OOA Works to Combat Misinformation

OOA President Sandra L. Cook, DO, issued a statement this week to Ohio’s major newspapers. It reads, in part:

With President Trump’s recent COVID-19 diagnosis, there’s been increased attention on osteopathic physicians and, unfortunately, much of it has been misinformation. Inaccuracies have been rampant on social media, in traditional media, and on broadcast channels. The spotlight on White House Physician Sean Conley, DO, has wrongly resulted in mischaracterizations of the entire osteopathic medical profession.

To be clear, only DOs and MDs have unrestricted licenses. Doctors of osteopathic medicine attend four years of medical school and train for 3-7 years as a resident, depending on their specialty, before becoming a practicing physician. The same is true for allopathic physicians.

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One of the tenets of the profession stresses the body is a unit—made up of body, mind, and spirit. This holistic approach is exactly what our patients have come to expect.

There are over 7,000 licensed DOs in Ohio practicing a variety of medical specialties. And it is a growing profession, increasing 63% in the past decade and nearly 300% over the past three decades.

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The bottom line is DOs are fully qualified physicians who may practice in any field of medicine and are one of only two groups of health care providers with unrestricted medical licenses.

Read the full statement here.

Don’t Forget to Renew Your Medical License by December 1

By law, you need to renew your license by December 1, 2020, for your license to remain active. According to the State Medical Board of Ohio, there are 1,149 DOs that still need to renew.

Keep in mind your renewal schedule has not changed, even though you were permitted to renew your license later than usual due to the pandemic. For example, if your normal license renewal was due on June 30, 2020, your next renewal date will be on June 30, 2022, regardless of when you renew during the extension period.

To renew, log into your account at  elicense.ohio.gov. Contact the SMBO at license@med.ohio.gov if you have questions or need assistance.

AOA Holds Special House of Delegates via Zoom

The AOA held its special meetings of the House of the Delegates on October 13-14. Over 380 delegates from across the country weighed in on 162 resolutions from five reference committees and very nearly finished official business despite the meetings going into overtime both days—extending more than four hours beyond the scheduled adjournment on Wednesday before losing quorum.

The House will reconvene November 7 for another special meeting to conclude the small amount of remaining business.

Regarding policy, the HOD passed resolutions that: 

• Encourage content regarding intellectual and developmental disability care for adults during AOA-sponsored conferences. 
• Ensure the AOA seeks necessary changes in institutional or residency policies that prohibit visiting student rotations or charge inequitable fees to medical students based on their osteopathic training.
• Ensure the AOA communicates with the CDC and FDA on issues relating to schedule adherence and vaccine shortages and will engage federal lawmakers on policy solutions as needed. The AOA will also communicate any actions being taken to urge additional US companies to manufacture vaccines for US citizens.
• Support enactment of federal legislation that promotes equitable balance billing practices within Medicare that facilitate continued physician participation in Medicare. The policy also encourages federal legislation to support continued participation by physicians. 
• Update the position statement on minority health disparities including physician education about racial and ethnic healthcare needs.

The meeting also served as the primary fundraising opportunity for the national osteopathic political action committee. Ohio delegates and alternates contributed nearly $12,000 for OPAC, good for the fourth highest delegation total.  

The Ohio Delegation, which is the 5th largest state delegation, was led by Chair George Thomas, DO; Vice Chair Paul A. Martin, DO; and President Sandra L. Cook, DO, who chaired the Ad Hoc Committee. Other Ohioans who served on a committee include Melinda E. Ford, DO; Nicklaus J. Hess, DO; Henry L. Wehrum, DO; Sean D. Stiltner, DO; Jennifer L. Gwilym, DO; and David A. Bitonte, DO.

Thank you to the Ohio delegation for their time, service, and commitment to the profession.

Legislative Candidates Guide Online

Voting has begun in Ohio and the Ohio Osteopathic Political Action Committee (OOPAC) has information to assist you with your choices. OOPAC issued a survey to all candidates for the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate to assess their health care platforms.

To date, 41 responses have been received with more questionnaires rolling in every day. You can view the completed questionnaires here. The website is updated on a rolling basis as questionnaires are received.

OOPAC is OOA’s political arm and supports candidates committed to protecting patient care by ensuring physicians serve as the leader in a team approach to medicine. The PAC supports candidates who promote patient safety and quality care by guaranteeing health care providers treat within their scope of practice.

COVID-19 Cases Continue to Climb

Ohio set a new record high for coronavirus cases this week and marked the third day in a row with over 2,000 new cases. For comparison, there were 2,178 new cases on Thursday and 726 cases on September 20. 

At his briefing yesterday Gov. Mike DeWine pointed to increasing hospitalizations as a warning sign the virus is surging again. The number of Ohioans with COVID-19 in hospitals has slowly increased since early October. He reported that Ohio has 1,042 COVID inpatients in hospitals—a significant increase from the 563 patients on September 20.

DeWine also announced the state’s positivity rate was 5.4% and the seven-day average was 4.2%. This is up from September when the positivity rate was 2.7%.

Per the Public Health Advisory System, this week, 70 counties are either red or high incidence—which equates to 10 million Ohioans, or 85% of the population, living in an area with a high risk of community transmission.

Ohio colleges and nursing homes are priorities for the new coronavirus antigen tests that will arrive next week, according to DeWine. The test kits are the size of a credit card, provide results within 15 minutes, and don’t need to be sent to a lab. DeWine said Ohio will pay $5 for the Abbott BinaxNOW swab tests.

Considering New PLI? Maximize Your Benefits!

As you know, the OOA is constantly working to extend value for your OOA membership. With many med-mal insurance companies increasing policyholder premiums, you may notice your current carrier increasing rates at your next policy term. As market conditions continue to evolve, we want to remind you as an OOA member about our partnership with ISMIE as you possibly consider new coverage.

ISMIE, in conjunction with program administrator and medical professional liability (MPL) insurance broker Flagship Healthcare, has been OOA’s endorsed MPL insurer since 2019. They’ve supported a number of numerous members throughout Ohio with better-rated coverage. Through this partnership, OOA members receive:

• Additional 10% credit applied to your policy’s premium for being a OOA member (net of any applicable discounts and credits).
• Access to more than 100 risk management patient safety webinars for policyholders.
• An opportunity to potentially receive up to an additional 15% in savings by participating in ISMIE’s Managing Risk Partnership Program.
• Tailored policies for independent and employed practice types.

The partnership details of this program can be found here. If you are interested in learning more about how this benefit may help you and your practice, please send an email to ooa@ismie.com.