Zimmerman MDSimon Zimnowodzki MDTina Zofakis MDAlan M Zunamon MD

district 2Shameem A Abbasy MDMuhammad S Akbar MDIqbal Akhter MDStylianos Angelakos MDJames P Anthony MDWilliam A Appelbaum MDEnrique A. Arana MDMaribe F Bangayan MDAna Thereza C Barion MDStanley Bialowas MDMaureen A. Bohnsak MDJaime O Bolano MDTanya K Bulj MDDeborah Cano MDCharles L Carlton MDEmily C Chacko MD

Welcome to our New members!Please offer a warm welcome to our new members. The Chicago Medical Society is now 1500 voices stronger thanks to them!


AssociAtions

John M. Cherf MDNenita A. Cua MDCecile M. Danao MDRichard R DeLeon DOSamer R Dibs MDJames R Diesfeld MDBrian J Donohue DOPawel S Dudek MDM A Dulczewska-Miller MDH Clark Federer MDBruce L. Ferguson MDCarlos M Fernandez MDNeal R Florence MDVictor A Forys MDInessa Gelfand MDMelinda E Gibson MDDavid L Goldberg MDDebora M. Grandinetti MDAaron N. Greenspan MDMichael D. Gross MDAaron Grossman MDMadhu B Guliani MDAtul Gupta MDSusan I Haido MDRichard Hayes MDPamela W. Hazard MDJeanne M Horowitz MDAbolghassem Hossaini-MazhariSyed F Hussaini MDAndrzej P Indyk MDAndrew Ivanchenko MDDarwin C Jackson MDRobert C. Jespersen MDJeffrey J Kamysz MDDaniel Katz MDHenry M Kawanaga MDAudisho B Khoshaba MDDavid Y Kim MDAnuj Lal MDYolanda Lalyre-Rodriguez MDJames E. Lang MDNelson J Lehrer MDNick R Leonardi MDCarol J Levi MDCelia M Lipinski DOFauzia W Lodhi MDEmily E Lombard DOKathleen H Maloul MDRonnie R Mandal DOArthur M Mandelin II MDCristina Manta MDBenjamin Margolis MDMy N Mark MDJames R Markey MDAlfred J. Martin MD

Bruce J Massel MDBassam F Matar MDSarz Maxwell MDZarina Merchant MDMichael J Meyer DORobert V Michael MDDavid W Miller MDEric J Minde MDAngelique C Mizera DOJuliio C Mora MDCesar A Morales MDHelen L Morrison MDBrian S Morse MDRafaela M. Munoz-Ulrich MDRusalina C Muntean-Mincu MDJohn J Natale MDTahir M Niazi MDErnest G. Nora MDSusan M Nowak MDPaula F Oldeg MDAlfredo Ovalle MDSvetislav Paunovic MDSuzanne T Pham MDDavid V Pinto MDVikas R. Punjabi DOVaseem I. Qureshi MDChandra B Rathod MDBella Rosenzweig MDThomas J. Ruppert MDMohammed A Samee MDSmitha G C Samuel MDRobert J Saqueton FACP MDMuhammad A. Saudye MDZlatoia Savici MDHaresh Sawlani MDGary J Schreiber MDSheldon D Schwartz MDKijana Seferovic MDNava A Segall MDBharat K Shah MDShital B Shah MDAhmad A Shaher MDHassan J Shakir MDAbraham R Shashoua MDSilvana L Shliapochnik MDRobert A Shrifter MDSuhail A Siddiqui MDMarcia J Siegal MDMartin G. Siglin MDJeremy R Simon MDPeter A Snitovsky MDKerry Swenson MDRoger G. Thorpe MDYevgeny Tsyrulnikov MDIrma E Urrutia-Potter MDEvert M Vanderstoep MD

Mustafa Vidinli MDSteven L Weinstein MDLise S Weisberger MDAgnes I Wojnarski MDTian Xia DOJuan A. Zabaleta-Herrera MD

district 3James M. Aachen-Winans MDRichard S. Abrams MDJura M Adams-Bailey MDMorayo N. Adisa MDMark Agulnik MDShubhada N Ahya MDSyed R. Akhter MDSteve Attanasio DOPedro C. Avila MDLeilah E Backhus MDSanija Bajramovic MDTalia B Baker MDBlanca M. Baldoceda MDLee M. Bass MDSurendra Basti MDTraci P Beck MDRiccardo Benvenuto MDRobert T Bernat MDPatrick K Birmingham MDMark K Bowen MDVictoria A Brander MDSara G Braunstein DONorman A Brown MDGwyneth A Bryant MDDeep P. Buch MDVictoria C. Buchanan MDBarbara K. Burton MDAdrienne L. Butler MDSandra B Cadichon MDMai Britt Campbell MDIlona M Carlos MDJames P Chandler MDDonald L Chatman MDKenneth C Chessick MDDarshika Chhabra MDRosellen S. Choi MDBechara N Choucair MDNiki A Christopoulos MDJennifer J Clumpner MDHarry M Cohen MDLaura L. Concannon MDBrian Cook MDStephanie B. Cox-Batson MDRufino F Crisostomo MDDiane W Crocker MDJeffrey A Cullen MDLeticia Dacanay MDSejal Dave MD

Diane M. Digirolamo MDJ Antonio V Dizon MDChristopher Donohoe MDPooja J Doshi MDRipple R Doshi MDGrace Drease MDNehama Dresner MDGregory A Dumanian MDKristin A Dziadosz MDPatricia A Farber-Katz MDKori E Feldman MDAmanda M Ficacelli MDThomas E Flarquist MDErika J.R. Flores MDRobert J. Fragen MDMarilyn E Frederiksen MDBenjamin H. Freed MDSusan M Fuchs MDSteven R Gallo MDTimothy S. Garvey MDSean T George MDJonathan D. Getz MDManjot K Gill MDArnold I Goldberg MDMatthew B Goren MDNancy M Gracin MDSheldon S Greenberg MDAndrew J Griffin MDScott Grossberg MDIzabella Gurau MDGina C Guzman MDElaine S Hacker MDRachna Hahela-Soriano DOSehJin Han MDJennifer I. Harris MDNicholas M Hatzis MDGregory A Henkle MDSteven M Herwick MDMaria V Hilgart MDLouis Hiotis MDAlan R. Hirsch MDThomas A. Holly MDCharles L. Huang MDLinda T Huang MDTeresa Hubka DOMark D Huffman MDSyed M Husain MDJerome A. Jabbour MDAtul Jain MDMarshall E James Jr. MDChristine M Janowiak MDDaniel D Jimenez DOMelissa L Johnson MDRotimi O. Johnson MDJyothi P. Jolepalem MDYazen Joudeh MD


AssociAtions

Scott A Kale MDPerry L. Kamel MDJeffrey E Karaban MDAnna B Katz MDJana Katz MDAri J Kaz MDRobert J Kelsey MDRobert G Kenter MDAli R Khan MDRahul K. Khare MDAshok K Khilwani MDAbel N Kho MDSusan S Kim MDAlbert P Knott Jr. MDJay L. Korach MDFrank A Krumlovsky MDRoopal V Kundu MDMarla D Kushner DODavid W Lamont DOMichelle Lamont MDLynda S Lane MDGordon R Lang MDCraig B Langman MDJohn G. Latall MDMichael J Lee MDPatricia E. Lee MDMichael J. Leiding MDSteven O. Lestrud MDFred M Levin MDAlexander L Lin MDMarijana Ljubanovic-LazarevicGregory J Lopez MDPamela A Lui MDMathew W MacCumber MDCharles D Magill MDS Chris Malaisrie MDVarun K. Malhotra MDAlissa M. Martin MDGladstone E. Martin MDBenjamin K. Matsumoto MDStacie D McClane MDKris G McGrath MDCynthia J. Mears MDOmeed M Memar MDKimberly E. Merenkov MDKelly N Michelson MDLinda M. Mileti MDMiltos Moscandrew MDNiki Moscandrew MDGeorge T Moynihan MDRobert B Nadler MDKathrine D Nash MDAllan D Nelson MDJudith L. Nerad MD

Jennifer A Newport MDDuyhuu T. Nguyen MDBrian N Ogan MDArturo Olivera Jr. MDKurt F. Olsen MDMatthew C Oswald MDRuchir P Patel MDSejal R Patel MDKent T Perry Jr. MDFrancesca Popper MDGail I. Randel MDMamdough E Rayan MDAllison H Reddinger MDAndrew B Repasy MDCynthia K Rigsby MDMelinda R Ring MDTrevor A. Robison MDNorma Rodriguez MDBarry L Rosenberg MDEllen M Ross MDElliot J Roth MDShayna R Rubin MDLuis E Rueda MDBernice Ruo MDGita Rupani MDEric J Russell MDOrest P Rywak MDVicki R Samuels MDMondira Sengupta MDBrian S Shah MDIndira K Shah MDSamuel J. Shaheen MDAli Shaibani MDRobin Shapiro MDJ. Fred E. Shick MDAbhijit A Shinde MDMarc S. Shinderman MDArvind K Shukla MDAyesha A Siddiqi MDDeepti Singh MDJason D. Smith MDShari Snow MDSpiros G. Stamelos MDMichael F Stefancic MDJames F. Sullivan MDJohn T. Sullivan MDRiccardo A Superina MDCornelia V. Tandez MDArnold M Tatar MDDaria B. Terrell MDLeRoy S. Thomson MDCezar Tolentino Jr. MDRichard M Tresley MDBen J Tseng MD

James A Unti MDSharon M. Unti MDDonna I. Vasquez MDRichard E Vasquez MDCarl M Wahlstrom MDDavid R. Walega MDJean C Walker MDDavid F Wax MDJulie M Wehner MDLa Lura R. White MDGary G Wiesman MDAmy E Williams MDMichael D Williams MDBurgess C. Wilson MDJane N Winter MDIra S Wolke MDYvonne M Wolny MDMatthew K. Wynia MDEdward A Yaghmour MDSantosh V Yajnik MDReza Yassari MDWilliam D Yates MDJulie L Yen MDNancy M Young MDStephanie A. Young MDBrian S Zachariah MDRita M. Zafra MDTeresita M Zdunek MD

district 4Rania A. Agha MDMohammad Ahsan MDRobert H. Aki MDAdeeb Alshahrour MDTeodoro A Alvia MDLampis D. Anagnostopoulos MDLori L Anderson MDJaphelt L Aranas MDJeffrey S Bakal MDSharyl E Balkin MDSean P Barnett MDMichael R Bauer MDHoward S Becker MDBruce Bedingfield DOKeith Berndtson MDMitchell B Bernsen MDBarry H Bikshorn MDRobert A Boton MDStephen A Bozek MDMarylee M. Braniecki MDGerman D Calonje MDHolly Carobene MDStephen L Carter MDVicki L Chamberlain MD

Kamran Chaudhary MDGary S Churchill MDGerald A Cohen MDDarryl H Colen DOMark E Collins MDThomas F Cozzi MDRichard H. Demir MDAmy J Derick MDNausheen Din MDVincent A. DiSilvestro MDBen J Dolin MDPaul H. Dombrowski MDMark E. Dubin MDSusan Elbaum MDPhillip S Epstein MDSorrel E Fagel MDLeonid Feferman MDJoel B Fisher MDGary L Forcier MDMark D Forrestal MDSandra H Garretson MDPeter B Geittmann MDLinda R Gibson MDBruce J Goldberg MDJordan L Goldstein MDGary S. Gordon MDJerry P. Gore MDSara R Greenhill MDCatalina A Grija MDBruce G Grossman MDGeeta Gupta MDNarendra K Gupta MDSigrun Hallmeyer MDMarla F Hartzen MDNausheen Hasan MDMaureen E Hendron MDTheodore M Homa MDOk Ro Hong MDTania Hossain MDMaria R Hrycelak MDThomas A. Iannucci MDEberechuknu O. Ibe MDWarren L Kammerer MDDina Kaner MDS Jenny Kang MDBruce H Kaplan MDAyesha Khalid MDAkber A Khan MDAli Khazaei MDDavid J. Kim MDJanice R Klich MDAlbert E Knuth MDChoong H Koh MDStoyan I Kokocharov MD

Chicago medical society members continued


AssociAtions

Ladonna R. Koziol MDJoel L Kragt MDAndrea S Kramer MDVictor Kulichenko DOGeorge G Kuritza MDCarl R Lang MDAndrew T Lawrence MDRichard K Lee MDYelena Levitin MDHo M Lim MDChristopher M. Lodowsky MDTerrence R. Loughlin MDChristopher C Mahr MDIbrahim A Majzoub MDRyan J. Malcom MDFranklin A Marden MDAladin M Mariano MDFrank Matheu DOHarbans S Mavi MDMolly McAfee MDRandy A McCool MDDaniel C. Mitchell MDNeda Moaddeli MDDavid D. Moran MDAnna Moskal MDJacob L. Moskovic MDJohn Moy MDBatool H Musvi MDParveen Naaz-Ikramuddin MDSamer Najjar MDM Bryan Neal MDJenie S. Nepomuceno MDRollo J Nesset MDMargaret R. Nettleton MDStephen Nigh MDJeanne B Novas MDScott M O’Donnell MDCaroline E. Olson MDBino V Oommen MDSarah H Pae MDThomas M. Pae MDMrunal S. Panchal MDRuksana Papa MDSteve Paschos MDChinmay K Patel DOIshwar K Patel MDJanki N. Patel DOMukeshbhai K. Patel MDRajiv Patel MDSanjay P. Patel MDKristia L. Patsavas MDMichael R Pins MDParol P Pitroda MDMartin J Pollak MDSorvein Prieto MDAndrew B Pundy MDJennifer R Pyle MD

Rajeswar Rajagopalan MDRamji R. Rajendran MDRebekah Ranchero DOMumtaz F Raza MDSukanya K Reddy MDJanet H Reilly MDAlexandra B Roginsky MDDebora S Rosewell MDShashi Saigal MDNoel D Saks MDMadison Sample Jr. MDElizabeth M Sapala MDJoseph C Sapala MDParaskevi Sapountzi MDVerne A. Schwager MDDavid M Schwartz MDSamuel C Schwartz MDBharati B Shah MDBharati P Shah MDPravin S Shah MDAhmari Shaikh MDNawaid M Shakir MDGuru Shankar MDBradley D Shapiro MDYuhang Shek MDRobert E Shepherd MDPeter E Shin MDTimothy B Short MDRumana J. Siddiqui MDMargaret M Sierantowicz MDMonica K. Sikka MDKathryn M Singer MDPrashant Singri MDArthur N Skladman MDRobert A Small MDRichard S Song MDRajiv K Sood MDSharon Spak-Schreiner MDAlan M Spiegel MDBonnie J Stabrawa MDPatrick J Sweeney MDErwin G Szela MDZofia Szymanska MDBetsy S Thampi MDScott I. Tiplitsky MDStanley G Tomczyk MDJoseph A Torre MDEdgar Vargas MDBrett J Vassallo MDMarsha L Vetter MDBretta K Warren MDCharlene A Weisberg MDEvelyn White MDConstance H Wojtowicz MDClifford R Wolf MDLawrence D Wolin MDCatherine Wood MD

Maria C Yango-Eugenio MDKirill Zhadovich MD

district 5Steven S Abdelmalak MDFatima Ahmad MDSarah M Alderman MDMichelle Alexandre MDJuan Angelats MDVirgilio B. Arenas MDErica C. Attanasio DOJanet E. Badding MDIrene M Bakos MDLeszek J Ballarin MDTobia A Barbato MDAndrea G Barthwell MDSumit Bector MDMark J Benjamin MDChandrakant D Bhakta MDNandana C Bhakta MDJyotsna K Bhatt MDJose Biller MDEvangelos Biscotakis MDSami Bittar MDJoshua A Blomgren DOEvelyn Y. Bolt MDMarc A Borge MDAllan M Brecher MDMonique M. Brotman DOMatthew A Brown MDAnna Bunploog MDReynaldo M Caluag MDAlejandra Campos-Momney MDFrank Capobianco MDDonald L. Carter MDKantilal Chandarana MDConnie D Chappel MDSarmistha Chaudhuri MDJasvinder P. Chawla MDBonny Chen MDMark S Choh MDHannah S. Chow MDJohn J. Ciemins MDVictor G Cimino MDStephen L Co MDYolando L. Co MDThomas J Conti MDMigdalia Cortina MDLuis A Couret MDRobert D Creek MDNausica D’Alfonso-Laghi MDVinod J Dalal MDPaul E Davis MDDaniel T Davison DOMaria R De Leon DODaniel P Del Boccio MDEvelyn Diaz-Jimenez MD

Josephine Dlugopolski MDPatrick Dolan MDVinayak V Dongre MDNetta M. Dsouza MDRebecca J Duke MDKatrina S. Duque MDIrene Eftekhar MDSteven C Eidt MDMichael S Farhi MDRisha L Foster MDEric S. Fouliard DOMatthew D Freeman MDRichard P Garza MDG. Gary Gibbs MDNida G Gleveckas DOClaudine O. Go MDRamnik Gokani MDRoynel Gonzalez Carrillo MDCynthia L Gould MDStephen I. Greenstein DOYing Gu MDCharlemagne G Guerrero MDPilar Guerrero MDMary Lou Gutierrez MDFadi A Habib MDAngelos Halaris MDBruce W Hallmann MDSherine F Hanna MDSilas L. Harrington MDJafar S Hasan MDSana Hasan MDS. J. Hasanain MDHarala Hatzidimitriadis MDRichard A Herbert MDDaniel J Hirsen MDMark E. Hroncich MDPatricia A Hsu MDBeatriz L. Huertas-Rivera MDShariq M. Ibrahim MDKhondker K Islam MDRada I Ivanov MDRenee H Jacobs MDShishir Jain MDMir J A Joffrey MDBruce C Johnson MDCharles B Johnston MDJerry Jones III MDTilak R Joshi MDKaren R Judy MDMartha M Kachmaryk MDErnest J Kaminski MDJaya Kasturi MDVilas P Khandeparker MDRajeev Khanna MDHamdi Khilfeh MDSpero J. Kinnas MDHanna B Konarzewska MD


Ashay V Kparker MDSunita Kumar MDPaul A Kungl MDGlenn A Kushner MDStephen F Laga MDAshokkumar M Lakhani MDRenee R Lantner MDCamilla Z. Larsen MDAndrea L Lawless MDHong S Lee MDJohn M. Lee MDRosa Licea MDHeidi J Lipp DOMary J Liszek MDLaurens Lohmann MDFrancisco Lopez-Arostegui MDLaura E Loya-Frank MDAngel C Lugay MDJulieta J Luna MDPaul S Luning MDAngelo P. Malamis MDDennis E Malecki MDBenjamin D Margolis MDAshley S Martin MDAnthony J. Martino MDAnne R Mc Call MDBrian R McCall MDStacy L McClure MDMichael J McDonnell MDTimothy K McGonagle MDPaul T. McTurk DOSwati Mehrotra MDJoseph R Mejia MDPaul A Meyer DOAnna M. Mianowska MDLaura C. Michaelis MDSteve J Michel MDBryan G. Moline MDElizabeth R Mueller MDKami R Mullings MDJonathan K Muraskas MDZarina Muzaffar MDDavid S Muzic MDSusan M Nadis MDBela Nand MDDonald D. Nash MDLeena A Nayak MDThomas M Nelson DOJennie S. Ng MDSwarupa I. Nimmagadda MDDaryl L O’Connor MDMario D Oriatti MDLuisa A Orrico MD

Luis A Osorio MDDaniel P Owens MDTimothy M. Ozga MDPeyman Pahlavan MDJorge M Paiva Parada MDNicholas S. Papanos MDBhupendra R Patel MDJayantibhai G. Patel MDPramod M Patel MDRobert B. Pearlman MDSteven J Pearlman MDCrystal A Peoples MDRicardo Perez MDEdward J Pillar MDAndrzej Poleszak MDMike S Pulia MDMarcus L Quek MDMaura P Quinlan MDLester J Raff MDHernan S. Reyes MDCarlos M Reynes MDFred Richardson MDLigia Rioja MDPaul B Roach MDTulio E Rodriguez MDTahir Rohail MDAllen J Rosenbaum MDAmado Rueda MDAlan Y Sadah MDCaryl G. Salomon MDShantharaj Samuel MDArthur P Sanford MDJohn M Santaniello MDJuan A. Santiago-Gonzalez MDPeter A. Santucci MDNupur Saxena MDRichard W. Schmitt MDDilip M Shah MDLeena H Shah MDLena Shahbandar MDJeffrey G Shanes MDMaliha J Shareef MDShraddha Sharma MDEdward M Sherman MDFeinan Shi MDSuad Shuber MDSusan J Sicotte MDMark J Sokolowski MDEric Spratford MDDavid S Springer MDEthan Sterk MDJerold M Stirling MDJames W Swan MDMalgorzata B Szyfer MD

Marc L Tenzer MDPhilip A. Theodoropoulos MDVictor L Thomas MDGeorge Tomecki MDPrasuna M Toomganti MDThomas M Turk MDSandra M. Turner MDBrooke A Turnock MDSandra L Vega MDChristine H. Veres-Thorner MDKaren M Walker MDJosephine F Wang MDTerrie L Weir MDDavid J Weiss MDNorma B. Westervelt MDThomas J Wigboldy DODavid J Wilber MDFreager S Williams MDKimberly A. Williams MDWalter J Wojcik MDDavid K Yoo MDRamona J Zak MD

district 6Amer Abboud MDRene H Adrian MDRobert D Aiken MDHarpinder S Ajmani MDDavid U Anyadike MDIhab Aziz MDGary J Barsky MDGlenn A Beard MDRohini Bhat MDAbdul H Bhurgri MDStephen A Blatt MDJohn H. Brill MDJoan E. Briller MDNancy S Burk MDElmer A Carasig MDBoonmee Chunprapaph MDMelody A. Cobleigh MDCybil R Corning MDEileen F Couture DOCatherine A Dimou MDRicardo C. Dizon MDXinqi Dong MDCarrie L. Drazba MDWilliam Ennis DOBassel Ericsoussi MDArthur L Frank MDHenry C Fung MDCorey N Goldstein MDLarry J Goodman MDNina A Goyal MD

Timothy P Halt DOZahid A Hasan MDCarolyn R Heron MDGioia M. Herring-Williams MDCarlotta H Hill MDBruce H. Huck MDChad E Jacobs MDDaniel R Jacobson MDQaiser Jamal MDNancy L Jones MDAmit J Joshi MDDonald A. Jurivich MDJonathan R Kelly MDPaul M Kent MDMary L. Klodnycky MDKeith C Knapp Jr MDJane E. Kramer MDKousik Krishnan MDAnand N. Kumar MDJulio Lara-Valle MDOmar B Lateef DOSteven L Lewis MDLaco L Mace MDAugustine M Manadan MDIrma E Maravilla MDKameron Matthews MDRamiro O Mercado MDDavid E Morris MDLuis R Munoz MDProcopio M Munoz MDEce A. Mutlu MDLarysa M. Mykytiuk MDJustin A Nauth DOWagih E Nessim MDPamela C Papas-Corden MDNatvarlal P Patel MDBruce D. Peoples MDDavid J Perez-Ortiz MDFrank M Phillips MDJoseph J Pulvirenti DOZenaida E Racho MDJeffrey T. Rado MDVijaya Reddy MDArthur R Rhodes MDMatilde M Rios MDNeha D Robinson MDHolly A Rosencranz MDMarvin A Rossi MDAmy Rouse-Ho MDAri B. Rubenfeld MDSeshadri Sadagopan MDLaura S. Sadowski MDBrian E. Schirf MDGregory W. Seaman MD

AssociAtions



Adrienne Segovia MDRoni L Seltzberg MDSubhash Shah MDAnjalia Shinde MDHarbinder Singh MDNicholas G Stiso MDSalahuddin I. Syed MDRanjit Teji MDSonya L. Thomas MDMary L Tomyanovich MDRichard L Trester MDJohn E. Vazquez MDHugo R Velarde MDParameswaran Venugopal MDTracy L. Vera MDNikhil N Verma MDJuan C Villamizar Zuniga MDJennifer T. Virant MDProsper L Wang MDPeter J Weiden MDWilliam L Whittier MDJohn W Williams MDDaneen Woodard MDWen-Ho Yang MDGilberto Zavala MD

district 7Moni Abraham MDClara O Akhigbe MDMichelle F Albovias MDAlfred L Amin Shehata MDCatherine R Bachman MDSue K Barclay MDYolanda T Becker MDNalini Bidani MDDionne J Blackman MDAnita K Blanchard MDThomas E Britt MDJesse S Chandler MDAdam S Cifu MDLouis Cohen MDHelene Connolly MDGerald Cooke MDAnna E Costakis MDClifford S Crawford MDNathaniel L Crump Jr. MDMilorad Cupic MDMartin H Dauber MDFelicia A Davis MDKiranjit Deol MDSummer B. Dewdney MDApril L DeWhite MDGregory S Doren MDWilliam O Dorsey III MDMaria L Dowell MDSaadi A Elabaza MDMarco F. Ellis MD

Gail Y. Floyd MDMichael B Foggs MDCarlos F Garcia MDSylvia Garcia-Beach MDGeorges B Germain MDKrishna B Ghimire MDKiran Girdhar MDCai Glushak MDRaj K Goyal MDSolomon Greer MDPurnendu Gupta MDSeenu M Hariprasad MDJavad Hekmatpanah MDCharles B Holmes MDRoy S Horras MDCarmen G Hudson-White MDStuart A Issleib MDMercedita C Jacob MDJohn W Jones MDSebastian Joseph MDHooshmand Kadkhodaian MDMohammed A Kaiseruddin MDAbdulhamid M Kanji MDGayle L. Kates MDMerlin Kelsick MDRamesh R Kharwadkar MDJenny H Kim MDNicole D King MDJelena Kravarusic MDShara L Kronmal MDLewanzer Lassiter MDJerome Lee Jr. MDElizabeth E Littlejohn MDMamie J Long MDTim T Luk DOClaudette M Macklin MDMichael G Maday MDBapushetty R Madoori MDAyuk Makia MDJames A Mastrianni MDPeter W McCauley MDVida L McGhee MDHoward K. McNair MDWilliam L. Meadow MDDavid M Melamed MDCatherine M Meyer MDJonathan I Meyer MDKimberly Meyer MDDanica L Milenkovich MDJoanne Moreau MDAnna D Nowobilska MDEdelechukwu Nwagbata MDIhuoma C. Ofoma MDOkechukwu Okolo MDAnita L Ong MDBassam Osman MDMauro M Paes MD

Augusto N Pareja MDAshish J Patel MDDadhija D. Patel MDJagdish R Patel MDAthena I Patrianakos-HooblerDonna M. Perisee MDMarealita M Pierce MDJayant M. Pinto MDBhanu K Pisini MDVivek N Prachand MDSundar Prakasam MDTelly Psaradellis MDRoberto P Ramirez MDDiane G Rapaport MDAnthony T. Reder MDKourosh Rezania MDClaudia M Rodriguez MDMichael A Saidel MDLeela P. Selvam MDMuthu P Selvam MDSimeon A Sevendal Jr. MDAshok N Shah MDSmiresh S Shah MDMichael J Shih MDJasmine Singh MDChung Song MDGary D. Steinberg MDRobert J. Strugala MDAbdulghany Tabbara MDSwie-Liang Tan MDReina M Tarabey MDJagit S Teji MDEvaristus F Udoisa MDSusan Vaughn MDValerie C Walker MDStephanie L Weaver MDCarey A Weiss MDJoy B. West MDKenneth Wharton MDShirley S. Wong MDJames H Wortman MDDoris J Young-McCulley MDQiong Zhao MD

district 8Ashraf H Abourahma MDFaris Abusharif MDDanish Ahmed MDElke Aippersbach MDCyrus Akrami MDMalek H. Al Akhal MDHani Al Sharif MDBasel Al-Aswad MDMiguel J Alcordo MDSireesha Allamneni MDMonica M Aloman MDMansour M Alshobaki MD

Cynthia Y. Alston MDNarendra J. Amin MDDorothy R Anoina MDJohn J Arrotti MDGlenda L Ashley MDPaul T Atkenson MDRobert J Atkenson MDKimberly V. Barnes MDCharles Beck Jr. MDJonathan L Belgrad MDAaron D Berger MDKathleen M Bewley-Thomas DOSheila Bhagavan MDHarit K Bhatt MDLloyd J Blakeman III DORichard H. Bongard MDMichele L Bonin MDShyamal Bose MDCheryl L Brody DOPiyush C Buch MDSharon S Burke MDGeorge T Caleel DOEleazar E Calero MDMichelle Calma MDGail H Cansler MDPragathi Challa MDJoseph O Chan DOShalini Chawla MDPeter L Chien MDMurthy G. Chimata MDMelody A Christians MDRobert W. Coats II MDDawne J. Collier MDYvonne C Collins MDDenice D. Cook MDJairo B. Cruz MDJuan P Cueva MDJohn M Curtin DOMichael D D’Astice MDPatricia D Damper MDSerge DeBustros MDAnthony C Delach MDMichael D DeStefano MDBarbara Diakos MDElton W Dixon MDKathleen J Drinan DOBrian P. DuMais MDDenise M Elser MDJohn C Elser MDChristopher L Farley MDKendal T Freeman MDDenise Furlong MDShailesh Ghandhi MDCynthia Goldman MDRose Gomez MDKimberly G Gray White MDLisa J Green DO

AssociAtions


Vybert P Greene MDRohit Gupta MDJoehar Hamdan DOJacqueline E Harris MDRichard G Harris MDRochelle L Hawkins MDKathleen M Hendrickson MDBrian J Hertz MDMichael E Herzog MDLourdes M. Hilao MDCrystal D Hines-Mays MDPhyu-Mar T Hla DOThomas M Hoeltgen MDChing-Chong Huang MDBeck A Hur MDHassan A Ibrahim MDEmelie J Ilarde MDVivek Iyengar MDSunil C John MDBobby S Johnson MDDorothy M Jones MDAmit M Joshi MDVivek Kaistha MDMary Kanashiro MDWade W Kang MDTheresa L. Karacic MDMohayya H. Khilfeh MDDeborah D Killingsworth MDJames A Kline MDRukmini R Komarlu MDDaniel S. Koscielski MDMeera Krishnan MDBarbara L Krueger MDRaghuvansh Kumar MDSeth G. Levrant MDJames C. Liang MDAndy C. Lin MDScott E. Lipson MDRobert L Litchfield DOHeather M Longin MDSusan T Lyon MDJames J Magee MDSylvia R. Mahone MDAmee R Majmundar MDJoel U Mann MDEvan Manolis MDDavid I Markovitz MDRobert W Marquis MDStephanie M Marshall DOAngela C McElwee MDWalter R Mcfarland MDMark E. McKeigue MDKarleen M McNeal MDHarshad M Mehta MDAlbert F Miford DO

Charlotte H Mitchell MDSachin Mittal MDVeena Nayak MDUmair K Nazeer MDEdilberto E Nepomuceno MDJames T Niemeyer DOMichael J Olivieri MDSreya Pallath MDAmy L Pannaralla DOJose M Paredes MDAjay Parikh MDPrabhakar J Parikh MDAmishi Patel MDBiraju Patel MDJaimin M. Patel MDPranav Patel MDSunil A Patel MDMulji Pauwaa MDKenneth M Pelehac DOAngela R Perry MDConstantine G Peters MDSelena Peterson MDLubna Piracha DODennis E. Rademaker DOAkbar Rahmani MDLima L A Redhead MDArnita Reed MDSusan B Rife DOJohn M Ross DOHisham S Sadek MDRemedios M Sales MDMichael J. Salvino MDRadha K Sanka MDJudith G Savage MDLeslie Schaffer MDNatan Scher MDBiren P Shah MDManzoor H Shah MDBansi D Sharma MDKailash C Sharma MDIra Shetty MDElizabeth S. Shrader DOTahseen J Siddiqui MDBeno Sikand MDNavneet Singh MDMini Sivadasan MDLolita M Smith MDAna V. Solis DOAnanya T Spann MDCurtis L Speed MDGeorge I. Sreckovic MDDevangi M Sreekanth MDRonald S. Stumbris MDEvan B Suan MDMadhupa Sud MD

Roxanne L Sylora MDM Teresa Tan MDJoseph S Thomas Jr. MDSajjini G Thomas MDAngali Thukral MDNapatia M. Tronshaw MDDaniel A Troy MDLindsay Uzunlar MDBhupinder K Valia MDSunnette C Varnado-Smith MDRaghavendra Veerapaneni MDMahim K Vora MDAmit D. Vyas MDElsie R Walker-Thomas MDIrene D Weintraub-Yohay MDChristal L West MDHerbert White Jr. MDHerlanders J. Williams MDKeith G Williams MDKenneth D. Williams MDElizabeth Yepez MDNasser Zakieh MDDavid L Zumerchik MD

ResidentsMamoun Abdoh MDSenan S Abdul-Hamed MDAneet Y Ahluwalia MDBeverly L Ahoni MDRusul B Alasadi MDMichael Alebich MDHumayun Anjum MDChiedozie K Anokwute MDPaul R Balash III MDRiva Branch MDDustin M Brown MDWilliam Carter II MDMaria Catalina Castillo DODore E DeBartolo DOMarcus E Emebo MDPhilip C Fanapour DOEmma Fattakhov MDBurak E Gezen MDEdward D Gometz MDJulie T Gorman MDDarnika C Graham MDJennifer Grant MDJulian Hardman MDWaldo Herrera-Novey MDAlisha M Hudson DOMatthew J King MDDivya Kondamareddy MDYein Lee DOElise A Malecki MDAarti Manchanda MD

Vijaya D L P Marri MDRobert F Martin DODavid A Mateo De Acosta MDMonish M Merchant MDMonica M Michelotti MDJuan M Munoz-Pena MDPuja Nambiar MDFranklin U Njoku MDDaphne S O’Reilly Flores MDPatrick O Oben MDStanley Okon MDAdebayo O Olusanya MDViktoras Palys MDSarju S. Patel MDPaul O Phelps MDCarolyn M Pierce MDAparna Rao MDJoseph P Richards MDArjun Sharma MDShaRonda Shaw-Berrocal DOJames Siegert DORamesh M Singa MDImran Tahir MDPongpeera Taytawat MDDavid D Tran MDPedro Villablanca MDSameer S Vohra MDErin L Werhun DOKapil Yadav MDJohn E Yap MD

studentsAshley E AaroeKathleen A AdamczykOlabunmi A. AgboolaNeha AgnihotriEric AhlstromAmmar AhmedSyed M AlaviCorianna D AndersonBenjamin D AndrewAnthony V AspesiAisha N AveryhartAdrienne N H BakshAnna BalabanovaRithvik BalakrishnanSteven A BartelsMichael BeaucaireMark N BelkinEric G BenzMargaret F BeslerManish BhartiyaNita BhatiaLauren E BrockmanJoel P Brooks

AssociAtions



Melissa L BryanMegan K BurokerElijah J BurtonJoshua G CahanMary CallahanCrystal V CastanedaAnjana V ChandranDavid ChangCindy ChenJerry ChenTiffany C. ChenJennifer M ChertowChristopher P ChildersFarai E ChiwochaKelsey S ChowKevin ChuangMatthew M CoonJacquelyn CorleyMaria Creel-BulosClare C CroshDaniel CurtisKristina E DakisSara K DaleidenDavid DayanimSarah DebreyAndrew S. DeutschRebecca DeutschClarabelle A DevriesLindsey H EdwardsJenna EricksonKyle EricsonMfonobong I EssietVanessa EuloMichael FarrellOlubadewa A FatundeRachel D FisherAmber FiutkoMaura J FrauenhoferGorden C FuElizabeth C GabelRick B GainesBrian GallagherTrevor N GersonPeter A GillAmanda L GillettAdam D GliniewiczAdina R GoldbergerReyna T GonzalezArian GowerLaura S GrahamMichael J E GreenSolomon M GreenbergKarissa C HammerJordan L HarpDavid H HeimbergHunter K HoltMeng-Chieh P Hsieh

Netali Ish-HurwitzLarissa A JonesJennifer A KalilJonathan KaplanNeeru KapurIrena KaranetzJulia V KatsnelsonAvery W KechterTara KennedyBenjamin S KesterAli KhiabaniVictor D KimRebecca KleinMiriam KomisarMargaret M KoosVarun KrishnanJanesh LakhooAnkita LalBryan LambAlice S LeeLinda LeeKyle R LehenbanerMarysa V LeyaJonathan X LiMengyuan LiuShannon LiuJennifer M LobbMartha S LodygaXiaoying LouSandra MaerzackerKevin P MaherAdarsh S ManjunathMark A MaroongrogeNandhini MarupudiAmrutha E MathewPooja M MathewMichael C MbagwuMary K McCauleyRyan A McDermottColton McNicholsNasrin MeftahJoshua E Mendoza-EliasMitchell A MiguelAndreea MihaiCarrie A MillerJanie MillerSara R MillerDavid R. MitchellMercedeh Modir ShanechiJohn MoellerKendall I MooreNevin MurthyJonathan NajmanBrent M NathanKathryn C NellettAshley B NguyenAnthony Nuval

Ayodele OkeJennie OrlandoCourtney E OrsbonJacob P OssoffKinjan P PatelMayur P PatelNiti PatelParas S PatelJack M PeaceEric PedoneJoshua A PengsonAdriana S PerillaPhison H PhamMelissa A PlesacJustin RabinowitzManjari RanganathanLisa A RauschertRichard E RechenmacherSabrina ReedJacqueline RestrepoMahsa RezaeiStephen J RippetoeMatthew G RobinsonMichael R RocheAdam A RuddKatherine SavageJessica N SchultzCharles SchwartzLinda M SerranoLukasz J SeweraJacob I ShawAfsheen K SherwaniPaul SidlowskiJeremy A SlivnickKatarzyna SlotaMaryna SohrabiPejman SolaimadiLidia SpahoCourtney StefanskiJacob StelterNathan C SwallowRohit SwarnkarJason SzewczykAaron TaborColin TherriaultCaroline L ThomasAnna B TothNikita VashiMahesh VidulaSandra VillalpandoAmit ViraChelsea L VoightHeather VolkamerJohn S WahhabDaniel J WallachJames WangLisa P Wasielewski

Jaime M WicksMary J WidmeyerAriana J WilliamsEdward J WuStephanie YenAndrew E J YuAdrian C ZamoraJami B ZaretskyJue ZhangJason Zimmerman

No district AssignedFariha Agha MDWaddah Ahdab MDTimothy J. Alikakos MDMatthew J Baugh MDHeather L Beall MDSeema W Bhatia MDSatish Charo MDMaria J Douros DORobert E. Eilers MDAlyssa K. Flanagan MDJack J Gelman MDAnthony N Gentile MDRaul M Heredia MDThomas J Himkamp MDDavid A Hodgettt MDJeannine E Hogg MDAnnie Huang MDYong Kang MDEun K Kim MDManinder S Kohli MDVictoria Kut MDMarkian J. Kuzycz MDWendy Y Lee MDAlena Liberman MDRichard A Margolin DOSean D. McWilliams MDWilliam M Miller MDSamuel Multack MDAilda Nika MDBranka Pavlovic MDMichael S Popper MDMario Prete MDKevin S Reitsma DOKhalid A Sami MDAlexandrina S Saulis MDPurshotam D Sawlani MDFrank R. Serrecchia DONeel B Shah MDPratima M Shah MDRahul Sharma MDTasin Shuaipaj MDChee Ken Tan MDDonald D Thomas II MDSeveryn Yaroshevsky MDWeLCome to ALL!

AssociAtions


AssociAtions

WHetHeR physicians are members of a spe-cialty group, hospital employee, or are prac-ticing in an academic setting, they all have one thing in common: they are facing unprec-edented obstacles caring for their patients.

And that’s the message CMS President Thomas M. Anderson, MD, brought home when he addressed the Chicago Urological Society dinner meeting on March 7. “We are advocating for you,” he told the assembled members of the century-old organization that meets monthly to hear from distinguished speakers.

Reporting that he recently returned from Washington DC, to meet with Illinois’ congressional leaders (see story on page 21), Dr. Anderson said CMS/ISMS leadership is working hard to break down the wall of resistance put up by legislators—especially to fixing the broken SGR formula. Even while he was in Washington, “an overwhelming number of congress-men didn’t approve an SGR fix—instead they kicked the can down the road again, the 14th time in the last 10 years,” Dr. Anderson said.

“And they don’t intend to fix it. They’ll just keep putting a patch on it—a temporary fix every 12 months, raising physician reimbursement a little, but still holding payment at a rate that’s less than inflation. They know that this is a Catch 22 for physi-cians—and that way the politicians avoid a healthcare crisis while manipulating physicians.”

Calling Congress’ actions “unfair and unethical,” Dr. Anderson assured the urologists that “we are doing everything we can to fight for fair payment for physicians.”

“The Chicago Medical Society and Illinois State Medical Society are the only organizations in Illinois that provide a platform for physicians of all specialties to speak with a unified voice,” he said.

Asked by the urology society’s president, Courtney Hollowell, MD, how CMS can work with his organization to help remove the obstacles physicians face in their day-to-day practice of medicine, Dr. Anderson encouraged the urologists to “Join with us!”

He pointed out that CMS has created new councilor and alternate positions for specialty societies and is encouraging representatives from groups like the Chicago Urological Society and hospital medical staff organizations to participate on the CMS governing Council. “Lend us your voice,” he urged. “Your prestigious organization, like ours, is one of the largest and old-est local medical organizations in the nation.”

Dr. Anderson also urged the urologists to let CMS help them build bridges with their legislators.

“One way would be for you to participate in our mini-internship program,” he said. Dr. Anderson explained that the program allows local legislators to observe firsthand what doctors do in their practices and hospitals. “The legislators make actual rounds, dressed in scrubs, and get a chance to directly engage the physicians.”

Another way to make political inroads is through the CMS legislative roundtable breakfasts, held in hospitals throughout Cook County. “Legislators come to meet with you and listen to your stories,” Dr. Anderson said.

“Again, do join us,” he urged.

Reaching out to specialistsDr. Anderson meets with Chicago Urologists by Scott Warner

Cms President thomas m. Anderson, md, addresses the Chicago Urological society, flanked by the society’s president, Courtney Hollowell, md, who is also Chairman of Urology, Cook County Health and Hospitals system.

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Henrietta Herbolsheimer, md, Annual Public service Award Recognizes physicians for outstanding contributions in the local community or government. (Contributions need not be health-related.) The award communicates to the City of Chicago and Cook County the important work of physicians, while encouraging CMS members to participate in community or civic affairs. Honorees MUST be CMS members, and are selected on the basis of their community service. Past presidents of CMS are not eligible until five years after their term of office has ended.

Physician of the Year AwardRecognizes local physicians for recent contributions or achievements in the field of medicine, as clinicians, researchers, educators, or leaders. Recipients are hon-ored for improving the lives of patients locally, nationally, or throughout the world, as well as service on behalf of the medical profession.

outstanding student/Resident/Fellow of the Year AwardRecognizes medical students who are

most likely to become well-rounded outstanding physicians or clinicians. Recipients are honored for compassion toward patients, professional behavior, clinical and academic excellence, and service to their medical organizations and or community.

Recognizes medical residents and fellows who go above and beyond their duties, serving as role models to those they lead and educate, while exhibiting overall achievement in their field, clinical promise, innovation skills, and commit-ment to the medical profession and or community.

Lifetime Achievement AwardRecognizes distinguished careers in medicine. The award honors recipients for their sustained commitment and contribu-tions to patient care, i.e., as clinicians, educators, researchers, humanitarians, thought leaders. Also recognizes physi-cians’ contributions to their profession.

Nomination instructionsTo nominate a physician, please provide the following information in its entirety.

Biographical data (please attach an

updated curriculum vitae, or attach a sheet giving in 300 words or less the date and place of birth, education, pertinent professional information, and, if desired, family information).

Photograph (all nominations should be accompanied by a black and white, glossy, head-and-shoulders photo of the nominee).

List the reasons why you are nomi-nating this physician for an award. Please list specific dates, offices held, projects, accomplishments, and so forth.

Everyone is encouraged to submit nominations. In the past, a number of nominations have come from the general public. Other nominations have been made by civic groups, hospitals, public officials, friends, medical colleagues, CMS District organizations, and medical specialty groups.

There are many good physicians. Please keep in mind that this award is not only for excellence as a physician, but also for the many things a physician has accomplished in addition to his or her professional medi-cal work. Nominations may be made by letter, fax, or email. or by completing the following nomination form.

Nominate a Colleague for a Cms AwardAward descriptions and nomination instructions

Nominee (full name):

Type of Award:

Nominees must be members of the Chicago Medical Society. To find out a physician’s member status, please call Elvia Medrano 312-670-2550, ext. 338. Please type or print. Use additional paper and attach requested information (see above).

mail Nominations to: Chicago Medical Society, 515 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL 60654, Attn: Elvia Medrano. Or fax: 312-670-3646, or e-mail: [email protected].

This nomination was made by (please print):

Address:

Telephone Number:

Cms Award Nomination

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Robert L. Nora Nora & Tanzillo LLP Chicago 312.650.7900John M. Stalmack Ruberry Stalmack & Garvey LLC Chicago 312.466.7248Eric F. Quandt Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Scharf Chicago 312.726.6000Rita Lowery Gitchell SmithAmundsen LLC Saint Charles 630.587.7917Craig A. Tomassi The Law Offices of Craig A Tomassi Chicago 312.658.1311C. Barry Montgomery Williams Montgomery & John Ltd Chicago 312.443.3242Bradley C. Nahrstadt Williams Montgomery & John Ltd Chicago 312.443.3227Lloyd E. Williams, Jr. Williams Montgomery & John Ltd Chicago 312.443.3212Richard M. Batcher Bozeman Neighbour Patton & Noe LLP Moline 309.797.0850Robert J. Noe Bozeman Neighbour Patton & Noe LLP Moline 309.797.0850David B. Mueller Cassidy & Mueller Peoria 309.676.0591Nicholas J. Bertschy Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Peoria/Springfield 309.676.0400Roger R. Clayton Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Peoria 309.676.0400Stephen J. Heine Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Peoria 309.676.0400David R. Sinn Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Peoria 309.676.0400Paul C. Estes Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP Peoria 309.674.1025David E. Jones Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP Peoria 309.674.1025Gregory Quinn Hill Quinn Johnston Henderson Pretorius & Cerulo Chtd Peoria 309.674.1133Kevin M. Miller Quinn Johnston Henderson Pretorius & Cerulo Chtd Peoria 309.674.1133Laura A. Petersen Quinn Johnston Henderson Pretorius & Cerulo Chtd Peoria 309.674.1133Murvel Pretorius, Jr. Quinn Johnston Henderson Pretorius & Cerulo Chtd Peoria 309.674.1133Matthew B. Smith Quinn Johnston Henderson Pretorius & Cerulo Chtd Peoria 309.674.1133Peter W. Brandt Livingston Barger Brandt & Schroeder Bloomington 309.828.5281Christopher L. Nyweide Livingston Barger Brandt & Schroeder Bloomington 309.828.5281Richard E. Stites Livingston Barger Brandt & Schroeder Bloomington 309.828.5281Daniel P. Wurl Livingston Barger Brandt & Schroeder Champaign 217.351.7479William J. Brinkmann Thomas Mamer & Haughey LLP Champaign 217.351.1500Richard R. Harden Thomas Mamer & Haughey LLP Champaign 217.351.1500David A. Bailie Thomas Mamer & Haughey LTD Champaign 217.351.1500Bruce L. Bonds Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Urbana 217.344.0060Renee L. Monfort Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Urbana 217.344.0060Michael E. Raub Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Urbana 217.344.0060Edward M. Wagner Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Urbana/Springfield 217.344.0060James T. Jackson Samuels Miller Schroeder Jackson & Sly LLP Decatur 217.429.4325Jerald E. Jackson Samuels Miller Schroeder Jackson & Sly LLP Decatur 217.429.4325Mark E. Jackson Samuels Miller Schroeder Jackson & Sly LLP Decatur 217.429.4325Adrian E. Harless Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Springfield 217.522.8822Matthew J. Maddox Quinn Johnston Henderson Pretorius & Cerulo Chtd Springfield 217.753.1133Stephen L. Corn Craig & Craig Mattoon 217.234.6481Theodore J MacDonald, Jr. HeplerBroom LLC Edwardsvi lle 618.656.0184Richard K. Hunsaker Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Edwardsville 618.656.4646Robert H. Shultz, Jr. Heyl Royster Voelker & Allen PC Edwardsville 618.656.4646Mark D. Bauman Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP Belleville 618.277.2400Jeffrey R. Glass Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP Belleville 618.277.2400Dawn A. Sallerson Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP Belleville 618.277.2400James E. Neville Neville Richards & Wuller LLC Belleville 618.277.0900Timothy S. Richards Neville Richards & Wuller LLC Belleville 618.277.0900Paul R. Lynch Craig & Craig Mount Vernon 618.244.7511Charles E. Schmidt Brandon Schmidt & Goffinet Carbondale 618.549.0777Michael F. Dahlen Feirich/Mager/Green/Ryan Carbondale 618.529.3000Thomas R. Frenkel Feirich/Mager/Green/Ryan Carbondale 618.529.3000Richard A. Green Feirich/Mager/Green/Ryan Carbondale 618.529.3000John C. Ryan Feirich/Mager/Green/Ryan Carbondale 618.529.3000

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APRiL11 osHA Workshop training for Potential exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens Workshop is intended for phy-sicians, dentists, nurses, dental hygienists and physician/dental assistants, who will learn to:

• implement a training program for healthcare employees who may be exposed to bloodborne pathogens.

• identify appropriate per-sonal protective equipment (PPE).

• Develop an emergency response plan.

• create a written exposure control plan for healthcare workers assigned as first-aid providers.

• Develop a strategy to pre-vent the spread of pandemic flu within the practice.

10 a.m.-12:00 noon; Speaker: Sukhvir Kaur, Compliance Assistance Specialist, OSHA—Chicago North Office; CMS Bldg, Chicago. Participants may earn up to 2.0 AMA Category 1 Credits. CMS member or staff $89 per person, non-member or staff $129 per person. To register or learn more, please contact Elvia 312-670-2550, ext. 338; or [email protected]

12 illinois society of Plastic surgeons General membership meetingPlastic surgery Bowl ii this fun-filled challenging event pits chicago-area plastic surgery residents and isPs members against one another in parallel competitions. organized in a college bowl format, the event awards cash prizes to

medical resident winners and plaques to top-performing isPs members. 6:30 p.m.; The Metropolitan Club—East Room; Willis Tower, Chicago.Members may attend at no cost. To RSVP, please contact Amanda 312-670-2550, ext. 325; or [email protected].

18 Chicago Gynecological society General membership meeting Adolescent Friendly contraception: controversies and challenges. 6:00 p.m.; Maggiano’s Little Italy—Chicago. Members may attend at no cost. To RSVP, please contact Amanda 312-670-2550, ext. 325; or [email protected]

18 Cms executive Committee meeting Meets once a month to plan council meeting agendas; conduct business between quarterly council meetings; and coordinate council and Board functions. 8:00-9:00 a.m.; CMS Bldg., Chicago. For more informa-tion, please contact Ruby 312-670-2550, ext. 344; or [email protected]

18 Cms Board of trustees meeting Meets every other month to make financial decisions on behalf of the society. 9:00-10:00 a.m.; CMS Bldg., Chicago. For more information, please contact Ruby 312-670-2550, ext. 344; or [email protected].

20-22 isms Annual House of delegates meeting Meets once a year to set policy agenda and advocacy goals for the state’s largest physician organization. All Day; Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort. For more information, please contact www.isms.org.

25 Parliamentary Procedures Workshop Basic Principles and Rules of Parliamentary

Law. speaker: Joan M. Bundley, MPH, Rn, PRP, Professional Registered Parliamentarian and Mediator.10 a.m.—2:30 p.m.; CMS Bldg, Chicago. CMS mem-ber—$15 per person, non-member—$45 per person. To register or learn more, please contact Elvia 312-670-2550, ext. 338; or [email protected]

mAY10 illinois society of Plastic surgeons General membership meeting the silicon implant Moratorium of 1992: What Did We Learn?6:30 p.m.; The Metropolitan Club—Oak Room; Willis Tower, Chicago. Members may attend at no cost.To RSVP, please contact Amanda 312-670-2550, ext. 325; or [email protected]

11 osHA Workshop training for Potential exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens For physicians, dentists, nurses, dental hygienists, and physician/dental assistants. speaker: sukhvir Kaur, compliance Assistance specialist, osHA—chicago north office. Workshop is intended for physicians, dentists, nurses, dental hygienists, and physician/dental assistants, who will learn to:

• implement a training program for healthcare employees who may be exposed to bloodborne pathogens.

• identify appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

• Develop an emergency response plan.

• create a written exposure control plan for healthcare workers assigned as first-aid providers.

Calendar of eventsAssociAtions

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We hate lawsuits. We loathe litigation. We help doctors head off claims at the pass. We track new treatments and analyze medical advances. We are the eyes in the back of your head. We make CME easy, free, and online. We do extra homework. We protect good medicine. We are your guardian angels. We are The Doctors Company.

The Doctors Company is devoted to helping doctors avoid potential lawsuits. For us, this starts with patient safety.

In fact, we have the largest Department of Patient Safety/Risk Management of any medical malpractice insurer. And,

local physician advisory boards across the country. Why do we go this far? Because sometimes the best way to look

out for the doctor is to start with the patient. To learn more about our medical professional liability program, call our

Chicago office at (800) 748-0465 or visit www.thedoctors.com.

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3759B_IL_ChicagoMed_Apr2012.indd 1 3/14/12 12:57 PM

• Develop a strategy to pre-vent the spread of pandemic flu within the practice.

2:00-4:00 p.m.; Advocate Lutheran Gen. Hospital, Park Ridge; Participants may earn up to 2.0 AMA Category 1 Credits. CMS member or staff $89 per person, non-member or staff $129 per person. To register or learn more, please contact Elvia 312-670-2550, ext. 338; or [email protected]

12 Chicago Neurological society, the First Annual NeuroCritical Care and stroke symposium For neurologists, neurosurgeons, emergency medicine and critical care specialists and hospitalists who want to gain expert per-spectives on the management of critically ill patients with neurological and neurosurgi-cal disease. 7:00 a.m—5:30 p.m.; Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine—Tobin Hall,

Maywood. Participants may earn up to 7.5 Category 1 CME Credits. CNS member $50 per person, non-member $100 per person. Residents, nurses, physician assistants—$25 per person. To RSVP, please contact Amanda 312-670-2550, ext. 325; or [email protected].

15 Cms Council meeting the society’s Governing council meets four times a year to conduct business on behalf of the society. the policy-making body considers all matters brought by officers, trustees, committees, council-ors, or other cMs members. 6:00-9:00 p.m.; Maggiano’s Banquets, Chicago; all mem-bers welcome to attend at no cost. To RSVP or learn more, please contact Ruby 312-670-2550, ext. 344; or [email protected].

16 Chicago Gynecological society General membership

meeting Resident Paper competition. chicago-area medical residents compete against one other with research papers. the top three finalists will present to the general membership. A panel of past presidents will rank the presentations first through third place. 6:00 p.m.; Maggiano’s Little Italy—Chicago; members may attend at no cost. To RSVP, please contact Amanda 312-670-2550, ext. 325; or [email protected].

16 Practice management Lecture series Medical Group Mergers and Business Divorce. speaker: terry isselhard, JD, Principal, chuhak & tecson, Pc. Learning goals for this event include:

• Understanding risks fac-tors, preventative remedies and potential rewards of proper planning in the

event of a dispute between physicians in a medical practice.

• Different business transfer approaches.

• Different monetary division considerations.

• insurance coverage pay-ment issues.

• Employee structure concerns.

• challenges in the division of an office lease; equip-ment; patient files; office phone number; and other related issues.

• Documentation of the transfer/split or sale of business asset ownership.

• necessity of independent legal counsel for all parties involved.

6:30 p.m.; CMS Bldg., 3rd Floor, Chicago; members may attend at no cost. To RSVP, please contact Chrissie 312-670-2550, ext. 326; or [email protected].


Personnel and Positions Wanted

MD or equivalent and completion of pediatrics residency train-ing. Must have or be eligible for Indiana medical license and be BC/BE in pediatrics. Locations: Hammond, Munster, and Dyer, Indiana. Please email resume to: [email protected]; or mail to: S. Daman Paul, MD, Medical Director, S. Daman Paul, MD, PC, d/b/a Children’s Clinic Munster, 8224 Calumet Ave., Munster, IN 46321.

Board-certified diagnostic radiologist with more than 30 years of clinical experience seeks part-time position in Chicago area. For more information, please go to www.michaelahinzlimited.com

Family practice clinic on Chicago’s northwest side is looking for primary care physician. Excellent opportunity with eventual partnership and takeover of practice and building. Fax resume to 773-379-9001 or call 773-287-2200.

Mobile Doctors seeks a full-time physician for its Chicago office to make house calls to the elderly and disabled. No night/weekend work. We perform the scheduling, allowing you to focus on seeing patients. Malpractice insurance is provided and all our physicians travel with a certified medical assistant. To be considered, please forward your CV to Nick at [email protected]; or call 312-848-5319.

Seeking BC/BE internist or family practitioner to work with a group in Chicagoland. Please call 773-884-2782 for information.

Primary Care—MD at Home is looking to hire BE/BC primary care physicians to make house calls on the elderly homebound. Contact Matt Turman at 312-243-2223 or email: [email protected].

Infertility specialist gynecologist needed in the suburban Chicagoland area. Please send CV to [email protected] or fax 847-398-4585.

Urologist or urogynecologist specializing in urinary incontinence needed in the suburban Chicagoland area. Please send CV to [email protected] or fax 847-398-4585.

Part-time physicians needed. Surgical family planning center in the Chicagoland area needs various specialties including anesthesiologist, gynecologist, urologist, internist, and other specialties. Please send CV to [email protected] or fax 847-398-4585.

office/Building for sale/Rent/Lease

Beautiful furnished medical office for sublease in new medical office complex in the Glen in Glenview. Practice among 100 + private practice physicians. Four- to six- half-day sessions avail-able. High-speed Internet included. One- to three-year sublease available. Call Cindy 847-404-3153.

Space for rent. Winnetka Professional Center. Great downtown location. Two available suites can be rented separately or together for up to six operatories. Call 847-446-0970 for details.

South Loop medical/professional office space perfect for psychiatrist, social worker, nutritionist. Includes reception and two exam rooms. Rent is $800 per month including utilities and taxes. Call Mr. Burstein 847-254-0585.

Business services

Physicians’ Attorney—experienced and affordable physicians’ legal services including practice purchases; sales and forma-tions; partnership and associate contracts; collections; licensing problems; credentialing; estate planning and real estate. Initial consultation without charge. Representing practitioners since 1980. Steven H. Jesser 847-424-0200; 800-424-0060; or 847-212-5620 (mobile); 5250 Old Orchard Road, Suite 300, Skokie, IL 60077-4462; [email protected]; www.sjesser.com.

classifieds

Advertiser indexAthena Health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

CMS Insurance Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover

Doctors Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

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Leading Lawyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32-33

Nora and Tanzillo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Physicians’ Benefits Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

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Ritz Carlton Residences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

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Get Noticed!to place a text or boxed classified ad contact scott Warner at [email protected]

Medicine is feeling the effects of regulatory and legislative changes, increasing risk, and profitability demands—all contributing to an atmosphere of uncertainty and lack of control.

What we do control as physicians: our choice of a liability partner.

I selected ProAssurance because they stand behind my good medicine and understand my business decisions. In spite of the maelstrom of change, I am protected, respected, and heard.

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9-7-20 Chicago Medical Society_color_Full.indd 1 7/21/10 8:51:36 AM

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE

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US ONLINE AT www.cms-ins.com

For Illinois practitioners, we’re experts and

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