OOA, AOA Collaborate to Support Physicians

The OOA and AOA have jointly lobbied state officials in Ohio regarding two timely topics during the pandemic: professional liability insurance and civil immunity.

A letter to Gov. Mike DeWine urges him to work with the Ohio Department of Insurance to provide medical malpractice insurance premium relief to physicians who have been forced to cancel or postpone procedures due to the current State of Emergency declaration. Although many employed physicians’ premiums are paid by their employers, this cost can create a significant hardship for physicians in solo and small group practices. These physicians, who are oftentimes the sole health care providers in rural and underserved communities, may be unable to maintain viable practices due to the state order that postponed elective procedures to ensure adequate resources for COVID-19 patients and prevent community spread of the virus. Providing professional liability insurance premium relief protects patient access to care.

The organizations voiced strong support for the medical malpractice protections established by SB 308 for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency. The letter to Sen. Matt Huffman, who authored the bill, thanks him for his leadership to protect physicians from potentially career-ending liability and ensure that they are able to continue to focus on patient care during this emergency.

Please voice your support for SB 308. Use this link to ask the Ohio General Assembly to grant civil liability protections.

Action from Acton

At the briefing on Monday, Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton, MD, explained the testing now underway to determine how prevalent coronavirus is in Ohio. A random sample of 1,200 Ohioans who volunteer will be tested to determine whether they’ve developed antibodies. Volunteers, which will come from urban and rural areas of the state, will be swabbed in addition to a blood test. Acton cautioned it’s still unknown how long antibodies against coronavirus last. 

On Tuesday, Ohio received a limited amount of remdesivir from the federal government which will be distributed across the state. The drug, not yet approved by the FDA as a treatment for COVID-19 despite the Emergency Use Authorization, is currently in clinical trials and has been found to shorten the duration of disease from 15 to 11 days in in-patient hospital settings. Remdesivir is administered in two courses depending on the severity of disease. Patients will receive either a 5-day course or a 10-day course.

Acton and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine continue to stress that testing and tracing will be vital during the reopening. ODH plans to deploy nearly 2,000 people from local health departments for contact tracing.

Battelle Expands Sterilization Program to Physician Practices

Battelle, the Columbus-based non-profit research and technology organization that developed a way to decontaminate protective masks, is offering their service to all health care professionals and physician practices in Ohio, for free, regardless of size. The Battelle CCDS Critical Care Decontamination System is designed to work on N95 respirators for the removal of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).

To get started, enroll in the program and select ‘other healthcare provider’ on the drop-down menu under ‘type of organization.’

Battelle received emergency approval for its new decontamination system from the US Food and Drug Administration in March after Gov. Mike DeWine worked with the federal government.

Attention Dermatologists!

The State Medical Board of Ohio has filed proposed rules regarding use of light based medical devices and procedures. The changes are outlined in the SMBO Business Impact Analysis and relate specifically to:

• Rule 4731-18-01 Definitions
• Rule 4731-18-02 Use of light based medical devices
• Rule 4731-18-03 Delegation of the use of light based medical devices for specified non-ablative procedures
• Rule 4731-18-04 Delegation of phototherapy and photodynamic therapy

Comments on the proposed rules must be received no later than May 27 and must be sent to both of the following:

State Medical Board
Kimberly.Anderson@med.ohio.gov

Common Sense Initiative Office CSIPublicComments@governor.ohio.gov

In other SMBO news, a list of recent actions related to COVID-19 is here, in case you missed it.

ACGME Policy Enforces Compliance with COVID-19 Prevailing Requirements

The ACGME has updated its Procedures for Alleged Egregious Events to address how the organization will respond to alleged non-compliance with the four prevailing COVID-19 priority requirements. The new section outlines the process for invoking the policy and subsequent investigation of alleged egregious events related to COVID-19 and includes an added means of identifying institutions or programs by way of a public sanction. Institutions and programs that receive a public sanction will be required to notify current residents and fellows, as well as new applicants, including the reason for the sanction.

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the ACGME has granted flexibility to accredited Sponsoring Institutions and programs in order to manage the demands of patient care while maintaining compliance with the four requirements: work hours; adequate resources and training; adequate supervision; and fellows functioning in their core (primary) specialty.

And the Winner of the OOPAC Challenge is...

Well it depends how you look at it.

Ultimately, the real winner is the osteopathic family and their patients! But also Sandusky District, which had the largest per capita donations, and Columbus Osteopathic Association, which had the largest amount in total contributions. Congratulations!

Each year the Ohio Osteopathic Political Action Committee (OOPAC) challenges physicians to make a contribution to the PAC to further enhance efforts at the Ohio Statehouse. OOPAC’s purpose is to support candidates who have demonstrated their beliefs in and the principles to which osteopathic medicine is dedicated.

Thank you to all contributors during the past year. See the updated list.