The Waukesha County Medical Society will host the 2023 Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 29. This event features a social, dinner and annual report to the members. The event will feature a presentation from guest speaker, Dr Michelle Graham.

Michelle L. Graham, MD, MME, FAAFP serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare & Retirement line of business. Dr. Graham began her career at UHC as a Market Medical Director for both the Commercial and Medicare business, followed by promotions to Chief Medical Officer and more recently the Regional Chief Medical Officer for Medicare & Retirement covering the eastern half of the country. Prior to her career at UnitedHealthcare, she served as the Vice President of Medical Affairs for legacy Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, Ascension, where she championed quality/LEAN/utilization, medical staff affairs, enterprise inpatient EMR – EPIC implementation, and system physician leadership development and mentoring programs. She currently serves as a District 1 Co-Chair and Director on the Board of the Wisconsin Medical Society, as well as serving on the finance and membership committees. Michelle also served as the President of the Medical Society of Milwaukee County and the President of the Medical Society of Milwaukee Foundation. She has also served on the Advisory Council for Feeding America – Feeding Wisconsin and the WHIO, WCHQ, and National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin Boards of Directors. She was recently named as the 2020 physician of the year winner of the Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott Distinguished Service Award from the Medical Society as being “Eminent in his/her profession. A lover of humanity. Who delights to serve.”

Read more / Register here

The Medical College of Wisconsin is now enrolling for the Precision Medicine Master of Science degree and certificate program (PM Ed): Precision Medicine | Medical College of Wisconsin (mcw.edu)! The PM Ed program has been designed for genetic counselors, nurse practitioners, physicians, and other healthcare professionals looking to further their education in genomics and enhance their practice using innovative and cutting-edge techniques. The Precision Medicine program will provide advanced training to clinicians to diagnose, treat and prevent disease by accounting for individual variation in genes, environment, and lifestyle to meet the upsurge in precision medicine patient care needs.

The PM Ed program has more than 18 course directors, including 11 physicians, who lead the courses as they relate to their specialized areas of research and clinical expertise within precision medicine. Learners will be able to customize their educational experience by choosing elective courses to best meet their needs and work with faculty who share similar research interests.

Additionally, the Precision Medicine program offers a flexible, online schedule for busy clinicians. The Precision Medicine program is currently accepting applications for the Fall 2022 semester: Application Management (mcw.edu)! The deadline to apply is June 30th. For additional information, contact me, Education Program Coordinator, Kellie LeGrave at klegrave@mcw.edu or visit the Precision Medicine program website.

WCMS Members enjoyed Trivia Night on Thursday, March 3 at Raised Grain Brewery. This was the first in-person event in two years for WCMS. Thank you to all who were able to attend. We look forward to hosting more in-person events in the future. 

WisMed Mobile, the Wisconsin Medical Society’s new app, is now available. WisMed Mobile allows members to stay up to date on health care and WisMed news, connect with other members, explore upcoming events and more – all from their phones. Download WisMed Mobile for free today!

Explore the app by voting in the poll, adding a profile picture, liking a post and contacting a colleague. Check out the user guide to get started or troubleshoot any questions.

Please contact membership@wismed.org for assistance.

Waukesha County Medical Society - WCMS stands with the Waukesha Community during this tragic time. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who have been impacted by the incident. Thank you to our healthcare workers who are always ready to help in times of crisis! Please consider supporting those in need via the donation link below.

Shared from the City of Waukesha: 

Waukesha County Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County have joined together to create the “United for Waukesha Community Fund.” This fund will support the needs of the families impacted by tragic incident at the Christmas Parade. www.waukeshafoundation.org/parade

#Waukesha

Wisconsin Medical Society 

There are many ways that you can help advance the health of the people of Wisconsin through the Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation. From enjoying a glass of wine to getting outdoors to connecting with a medical student through their first white coat, supporting the health of Wisconsin has never been easier (or more fun)!

A Taste of the Foundation
Enjoy wine and cheese with the Foundation while supporting grants. The next Tasting and online auction will be held June 24 from 7-8 p.m. Hurry! Be sure to register by June 9 to ensure tasting kits are delivered on time.

Run for a Heathier Wisconsin
Virtually travel across Wisconsin and learn about the different organizations we supported through grants in 2020. The Run (or walk) is a fun challenge to showcase ways the Foundation has supported the health of Wisconsin and to raise funds for new initiatives.

White Coat Campaign
The Foundation provides a white coat and personal message to every first-year Wisconsin medical student. Help ensure that every student gets a white coat this year and share your own note with a student.

Brighter Future Club
Join the Brighter Future Club, our monthly giving campaign. Support the education of the next generation of medical professionals and the future of health care in Wisconsin by making a recurring monthly tax-deductible gift to the Foundation.

Visit the Foundation website to learn more about our community grants and white coat campaign.

Please contact Marje at 608.442.3722 with questions or for other ways to support the health of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation
Marje Murray, Executive Director

The Derm Review

Around the world, major government health agencies and medical experts have found that the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, is predominantly transmitted through respiratory droplets that are projected through the air, which is why masks have become a major part of stopping the spread of the disease.

As the pandemic spread in early 2020, one of the first reported methods for stopping COVID was to frequently wash your hands, for at least 20 seconds. For people who had to be out in public, due to work or caregiving activities, hand sanitizer became a vital secondary solution for those who needed to clean their hands but did not always have access to sinks and soap.

Read more.

Wisconsin Health News

Waukesha County anticipates that it'll start transitioning its COVID-19 vaccination operations from its public health department to health systems at the end of this week, when it expects that 60 percent of the county’s eligible population will have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

That means the county won't schedule any new first-dose clinics at its mass vaccination site at the Waukesha County Expo Center. The site will close once all scheduled second vaccine doses are given. The county is planning the final clinic for May 19. 

Advocate Aurora Health, Ascension Wisconsin, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin and ProHealth Care will be able to meet demand once the county reaches 60 percent, per a statement. 

“The collaboration between these providers is historic,” Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow said in a statement. “This allows Waukesha County to focus on mitigation and recovery.” 

As of Tuesday, vaccinators administered around 300,000 vaccines in the county, including more than 30,000 at the Expo Center’s clinic.

Fifty-six percent of eligible Waukesha County residents have received at least one dose, and 45.7 percent of all county residents have. 

Wisconsin Medical Society | Medigram

Doctor Day 2021 is just weeks away and there are two issues that seem to be emerging as hot topics, but other topics are on the menu for discussion with your legislator visits as well.

Two significant topics that can be part of Doctor Day advocacy include Telehealth and strengthening our state’s Medicaid program through more reasonable physician reimbursement.

Telehealth
As we continue to explore lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, one health care practice that stands out is the increased use of telehealth technology. Already on the increase before the pandemic, patients and physicians both embraced the opportunity to hold meaningful interactions virtually. While these kinds of encounters are not necessarily a substitute for important face-to-face appointments, some of the flexibilities established to allow for greater telehealth use during COVID-19 should be made permanent, and Doctor Day will provide the opportunity to share real examples of how properly-reimbursed telehealth opportunities can be another important tool for our health care system.

Medicaid
Doctor Day is also well-timed to coincide with the state legislature’s deliberations over the next biennial budget. A major issue is funding our state’s Medicaid program, allowing our poorest and sickest citizens to access high quality health care. Physician reimbursement for services provided to Medicaid patients often does not cover the basic costs of providing that care, which means private insurance costs are artificially higher due to government under-reimbursement – and especially so for primary care and emergency care physicians. Doctor Day gives physicians an opportunity to ask policymakers to prioritize proper funding for our Medicaid program, including exploring how to access additional federal Medicaid funding via the incentives recently provided in the American Rescue Plan Act.  

No matter which topics are part of the Doctor Day discussions, the event allows for important relationship-building with your elected officials, which is critical to help educate lawmakers on health care policy that matters to physicians and patients. Your interaction with legislators and their staffs can be powerful and help guide better policy throughout the legislative session.

Visit widoctorday.org to register or learn more about the day. It’s a day of advocating for your profession that you don’t want to miss!

April 6, Wisconsin Health News

The premium holiday for Wisconsin’s medical malpractice fund will continue until mid-2022 to help offset impacts on providers from COVID-19. 

Insurance Commissioner Mark Afable notified the Joint Finance Committee last week that he’s requesting that fiscal year 2022 rates for healthcare providers participating in the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund remain the same as the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. 

The committee has until April 15 to approve the request. Currently, the fund is waiving fees for participating healthcare professionals and providers, per a request from the Wisconsin Medical Society. The premium holiday is set to last until June 30, 2022. 

OCI spokeswoman Sarah Smith said that the rates will remain the same because the fund won’t be charging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mark Grapentine, chief policy and advocacy officer at the Wisconsin Medical Society, said independent clinics are still fighting COVID-19 related costs and lost revenue and keeping the status quo for now makes sense. 

“We’re doing all we can to advocate for those independent clinics who provide such important care to their communities while being on the front lines of the pandemic,” he said in an email. “We’re very fortunate to have a fund that’s run prudently and is in a stable financial condition so that it can provide a little fiscal relief for physicians.” 

The Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund covers claims beyond state-mandated insurance limits, which are set at $1 million by occurrence and $3 million by aggregate annually.