August 2020
CAFP has released a follow-up 5-question survey about how COVID-19 has affected your practice income, to support its advocacy for Family Physicians. (Please complete ASAP, regardless of whether you took the original survey.)
Some vulnerable primary care practices are closing, and many may not last through August. We need grassroots pressure to Legislators and the Governor to save them (and our health care system) by supporting the Care For Californians plan (at no cost to the State General Fund). (Also, thank them for saving Song-Brown.)
Applications for the California State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP), for providers working at an approved SLRP practice site, must be completed by September 15, 2020.
CMS has announced that physicians may apply for a COVID-19 hardship exemption to opt out completely or partially from Medicare’s 2020 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program. This hardship application must be submitted by December 31, 2020.
CAFP is working with a coalition to maintain state and federal government payment parity for telehealth services. This includes expanded internet access to underserved communities, removal of health plan restrictions, and removal of CPT code barriers for coverage.
AAFP has a COVID-19 daily updates resources page for Family Physicians:
https://www.aafp.org/patient-care/emergency/2019-coronavirus.html. Bookmark & check daily.
- Physician’s Office Preparedness Checklist;
- CDC Coronavirus Updates & Resources;
- Patient fact sheets; and
- COVID-19 Preparedness Resources.
Familydoctor.org has patient-information articles on COVID-19.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (https://www.sccm.org/covid19) has complimentary online training on Critical Care for Non-ICU Clinicians.
