Last Call! Nominate a DO for an OOA Award

The last year has been incredibly challenging in countless ways. 530,000 American deaths, hundreds of thousands of hospitalized patients, and tens of millions of cases all attributed to COVID-19 in the United States. While the epidemic devastation has been vast, it’s also been a year of incredible opportunity and hope. Leaders and mentors have emerged as heroes. Please take a few minutes to consider nominating yourself or a colleague for an OOA award.   

The Distinguished Service Award is the OOA’s highest honor. Recipients are recognized for their outstanding accomplishments in personal, scientific, and professional affairs, especially in service to the osteopathic profession in Ohio. The nominee must be a long-standing member of their local academy, the OOA and the AOA and not currently serving as an elected officer/trustee of the OOA.

The Meritorious Service Award is given to an individual who is not an osteopathic physician in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in scientific, philanthropic, or other fields of public service.

The M. Bridget Wagner, DO, Humanitarian Award recognizes an osteopathic physician or individual associated with the osteopathic profession for acts of philanthropy and service to mankind.

The Trustees Award is presented from time to time for dedicated service to the OOA.

Send your letter of nomination to ctatman@OhioDO.org or use this form. A copy of the nominee’s CV is encouraged but not required.

Cases Trending Down, Rapid Testing More Accessible

At his COVID-19 briefing yesterday, his 150th, Gov. Mike DeWine announced that Ohio is at a rate of 155 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people during the past two weeks. Last week, statewide data showed 180 cases per 100,000 people. DeWine noted it’s a very elevated level, but trending in the right direction. Previously, he announced when Ohio reaches 50 cases per 100,000 people for two weeks, all health orders will be lifted. The case rate data is updated every Thursday.

The state has four initiatives to make rapid COVID-19 tests more accessible:

• The state’s ongoing partnership with federally qualified health centers has led to the availability of over 150,000 rapid tests at community health centers. These centers have professionals on-hand to administer the tests free of charge.
• Local health departments have partnered with their communities to make at-home testing available to schools, nonprofit organizations, and first responders.
• The state has recently partnered with public libraries to make at-home tests available to more Ohio communities. During the first two weeks, Ohio has partnered with 120 libraries.
• A new partnership launched this will bring 200,000 at-home tests to Educational Service Centers. To increase confidence and safety in schools, DeWine encourages school districts to take advantage of this resource and develop aggressive testing plans.

Between libraries and local health departments, at-home testing is accessible in 76 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Some of these areas had disproportionate access to testing earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) will no longer issue the weekly travel advisory for those entering Ohio after traveling to states reporting positive testing rates of 15% or higher. Instead, ODH is revising its travel guidance to encourage Ohioans to carefully review CDC guidance when considering travel.

Almost 1.4 Million More Ohioans Now Vaccine Eligible

As of yesterday, Ohioans age 50 and older, which is approximately 1.2 million people, are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 2B, per Gov. Mike DeWine’s announcement on Monday. In addition, approximately 197,000 Ohioans with type 2 diabetes and end-stage renal disease were added to the eligibility list as part of Phase 1D. DeWine said the expansion is in response to significant increase in the amount of vaccine coming into Ohio.

The centralized scheduling website is live at gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov. The website will serve as a singular location for Ohioans to confirm that they are eligible to be vaccinated, identify nearby providers, and schedule their vaccine appointments. The Ohio Department of Health will work directly with vaccine providers to integrate their current systems into the statewide system. Providers will be expected to use this system or another electronic scheduling system that interfaces with this portal.

The website will also be used for scheduling appointments at the mass vaccination clinics, including the FEMA site in Cleveland, that were announced last week. 

As of this morning, 10.62% of Ohioans have completed their vaccination. The CDC issued guidance this week for fully vaccinated people.

For more Ohio statistics, see the vaccine dashboard.

OOA Opposes SB 22

Health Policy Chair Jennifer L. Gwilym, DO, and Executive Director Matt Harney offered testimony earlier this week in the House of Representatives State & Local Government Committee urging opposition to SB 22 in its current form and encouraging continued discussion regarding the delicate balance between public health officials and the legislature in times of emergency. 

The bill, which restricts the governor’s ability to issue health orders, passed the House, 57-35, on Wednesday. It passed a final Senate vote by a 25-8 margin, sending it to Gov. Mike DeWine who has promised to veto the measure. Legislative leaders have said they have enough votes to override a veto.

The legislation would give lawmakers authority to cancel any health orders that last longer than 30 days, require the governor’s office to renew them in 60-day intervals, and create a legislative panel that would provide oversight to the process.

OOA testimony stressed that health decisions should be made by health professionals. It reads in part:

We should protect the ability of the Ohio Department of Health to uphold its core public health responsibilities. One critical responsibility includes the ability of the ODH to prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases. Any attempt to circumvent public health officials from public health decisions would run counter to prioritizing a safe and healthy Ohio.

The philosophical discussion of the system of checks and balances between the Executive and Legislative branches of government is undoubtedly an important one. However, the entire globe is still grappling with the highly contagious variants of COVID-19 while only a small fraction of Ohioans have been vaccinated. Now is not the time to risk the progress made against this deadly pandemic.

OOA Supports HB 135

Executive Director Matt Harney offered written testimony this week in support of HB 135, legislation that would require health insurers to apply amounts paid by or on behalf of covered individuals toward cost-sharing requirements. HB 135 effectively combats the efforts by many health insurance plans to exclude co-pay coupons and other assistance from counting toward a patient’s deductible—a policy called a co-pay accumulator. 

Harney pointed out a recent analysis from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows US consumers spend an average of $4,342 on out-of-pocket health care costs. This 2015 figure is nearly a 60% increase over the previous decade.

The bill is under consideration by the House of Representatives Health Committee.

SMBO Reopens Sexual Assault Cases

A Working Group on Reviewing of the Medical Board’s Handling of the Investigation Involving Richard Strauss was initiated by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2019. In the Working Group’s Closing Report issued this week the board reopened 91 sexual assault cases and is recommending that additional cases be reopened for failure to report.

Strauss, who was employed as a physician by Ohio State University in the Athletics Department and Student Health Center in the late 1970s to mid-1990s, sexually assaulted at least 177 students.

After the Working Group’s initial recommendations in 2019, DeWine directed SMBO to conduct a thorough review of all sexual assault allegations against physicians and other licensed medical personnel that were investigated and closed without action over the past 25 years and to identify any Ohio medical license holders who knew or suspected Strauss’ criminal misconduct and investigate whether there were actionable failures to report.

As a result, SMBO reopened 91 of those closed cases as sexual impropriety investigations and recommended that an additional 42 cases be reopened for failure to report, including an investigation against Ted Grace, MD, for a failure to report Strauss in the 1990s. Grace served as director of Student Health Services at Ohio State from 1992-2007.

Organizations Raise Concerns about Change to Medicare Part D

The OOA signed-on to an open letter to Ohio’s Congressional delegation regarding the “Six Protected Classes” of medications in Medicare Part D. Specifically the letter, signed by a total of 20 organizations, raises concerns about a change to the medications offered in Medicare Part D that will reduce availability of critical medicines for patients with complex medical needs.

On the final day of the Trump administration, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) modified the Part D Payment Modernization Model, to allow for significant changes to Medicare prescription drug coverage starting in 2022. The changes are aimed at:

• Anticonvulsants, which treat epileptic seizures.
• Antidepressants, which treat depression and other psychiatric illnesses.
• Antineoplastics, which prevent or inhibit the growth of cancerous tumors.
• Antipsychotics, which treat acute psychosis, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
• Antiretrovirals, which treat HIV.
• Immunosuppressants, which prevent organ rejection in transplant patients.

Medicare’s “Six Protected Class” policy has long stood as a guarantee to patients that their access to all available medications would never be in doubt.

Resolved, Your Voice Matters

The OOA House of Delegates will be held virtually on April 22. The House is the policy-making body for the osteopathic profession in Ohio.

Resolutions may be submitted directly to the OOA office or through your local district academy. The deadline to submit resolutions is March 15.

Email your resolution to ctatman@OhioDO.org. See the tips for writing better resolutions here.