Wellness Seminar Available On Demand

The Physician Wellness Seminar held earlier this month received excellent evaluations from attendees. If you missed it, the entire seminar is now available on demand! We encourage you to take this opportunity to prioritize yourself.
 
The five-hour seminar is available at The CME Center, formerly DO-CME. Credits are reported to the AOA the following month after completion.
 
OOA members receive a discount on lectures produced by the OOA. Use the discount code OOAFamily for 25% off the list price!
 
The CME Center is a collaboration of state osteopathic societies that provides quality online education, with hundreds of lectures for AOA credit.

ODH Officials Cautiously Optimistic about COVID Decline

At the press briefing this week Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff, MD, noted many hospitals are still strained but the state can be “cautiously optimistic that we may be reaching the other side.”
 
Some parts of the state are faring better than others. Health leaders in Cleveland said their hospitalizations have been declining almost every day for the month of January. Central Ohio has also seen a decrease, although smaller. The Omicron variant is now more prevalent in southern Ohio, with no decrease in hospitalizations.
 
The majority of Ohio National Guard-supported testing sites have moved to central and southern Ohio. The Guard and Ohio’s State Defense Force have provided support across the state with nearly 2,500 service members executing 10 active missions including vaccinations, warehouse support, and prison support. Current Guard deployments include 13 medical teams (about 130 Guard members) and 180 general support teams (about 1,800 Guard members).
 
Vanderhoff also announced new guidance in response to Omicron. The variant’s quick spread and rapid clinical course have made universal contact tracing, case investigation, and exposure notification impractical when combined with newly reduced timelines for quarantine and isolation. Instead, local health departments should use a cluster or outbreak-based model.
 
Case counts reported this week are again inflated due to a backlog.
 
As of this afternoon, 65.09% of eligible Ohioans (age 5 and up) have started the vaccine process.

Explore Your Options

If you’re considering another professional opportunity or just want to see what might be available, have a look at the OOA website. On the Jobs Forum you’ll find a listing of OOA institutional members with direct links to each organization’s vacancies.
 
If you’re a physician employer or work with a health care facility seeking a physician, you can advertise open positions here. All listings appear for two months. Happy hunting!

New Edition of Advance Directives Issued

The Honoring Wishes Task Force, a collaboration of health organizations and provider groups dedicated to improving end-of-life care, completed the 8th edition of Choices: Living Well at End of Life this week.

The booklet includes an advance directives packet and the most recent amendments per state law. Specifically, this edition reflects changes included in HB 7, which removed organ donation information from Ohio’s living will. An Ohio Donor Registry Enrollment form is still included in the booklet.

The OOA is a long-time member of the Honoring Wishes Task Force and is recognized in Choices as a sponsoring organization.

Your Input Needed on Telehealth Rules

The State Medical Board has shared proposed telehealth rules for preliminary input with the OOA and other stakeholder groups. The proposed rules are here and here. Note that proposed OAC rule 4731-37-01 is new, and proposed OAC rule 4731-11-09 is a new rule to replace current OAC rule 4731-11-09.
 
Gov. Mike DeWine signed HB 122, the new telehealth law, in December. It will become effective on March 23 and authorizes SMBO to adopt necessary rules necessary to implement the law.
 
Submit your comments to the OOA by January 31. Use the form here.

Final Call! Abstracts Due January 31

Abstracts are now being accepted for the 2022 Ohio Osteopathic Symposium Research Competition. There is one category, biomedical/clinical research, for the competition.

The poster competition will be held virtually, similar to last year. Authors of the top 20 abstracts will be invited to submit a pre-recorded three-minute thesis for peer-review and the top three will invited to give a live virtual podium presentation during the Symposium. Each author presenting live will receive a cash prize.
 
The guidelines, abstract submission form, and other information is here. The deadline is January 31.