Doctor Day 2023 was a success with over 300 registered physicians, residents, and medical students!
The group began their day at the beautiful Monona Terrace for a light breakfast and presentations on First Attendee Orientation, Communications/Media Training 101, Physician Wellness, and a Legal Update. AMA President, Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, then joined as the keynote presenter. Following his presentation was a State Agency Roundtable and a Physicians Priority Issues Briefing. The group had a brief lunch and then headed down the street to the Capitol where physicians met with their legislators to discuss Doctor Day's priority issues: APRN Legislation and Extended Medicaid Coverage for New Moms.
The group reconvened at Madison's for some appetizers and drinks and to discuss how their visits went. Everyone was in good spirits and already looking forward to the next Wisconsin Doctor Day!
Registration is now open for the WSP 2023 Annual Conference! The event will take place virtually, Saturday, April 29, 2023.
The conference will feature lectures with the latest updates in Pathology, a CAP presentation from Dr. Karcher, resident presentations, and more!
Register today to attend!
Wisconsin’s Doctor Day will take place on June 15, 2023. WI Doctor Day brings together physicians from every specialty and practice environment to meet with their legislators and advocate on health care issues affecting healthcare. The multi-specialty nature of Doctor Day makes it among the most unique advocacy events for physicians in the country.
Physicians and medical students at all stages of their careers will once again join together in Madison to take part in policy breakout sessions, hear keynote presentations and participate in a briefing on the day's priority issues. Attendees will then participate in group visits with legislators and legislative staff at the Wisconsin State Capitol. The day will conclude with a Doctor Day reception where you’ll have the chance to connect socially with both friends and peers.
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or brand new to the legislative process, attending Doctor Day will provide you advocacy tools and skills to make your voice heard. Continue to watch your email for updates on registration!
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is recruiting a generalist pathologist to provide clinical services to our growing health system. The successful candidate will be appointed as a full faculty member of the department on the clinician-teacher track at the Clinical Asst/Assoc/Professor level, depending on experience. More information on this position is available on the UW Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine website, https://pathology.wisc.edu/2022/02/04/pathologist/. For questions or more information, please contact Aparna Mahajan (AMahajan@uwhealth.org).
Other openings are also always available on path outlines at https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/jobs?jl=53.
The Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin is seeking a qualified candidate to join our team in a Locum Tenens position at our West Bend Froedtert Hospital location. The candidate must be Board Certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and hold an unrestricted medical license in the State of Wisconsin.
The Locum Tenens position will be for a 6–7-month appointment requiring service coverage at our West Bend Location during business hours Monday through Friday.
The Department of Pathology at the Medical College of Wisconsin consists of 52 faculty members that serve seven hospitals with a total of more than 65,000 surgicals, 70,000 cytologies, and 140 autopsies accessioned through the system yearly. While this position will be located at one of our affiliate hospitals they will have direct access to the Department’s subspecialty pathologist for consults and assistance on complex cases.
Successful candidates should bring strong clinical abilities, well-refined interpersonal skills, enthusiasm, and commitment to MCW’s clinical and community outreach missions.
Interested candidates should send a copy of curriculum-vitae plus names/addresses of 4 references to the attention of Jennifer Anderson, Department Administrator, jeanderson@mcw.edu.
The CAP and WSP are advocating to mitigate looming Medicare cuts, which will result in a 9% cut to pathology services this January. The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is slashing payment for non-evaluation and management codes, which affects all of pathology services. Congress must waive a budget neutrality provision for these cuts to not take effect. These cuts will only magnify the pressure pathology practices already face on top of major financial disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please urge Congress to address this issue by waiving the budget neutrality requirement for the CMS E/M policy before the end of the year.
You can contact your Legislator(s) through the CAP advocacy center, https://capactioncenter.aristotle.com/SitePages/Homepage.aspx, or directly via their websites. Please click here to download a tool kit/summary document to assist.
The Wisconsin Society of Pathologists joined a coalition of medical societies in Wisconsin that created an open letter to the people of Wisconsin on the importance of wearing masks and social distancing to help curb further spread of COVID-19.
Read letter.
Dear WSP Members,
I want to provide some important society updates as we approach the end of another fiscal year. It has obviously been a challenging few months for all of us as we work through dramatic changes to work and personal lives due to COVID-19. For the society, we unfortunately had to cancel our Spring, 2020, educational conference, as many other societies did as well. Since we would normally hold elections for new board members at our annual conference, we decided to continue with current slate of board members until we are able to hold new elections, likely in Spring, 2021.
The upcoming 2020-2021 year brings similar challenges. Our society has two major components, one being educational and one related to advocacy. We are actively discussing educational plans for the next year. At this point it is not clear whether or not an in person conference will be possible for Spring, 2021. As we see how COVID-19 evolves over the coming months we will continue to meet and discuss alternate educational plans, such as webinar based education.
On the advocacy front, we will continue to work with the College of American Pathologists and the Wisconsin Medical Society on legislative issues important to pathology. Of particular significance is out-of-network billing, which has seen varying degrees of attention from state and national legislatures over the past few years. This issue will likely resurface in some form during the coming year and it will be critical for our society to continue to represent Wisconsin pathologists.
Finally, recognizing the financial impact COVID-19 has put on individuals, we are discounting our normal membership dues from $175 to $100 annually for active and associate members and will extend complementary memberships to residents. We want to balance concern for individual finances with the need for the society to continue to survive and provide education and advocacy for pathologists. We are dependent on member dues for continued existence, especially absent an educational conference, which would normally help increase revenue. We hope that you continue to see value in being a member of the Wisconsin Society of Pathologists. Our board will certainly continue to work to bring high quality educational content to our members, provide a forum for networking, and serve as the advocate for Wisconsin pathologists.
June 18, Wisconsin Health News
The state’s medical malpractice fund is waiving premiums for the next fiscal year for participating healthcare professionals and providers.
The Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund’s Board of Governors approved the premium holiday on Wednesday.
The holiday, originally requested by the Wisconsin Medical Society, will run from July 1 to June 30, 2021.
Dr. Bud Chumbley, CEO of the Wisconsin Medical Society and a board member, said the action will “provide some financial relief to many of the Wisconsin medical professionals and providers who have been affected by the pandemic and who face ongoing challenges.”
The fund covers claims beyond state-mandated insurance limits, which are set at $1 million by occurrence and $3 million by aggregate per year.
In April, lawmakers signed off on a plan not to increase participation fees for the fund for the next fiscal year.
Governor Evers today announced Wisconsin's "Badger Bounce Back" plan which outlines important criteria for Wisconsin to be able to reopen its economy in phases and includes steps to make sure workers and businesses are prepared to reopen as soon as it is safe to do so. In coordination with this announcement, at the direction of the governor, Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm issued Emergency Order #31 establishing the process and outlining the phases of the plan. The emergency order is available here. The Badger Bounce Back plan is informed in part by the President's Guidelines for Opening Up America Again that was issued by the White House on April 16, 2020. Currently, Wisconsin does not meet the criteria the White House established to start reopening our state. The Badger Bounce Back plan takes important steps to get the state of Wisconsin there. The goal of the Badger Bounce Back plan is to decrease cases and deaths to a low level, and increase capacity in our healthcare system so the phased reopening of businesses is possible. As part of that plan the state will be working to increase access to more testing and expand lab capacity. Under the Badger Bounce Back plan, everyone who needs a test should get a test. The state is setting a goal of 85,000 tests per week, averaging about 12,000 tests per day. More information on the state's testing efforts was released earlier today, and is available for review here. Next, the state will be expanding contact tracing and more aggressively tracking the spread with the goal of every Wisconsinite who tests positive being interviewed within 24 hours of receiving their test results and their contacts being interviewed within 48 hours of test results. Additionally, the state will continue to pursue every avenue to grow Wisconsin’s supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare and public safety entities to conduct COVID-19 testing, patient care, and public safety work. Finally, the plan works to bolster healthcare system capacity where patients can be treated without crisis care and there are more robust testing programs in place for at-risk healthcare workers. The state will be looking for a downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses and COVID-19 symptoms reported within a 14-day period, and a downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period. When the state has seen these efforts be successful, Wisconsin can begin to turn the dial, re-open the state, and get businesses and workers back on their feet. The Badger Bounce Back plan is available here. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s portion of the Badger Bounce Back plan aimed at helping to ensure workers and businesses are prepared and ready to bounce back is available here. The Badger Bounce Back plan in brief is also available here.
