New MassMed.Org Launches With Personalized CME, Online Education Features

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MMS News & Announcements 

New MassMed.Org Launches With Personalized CME, Online Education Features
This week MMS re-launched its website at www.massmed.org with a modern technology platform that provides new tools for members, and easier access for users of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.  

Among the new features are an upgraded MyCME portal that will track all CME credits earned at MMS over any time period. It reports credits in the aggregate and by category, and track credits earned outside the MMS. The site also allows users to download certificates for any past MMS CME activity, and bookmark their place in any MMS online course that they haven’t finished yet.
The site will also feature advanced new search technology and a new Patient Care section with clinical and public health content for physicians and patients.
Read more about the new site’s features.

MMS to Offer Testimony at April 19 DPH Medical Marijuana Hearings
The Mass. Department of Public Health will hold a final series of hearings April 19 on proposed regulations for the state’s new medical marijuana law.

The MMS will provide testimony on the proposed regulations, released late last month, which MMS President Richard V. Aghababian, MD, called “thoughtful and responsible.” Overview of the proposal, with links to the full text of the DPH document.

Related news: 

• Public Health Council Begins Review of Marijuana Regulations  (Boston.com)
• Marijuana dispensaries may have to quality test in Mass. (Boston Globe, subs. required)
  
• On the MMS Blog:  Physicians Should Just Say No to Medical Use of Marijuana  by PHS Director Steve Adelman, MD

Annual Meeting Event Spotlight:  Register Now for Annual Meeting Education Program
A perennial highlight of the MMS Annual Meeting is the Annual Education Session, which takes place this year on Friday, May 10. This year’s program, Navigating the Currents of Change: Integrating Innovative Technologies into Your Clinical Practice, will feature clinicians and scientists who will address concrete examples of how cutting-edge technologies have advanced surveillance, diagnosis, and management of disease. For more information on all 2013 Annual Meeting events and to register, please visit www.massmed.org/annual2013.

Massachusetts Medical Society & Alliance Charitable Foundation Announces 2013 grants
Three agencies in Western Massachusetts, three in Central Massachusetts, two in MetroWest, and four in Boston/Greater Boston have received grants from the Massachusetts Medical Society & Alliance Charitable Foundation as part of its 2013 allocations.  The 12 grants total $160,000 and will help to support health and medical services that address vision care, healthy lifestyles, asthma reduction, prevention and screening services, and primary care for the uninsured. Read about the grants. 

Education Programs & Events 

Live CME Activities   

New Frontiers in the Diagnosis and Management of Stroke
Saturday, April 27, 2013, 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Renaissance Hotel, Foxboro, MA

MMS Ethics Forum – Conflicts of Interest in Medical Publishing
Thursday, May 9, 2013, 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the Seaport World Trade Center, Boston, MA

MMS Annual Education Program – Navigating the Currents of Change: Integrating Innovative Technologies into Your Clinical Practice
Friday, May 10, 2013, 8:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., at the Seaport World Trade Center, Boston, MA

MMS Shattuck Lecture – Chronic Infectious Disease and the Future of Health Care Delivery,
Friday, May 10, 2013, 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., at the Seaport World Trade Center, Boston, MA

2013 MMS and RIMS Directors of Medical Education Conference
Thursday, May 16, 2013, 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Home-Based Palliative Care for Patients with Serious Illness: A Team Approach
Monday, May 20, 2013, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., via live webinar

A Roadmap to Bring an End to HIV and STDs in Massachusetts:  What All Health Care Providers Need to Know
Friday, June 7, 2013, 8:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Assessing Medication, Mental Health, and Cultural Needs During Sheltering
Tuesday, June 11, 2013, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., live conference or via streaming webinar

11th Annual Symposium on Men’s Health: Topical Issues in Men’s Health
Wednesday, June 12, 2013, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  

2nd Annual Addiction Medicine for All Providers Conference
Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22, 2013, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
 
The above activities have been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

Online CME Activities

• Legal Advisor: Active Listening as a Tool for Improved Doctor-Patient Communication
• A New Kind of Bedside Manner: The Rise of Apology Policies
• Legal Advisor: Terminating the Doctor-Patient Relationship
• Bullies and Victims: Can You Tell the Difference
• Antitrust Considerations for Physicians in Massachusetts
• Acid Suppression Therapy: Neutralizing the Hype
• Medical Mistakes: Learning to Steer Clear of the Common Ones
• Incorporating Meaningful Use in the Specialty Practice
• Legal Advisor: Legal Duties and Options when a Patient Raises Suicide
• Seven Steps to Better Health Literacy
• The Importance of Discussing End-of-Life Care with Patients*   
• Legal Advisor: Identifying Potential Drug Dependence and Preventing Abuse* 

* Also available in print. Call (800) 322-2303, ext. 7306.  
 
For additional risk management online CME activities, visit www.massmed.org/cme.

This Week in Health Care

Partners' Deal to Acquire South Shore Hospital Advances
The state Public Health Council voted this week to grant a license to transfer ownership of South Shore Hospital in Weymouth to Partners HealthCare System, a deal that would continue the trend toward consolidation of Massachusetts hospitals.

Nurses walk out at Quincy Medical Center
Hundreds of nurses marched in a drizzly chill Thursday, carrying signs, waving union flags, and drumming on plastic bins in a 24-hour strike to dramatize their complaints about staffing levels they say compromise patient safety at Quincy Medical Center.
 
UMass Memorial Nurses Authorize Strike
The vote gave the nurses' leaders approval to call a strike at a future date, after giving 10 days' notice to the owner-operator of the hospitals at the University and Memorial campuses in Worcester.
 
Brigham & Women’s Encourages Staff to Admit Mistakes
Brigham and Women's Hospital is publishing a specialized monthly newsletter for employees to encourage staff to talk openly about their mistakes and learn from them.

Hospital Treats Violence As a Disease
Some urban hospitals, including Brigham and Women's, are now treating urban violence like a disease.

Veterans Hospital in Brockton Undergoing Major Improvements
The project, scheduled for completion in October, will provide a total of 6,000 square feet of recreational space.
 
Hepatitis C Spikes on Cape Cod
Surveillance reports by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health show twice the rate of chronic hepatitis C among young people in Barnstable County as in many other counties in Massachusetts.

CDC Issues Guidance on Avian Flu
The CDC has issued interim guidance with recommendations for initial infection control in healthcare settings for confirmed, probable, or cases under investigation of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus infection

Mass eHealth Institute Hosting Upcoming HIT Webinars
The Massachusetts eHealth Institute will be hosting a webinar series  to provide healthcare organizations, providers, and their staff with comprehensive, actionable information on HIT adoption and optimization. Webinars will cover topics such as Meaningful Use, EHR implementation, funding and grant programs, attestation deadlines and process, preparing for Stage 2 Meaningful Use rules, connecting to the statewide HIE, and more.