Survey: The Physician Practice After COVID-19

The Doctors Company is surveying physicians about how they will make changes in the way they practice medicine after the pandemic.

As millions of Americans receive vaccines, the nation moves toward herd immunity, and the pandemic hopefully comes to an end soon, the practice of medicine will be forever changed. The Doctors Company is very interested to know if you will make changes to the way you practice medicine after the pandemic. They’d also like to hear your concerns about telehealth and about the risk of malpractice litigation related to the pandemic. Answers to the following anonymous five-question survey are requested by March 24.

Complete the Survey

Survey results will help inform other healthcare providers and patients about what to expect in the coming months. Thank you for taking a few minutes to complete the survey and for delivering care during the past year under conditions previously unimaginable in the United States.

The One-Year Mark of COVID-19: A Thank You

The Medical Society of Virginia would like to thank healthcare heroes for working tirelessly during a year of COVID-19.

This past year has been difficult for communities across the world. We have lost many lives due to COVID-19 and have spent a year in isolation away from family and friends. This past year has been hard on all of us, but it has taken an immense toll on our frontline workers. This year included working longer hours, coming home and isolating from family members, increased burnout, and worst of all, losing a high number of patients for healthcare workers.

The Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) knows what a toll this year has taken on physicians, PAs, and the entire healthcare team. We have seen you not only care for your patients, but also continue to advocate for necessary healthcare change, so your patients receive the best possible care. You have truly made a difference in so many people’s lives and have shown the world why supporting medical employees is so important. You are all true heroes.

The MSV would like to acknowledge you, our healthcare heroes, as we pass the one-year mark of COVID-19. Thank you for all you have done throughout this pandemic. We know that so many more lives would have been lost had it not been for your tireless dedication to your patients. We are so honored to get to represent physicians, PAs, residents, and medical students. You have shown true resilience in one of the most difficult times, and we see that.

As more people are getting vaccinated and we begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel, we hope that you will all be able to get some rest and spend time with your loved ones. The MSV will always be here to support you and your profession and will continue to be an advocate for you so you can do what you do best, take care of patients.

Again, thank you for all you do.

Arthur J. Vayer Jr., MD, FACS
President
The Medical Society of Virginia

Melina Davis
CEO and EVP
The Medical Society of Virginia

Take a Look Back at the Work MSV Did During COVID-19

  • Launched a full webpage dedicated to live COVID-19 updates including information on the COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Successfully led the push for an Executive Order to provide immunity to healthcare providers related to caring for patients in the COVID-19 environment.
  • Held 23 webinars with timely and relevant COVID-19 information.
  • Worked to ensure physicians and PAs had access to necessary PPE.
  • Served on Virginia’s COVID-19 Testing Advisory Council to help assure patient access to testing.
  • Aided in the recruitment of 15,000 providers to the volunteer Medical Corps for COVID response needs.
  • Passed legislation out of the General Assembly to prevent health plans from mandating the use of proprietary technology or applications for telehealth, and to assure plans reimburse providers for telemedicine services regardless of the originating site of care.
  • MSV members and staff sat on several taskforces to support COVID-19 vaccine dissemination.
  • MSV provided contact information to the Virginia Department of Health for over 8,000 physicians to ensure they received access to the vaccine
  • Hosted multiple calls with Dr. Danny Avula to ensure Virginia physicians received important vaccine updates.

Write to your Senator to Thank Them for The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act!

The impact of COVID-19 on America’s healthcare workforce has increased burnout to historic levels. Many clinicians need mental health support – but they fear getting it could end their careers. That’s what happened to Dr. Lorna Breen, a courageous emergency physician who fought to save so many from COVID-19. Broken-hearted, she sought mental health support. But then she took her own life, fearing the stigma of needing mental health care would mean an end to her medical career. This tragedy never should have happened, and it never should again.

The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act helps promote mental and behavioral health among those working on the front lines of the pandemic. It also supports suicide and burnout prevention training in health professional training programs and increases awareness and education about suicide and mental health concerns among healthcare professionals.

The Medical Society of Virginia is working closely with the Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation to share the SafeHaven™ legal protections legislation and resources across Virginia and the United States to ensure healthcare workers have access to necessary mental health support right when they need it. This legislation has been endorsed by the American Medical Association (AMA) as model legislation and is key to supporting the mental health of healthcare workers.

Congress needs to act NOW to pass the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act! Write to Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to thank them for supporting this pivotal piece of legislation.

Compose Your Message Now

Report: Changes in Medicare Physician Spending During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The new report Changes in Medicare Physician Spending During the COVID-19 Pandemic analyzed Medicare claims data exclusive to physician services and found spending dropped as much as 57% below expected pre-pandemic levels in April of 2020.

Medicare spending on physician services partially recovered from the April low, but was still 12% less than expected by the end of June 2020. During the first half of 2020, the cumulative estimated reduction in Medicare physician spending associated with the pandemic was $9.4 billion (19%). The report also provides estimates by state and specialty…

View the Full Report

SafeHaven™ Volunteer Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Terri Babineau, speaks with WebMD’s Chief Medical Officer

WebMD Chief Medical Officer and MSV member, Dr. John Whyte, speaks with SafeHaven™’s volunteer Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Teresa Babineau, and Corey Feist, co-founder of The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation and CEO of the UVA Physicians Group, in WebMD’s latest Coronavirus in Context video series.

In this video they discuss physician burnout, the increase in behavioral health issues for physicians due to COVID, changing the conversation around physician mental health, and how MSV’s clinician well being program, SafeHaven™, is supporting front line workers.

Watch the Full Conversation Here

Approved by Governor: HB 1913 Career fatigue and wellness in certain health care providers; programs to address, civil immunity

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Programs to address career fatigue and wellness in certain health care providers; civil immunity; emergency. Expands civil immunity for health care professionals serving as members of or consultants to entities that function primarily to review, evaluate, or make recommendations related to health care services to include health care professionals serving as members of or consultants to entities that function primarily to address issues related to career fatigue and wellness in health care professionals licensed, registered, or certified by the Boards of Medicine, Nursing, or Pharmacy, or in students enrolled in a school of medicine, osteopathic medicine, nursing, or pharmacy located in the Commonwealth. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to SB 1205.

Full Bill Text Here 

Centra Medical Group (CMG) First in the Nation to Offer its Physicians and PAs the SafeHaven™ Program

CMG completes trial and fully launches unique program supported by MSV and VITAL WorkLife.

To support the needs of physicians and PAs struggling with stress, burnout and the effects of COVID-19, the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) launched the clinician well being program, SafeHaven™.

SafeHaven™ was created by the passage of the Virginia legislation, which is the first of its kind in the nation, signed in March 2020. The law allows healthcare providers to seek professional support to address career fatigue, burnout and behavioral health concerns with confidentiality and civil protections. This will allow physicians and PAs, who typically avoided using such programs because they were unprotected, to get the help they need without fear of losing their medical license. Currently the MSV is working with the Virginia General Assembly to expand the program to other clinicians and medical students, so SafeHaven™ clients can open up the program to their full healthcare team.

Through SafeHaven™, Centra Medical Group’s physicians and PAs have gained access to healthcare specific resources from VITAL WorkLife. The resources offered include VITAL WorkLife’s Clinician Well Being Resources solution, a comprehensive set of resources that includes peer coaching, elite concierge services and expanded behavioral health resources to promote work/life balance and well being for physicians, PAs and their families.

“The SafeHaven™ program is one of many initiatives we are working on to carry out our strategic framework which places “People First”.  We need to support and take great care of our caregivers, so that they are then able to provide excellent care to our patients and community,” said Tiffany Niide, MD, PhD, Medical Director, Physician Wellness and Engagement at Centra Medical Group. “We are thrilled to be the first healthcare system in the nation to offer these groundbreaking resources and legal protections to our clinicians.”

SafeHaven™ is excited to welcome the Centra Medical Group as its first health system and looks forward to a successful partnership that supports physicians and PAs so they can continue to do the work they love.

Download the Full Press Release (PDF)

To support the needs of physicians and PAs struggling with stress, burnout and the effects of COVID-19, the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) and VITAL WorkLife have partnered to offer physicians and PAs a comprehensive set of well being resources they can use without risk to their medical license, SafeHaven™.

Medical Society of Virginia Foundation Recognizes Six Outstanding Physicians

Richmond, Va. (Jan. 25, 2021) –The Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) Foundation announced the winners of their annual Salute to Service Awards. Six Virginia physicians are being recognized from across the Commonwealth for their outstanding service in six categories: Service to — the Profession, the Uninsured and Underinsured, the International Community, Advancing Patient Safety and Quality Improvement, service by a Medical Student or Resident – and a special category for 2020, Service to Healthcare During COVID-19.

The premiere award, Service to the Profession, has been given to William C. Reha, MD, MBA. Dr. Reha is a Urologist in Woodbridge, Virginia and a former president of the Medical Society of Virginia.

The 2020 Winners of the MSV Foundation’s Salute to Service Awards include:

  • Mar Escario, MD, FACA of Danville, Service to the International Community
  • William C. Reha, MD, MBA of Woodbridge, Service to the Profession
  • Gonzalo M. L. Bearman MD, MPH, FACP, FSHEA, FIDSA of Richmond, Service for Advancing Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
  • Amanda Tosi of Norfolk, Service by a Medical Student or Resident
  • Joan Ritter, MD, FACP of Arlington, Service to the Uninsured and Underserved
  • Carolyn A. Burns, MD of Richmond, Service to Healthcare During COVID-19    

The MSV Foundation created the annual Salute to Service Awards in 2004 to recognize outstanding efforts of physicians, residents, and medical students who are dedicated to creating and nurturing a caring health promotion and disease prevention environment by providing service on behalf of patients everywhere.

The Medical Society of Virginia Foundation did not host the 2020 Physicians Gala due to COVID-19, so the 2020 Salute to Service Awards will be presented at the 2021 Physicians Gala at the Omni Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia.

About the Medical Society of Virginia Foundation

The MSV Foundation (MSVF) advances opportunities for physicians to participate in health improvement efforts in Virginia by supporting programs and initiatives that equip physicians to best serve themselves, their patients and their communities. For more information, visit www.msv.org/Foundation.

Download the Full Press Release

Letter to the Editor: Independent NPs require more training

As physicians, we pledge to do no harm to patients. To understand how to do so properly and provide quality care requires training and sacrifice. We watch as our peers go forward into their careers while we bury ourselves in studies and clinical training and incur thousands of dollars of debt to fulfill our dreams of caring for others at the highest level.

I work alongside and have deep respect for nurse practitioners (NPs). They are advanced professionals and should, in some cases, be able to practice independent of physician oversight. But there is a bill under consideration by the Virginia General Assembly that would allow NPs to practice independently after only two years of post-graduate education and two years of clinical training. A physician is required to complete four years of medical school and, at a minimum, three years of residency training, even in primary care. Many physicians take additional years to build a specialty, such as in neurosurgery, orthopedics or emergency medicine.

NPs should be held to similar standards of training as physicians if they want to practice independently, and we must do more in Virginia to ensure their stringently regulated clinical training. This means five years of clinical training, not two. The standard of training should be nothing less than the highest possible level. House Bill 1737 might seem like a way to create more healt hcare providers in Virginia, but ask: When you find yourself in an emergency room, what level of competency do you want at your bedside?

President, Virginia College of Emergency Physicians

Biden Administration’s National Strategy on COVID-19 and Pandemic Preparedness

This week, President Biden unveiled a significant national strategy for handling COVID-19 and addressing pandemic preparedness generally. The President also took initial steps to immediately implement portions of this strategy, issuing several executive orders and memoranda. 

Executive Orders signed January 21 include:

Memoranda issued on January 21 include: