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Dear SMFM Members,
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| | Alfred Abuhamad, MD |
This month, I invited SMFM's new Chief Learning Officer to introduce herself to the membership in the President's Forum. Please enjoy the August newsletter, which includes a number of important health policy updates, professional development opportunities, and more.
Sincerely,
Alfred Abuhamad, MD
2017 President
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I want to introduce myself to you as the Society's new
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| | Rachelle Fondaw, MBA |
Chief Learning Officer. As Dr. Abuhamad mentioned in the July issue of Special Delivery, I will be working with SMFM's Education Department to make more high-quality learning opportunities available, including CME, and accessible in several different formats. With over 15 years of experience managing adult learning programs, I look forward to expanding the Society's current offerings and supporting our mission to improve maternal and child health outcomes.
My first few months with SMFM will focus on determining how we can enhance our current educational offerings and identifying new programs that are desired. Topics and the prioritization of course development will be solicited via member surveys and working directly with SMFM committees.
Our current web-based offerings, including SUM and the SMFM Lectures series, continue to get positive feedback. In the immediate future, you can look forward to a new way to access our online Obstetric Critical Care Course. Chris Coleman is bundling the course material into smaller packages that are easier to access and complete, and also adding three new cases. The Course is available now and the new content will be released in September.
If you have feedback on our current or future educational offerings, please feel free to reach me by email or telephone. I'm happy to be part of team.
Sincerely,
Rachelle Fondaw, MBA
Chief Learning Officer
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The 38th Annual Pregnancy Meeting™
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Abstract Submission Deadline is Fast Approaching!
Tomorrow is the final day to submit an abstract for the Society's 38th Annual Pregnancy Meeting in Dallas, Texas. For complete submission instructions, visit the SMFM website. If you have any questions, please visit the Abstract FAQ section of the website or contact Kara Shumaker.
Hotel Information
All 2018 Annual Pregnancy Meeting activities will take place at the Hilton Anatole. Make your reservations by clicking HERE or by calling 1-800-955-4281. Mention SMFM's 38th Annual Pregnancy Meeting to receive the special group rate of $260/night. Reservations must be made by January 5, 2018 to receive the discounted room rate.
It has come to the attention of SMFM staff that several companies are inaccurately representing themselves as SMFM's "housing vendor" for the 2018 Annual Pregnancy Meeting. These companies are contacting individuals in the SMFM community to solicit business. Specifically, they will offer to make hotel reservations within the SMFM room block on your behalf, or even offer a discount from the SMFM rate. This is a scam. Reservations should be made directly with the hotel using the instructions above. If you have questions about the hotel or think you have been contacted by one of these companies, please contact Terri Mobley.
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CDC Updates Zika Guidance
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Health Policy & Advocacy Update
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Congress Continues to Work on Repeal Legislation as Debate . . . and Votes . . . Drag On
Congressional efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have given Washington, DC a severe case of whiplash over the last six months, as we watched the House version of the bill fail only to be resurrected, and most recently the Senate attempt to pass three different versions of the legislation to no avail.
In a dramatic turn of events, Republican Senators Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and John McCain (AZ) voted no, stopping the bill from passage. Senator McCain returned to Washington, DC just a few days following a diagnosis of brain cancer. Despite the failure of several different versions on the Senate floor, President Trump continues to press Congress to act. Please keep your calls, emails, and social media messages related to ensuring maternity care coverage for high-risk pregnant women coming. It is anyone's guess as to how this will end, but two things are for certain: the path to repeal and replace is far longer and with more turns than anyone could have anticipated, and we cannot count any piece of legislation as officially dead.
Make Your Voice Heard During the August Recess
With Congress on the brink of its August recess, we encourage you to participate in advocacy activities while your elected officials are at home. We have launched an August recess toolkit that walks you through step-by-step the process for requesting a meeting in the district office, writing to your Member of Congress, or attending a Town Hall meeting. It even provides template talking points to make it as easy as possible to make your voice heard. This toolkit, unlike our Advocacy Action Center, is exclusively available to SMFM members. For more information, please watch our webinar.
HPAC Meets In-Person, Discusses SMFM Policy Agenda
Last month, the SMFM Health Policy & Advocacy Committee (HPAC) met in Washington, DC to discuss the SMFM policy agenda. The Committee discussed overarching themes of lessening healthcare disparities for high-risk pregnancy women, as well as optimizing MFM participation in innovative models of care. Within those priorities are specific legislative agenda items such as ensuring access to maternity care, reducing maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, and improving research in pregnancy.
The Committee also heard from key stakeholders in the maternal and child health community regarding their policy priorities. Groups including ACOG, March of Dimes, the Association of Women's Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) and Association for Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) all engaged in a great discussion with the HPAC members about how we can work collaboratively to achieve our goals. Additionally, federal agencies met with the group regarding their priorities and ongoing efforts related to maternal and infant health. Agency representatives included the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Reproductive Health. Task Force Specific to Research on Pregnant Women and Lactating Women To Meet SMFM's top legislative priority for 2016 was the creation of a federal body to better understand the safety and efficacy of prescription drugs, therapeutics, and vaccines used during pregnancy and breastfeeding. As part of the 21st Century Cures Act, a bill signed into law at the end of last year, a new Task Force was created do just that.
The Task Force Specific to Research on Pregnant Women and Lactating Women will hold its first meeting on August 21-22, 2017, in Bethesda, MD. SMFM will be well represented and provide public comments. We encourage anyone with an interest in research in pregnancy and/or lactation to tune into the webcast of this meeting, and provide individual public comments. More information about the meeting can be found here.
If you have questions about health policy issues, please contact SMFM's Chief Advocacy Officer, Kathryn Schubert.
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Renew Your SMFM Membership
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Is Your Membership Up-to-Date?
Log on to the SMFM website to check the status or your SMFM membership. Be sure your membership is current so that you do not lose access to your member benefits including: monthly webinars on high-risk pregnancy topics, the print and online editions of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, professional development and leadership opportunities, a members-only discount on the annual Pregnancy Meeting™ and more! If you have any questions or need assistance renewing your membership, contact Tim Heinle.
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Professional Development & Live Learning Events
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Course on Medical Complications During Pregnancy
Earn up to 10.75 hours of CME at our 2nd Annual Medical Complications in Pregnancy Course on September 7-8, 2017 in Chicago. The Course will feature hands-on learning and interactive case studies with a fantastic line-up of faculty, including Drs. Luis Pacheco, George Saade, Bill Grobman, Bob Silver, Wayne Franklin, Baha Sibai, and Cristal Clark.
Register for the course by August 28 to enjoy a $100 discount! For more information about the program and lodging, visit the SMFM website.
Coding Course for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Are you leaving money on the table? Attend SMFM's Coding Course near Orlando on October 19-20, 2017 to better understand codes and coding procedures, ultimately generating more revenue for your practice. Designed especially for MFMs and their staff, the SMFM Coding Course features class discussions with world renowned speakers, case studies, and time for Q&A. Register by October 2 to enjoy a $100 discount. Visit the SMFM website for a Course description, registration, and lodging information.
Telemedicine for MFM Course
Save the Date for December 2-3, 2017 in Dallas, Texas for SMFM's first-ever course on Telemedicine for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Learn how telemedicine can - and will - impact your business. Gain familiarity with the technical equipment used for telemedicine, understand the effect telemedicine has on decreasing face-to-face clinical visits, and differentiate between the different types of reimbursement used in telemedicine. To learn more, visit the SMFM website.
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Coding Tip
Doppler of the ductus venosus, doppler of the ductus arteriosus, and PR interval measurement should be billed as follows:
- Ductus venosus doppler: This is billable when sampled as part of a fetal echocardiogram study. Initial evaluation is reported as 76827; follow-up as 76828. Ductus Venosus Doppler is not billed when it is the sole assessment performed in an initial study.
- Ductus arteriosus doppler: This is often performed after another ultrasound study, so it is billed as 76828. If performed as part of an initial fetal echocardiogram evaluation, it is billed as 76827, and then 76828 on subsequent studies.
- PR interval measurement: This is often performed after another ultrasound study, so it is billed as 76828. If performed as part of an initial fetal echocardiogram evaluation, it is billed as 76827, and then 76828 on subsequent studies.
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Save the Date: 8th Annual 1st Year Fellows Retreat
Planning is underway for our 8th Annual Retreat on October 28-30, 2017. The retreat is open to all 1st Year Fellows with a focus on career skills, work-life balance, and research. The emphasis will be on small group sessions led by highly regarded leaders in the specialty. There will be plenty of opportunities to meet the faculty, as well as fellows from other programs across the country, informally during meal and leisure time and at the team building sessions that will be incorporated into the program. The event will take place at Eaglewood Resort, just 12 miles west of O'Hare International Airport in Itasca, IL. If you have any questions, please contact Terri Mobley.
29th NICHD Young Investigator's Conference
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Young Investigators Conference is an annual meeting to facilitate the interest and training of academic physician scientists. The Conference is open to fellows and junior faculty in neonatology, maternal-fetal medicine, and reproductive endocrinology who have a plan of academic medicine as a career. The fellows/junior faculty are nominated by their department and approved by NICHD with a goal of one attendee per program. Learn more on the NICHD website.
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"Why I Give" by Bob Sokol, MD, First Chair of Foundation Board of Directors
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| | Bob Sokol, MD |
Why do I give to the Foundation? For the same reason you should - the work the Foundation does is important in creating the future of our subspecialty by supporting young clinician scientists in finding ways to improve the reproductive health of mothers and better outcomes for their infants.
In the early 2000s, I was invited to be the first Chair of the Foundation Board of Directors at the invitation of Steve Gabbe, Haywood Brown, and the SMFM Board. Having written the original bylaws and with the strong support of Mike Nageotte and Dan O'Keefe, we created the Foundation as the non-profit organization that supported research training in maternal-fetal medicine for Society members. The SMFM Board provided generous initial funding for the endowment, betting on the future. We immediately developed a committee to set up the initial competition and then to select, monitor and mentor the scholarship recipients. We partnered with AGOS and their Foundation (AAOGF) to jointly administer and fund the research scholarships. This allowed us to increase the amount of funding available for each Scholar.
I believe that academic foundations are about creating the future - it's all about what you do next. Your support for the Foundation will help improve clinical outcomes and help assure a future for your maternal-fetal medicine practice, taking what we learn and applying it in your practice.
Stay connected with us on Facebook and Twitter for funding opportunities and upcoming deadlines.
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Last month, we launched a new column in Special Delivery called, "You Asked, We Answer." SMFM staff and leadership will use this column to respond to specific questions that arose during our member survey earlier this year or via the online suggestion box.
You Asked...
Does SMFM engage in advocacy efforts at the state level? For example, has the Society weighed in on state-based policies that would limit access to pregnancy termination or restrict the use of public bathrooms among the transgender community?
We Answered...
At the Annual Pregnancy Meeting in Las Vegas earlier this year, the Society launched the SMFM State Liaison Network. The Network is a small group of MFMs who are acting as our eyes and ears among state legislative bodies across the country. With the help of the Network, the Society has begun formally weighing in on state-level legislation and policies. A library of letters can be found on the members-only section of the SMFM website and is intended to serve as a resource to MFMs who live in states experiencing similar issues. As we expand the library and the State Liaison Network, you will begin to see more about it on our website and may even be invited to join.
To date, SMFM has been vocal on abortion restrictions in Texas, specifically. Admittedly, we do not have any formal efforts underway related to transgender health issues and have been looking at disparities largely through a racial and ethnic lens. However, the Society does not condone "bathroom bills." Policies that restrict the use of public facilities based on biological gender have serious public health implications, including mental health repercussions. To this end, if you have additional questions please contact Katie Schubert.
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What Are Our Patients Reading?
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Association for Maternal Fetal Medicine Management
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Improve Your MFM Practice
Join colleagues at the Association for Maternal Fetal Medicine Management's 9th Annual Business Conference on September 14-15, 2017 in Orlando Florida. This year's conference is dedicated to growth. The importance of growth in all MFM practices is highlighted by our speakers. This year we have drawn from the national leaders, including Drs. Sean Blackwell, Brian Iriye, Aaron Caughey, Tom Lee and many more to discuss growth, marketing, quality measurement, physician incentives, health care law, and the art of strategy execution. The conference is priced to encourage attendance by physicians, as well as administrative leads of your practice. For more information, visit the AMFMM website.
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Online Learning Opportunities from SMFM
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Free: Bimonthly Fellow Lectures
Join us online twice each month for 50 minutes of didactic learning followed by 10-15 minutes of live Q&A. Each Fellow Lecture begins at 12 noon (EST/EDT) and upcoming topics include:
- August 16: Quality Improvement Part 2 with Carey Eppes, MD
- September 6: Cost and Decision Analyses with Dr. Aaron Caughey
If you can't join us for the live presentation, click on the "Past Lectures" tab here to view the recorded version.
Online Critical Care Course
Improve your patient care, expand your knowledge, and earn up to 27 credits of CME with our Critical Care Interactive Course. This online Course includes a series of moderated slide decks, recorded simulations, and the opportunity to assess your knowledge with a post-test for each topic. All 18 topics are available for $650 (including CME). Discounts are available to those who wish to purchase in bulk. If you have any questions or wish to learn more about the Course, contact Chris Coleman.
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On July 26 and again this week, some SMFM members received an email from Dr. Dan O'Keeffe regarding a survey on burnout in the profession. It only takes about 5 minutes to complete and we encourage you to share your feedback. If you have any questions about it, please contact Dan directly. We encourage you to complete it if you have not already done so.
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