Happy Monday!

Enjoy your NCMS Morning Rounds!

Nov. 4, 2019

NCMS Legislative Update

The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned Thursday night, but will be returning in just a few weeks on Nov. 13 for a special session to deal with redistricting. All pending health care legislation, including proposals to increase access to care, will likely be put off until January when legislators are scheduled to reconvene on Jan. 14, 2020.

But now is the time to take meaningful action. While legislators are home, you can engage with them in low-pressure ways. As a physician or physician assistant constituent, you could meet with them or send them an email simply introducing yourself, thanking them for their service and conversing with them about general topics of concern in your practice or community. Getting to know your legislator and sharing any insights you gain with our NCMS legislative relations staff is a great way to create real connections and understanding outside of any contentious or partisan issue. These relationships will serve you and the profession well when we do need to discuss something controversial with the legislator.

If you have questions please contact NCMS Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Associate General Counsel Chip Baggett, JD, or Director of Legislative Relations Sue Ann Forrest, MPA.

November is Diabetes Month

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases reminds us that November is National Diabetes Month, a time when communities across the country team up to bring attention to diabetes. This year’s focus is on the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Adults with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to die from heart disease or stroke as people without diabetes.

You can learn more about the ‘Take Diabetes to Heart’ initiative including downloadable resources for your practice and patients at this website.

Watch your NCMS Morning Rounds for more information about how the NCMS, through its Our Community Health Initiative (OCHI), is working with the AMA, the NC Department of Public Health and the YMCA of the Triangle to help to prevent type 2 diabetes by connecting those with prediabetes to community-based classes to help them make lifestyle changes to help ensure their prediabetes doesn’t progress to diabetes.

Working Together to Increase Access to Care

NCMS Foundation Board of Trustees President Katie Lowry, MD, MPH and NCMS CEO Robert W. Seligson, MBA, MA, met last week with representatives from the University of North Carolina, Pembroke to discuss ways to work together to improve access to health care for the underserved, particularly in eastern North Carolina.

UNC Pembroke Chancellor and NCMS member Robin Cummings, MD, FACC, FACS participated in the discussion. Dr. Cummings, pictured above, is an alumnus of the NCMS Foundation’s Leadership College.

Also included in the meeting was Carolina Complete Health CEO Chris Paterson. Carolina Complete Health, one of the pre-paid health plans selected by the state to provide Medicaid managed care services beginning in February 2020, is the result of a partnership between the NCMS, the NC Community Health Center Association and Centene Corporation.

In the News

Cancer Fighting Drug Shortage Hits Home for Moore County Families, The Pilot, 10-29-19 [NCMS member Christoph Diasio, MD, FAAP is quoted]

Learning Opportunity

In keeping with Diabetes Month, the 17th Annual World Congress on Insulin Resistance Diabetes and Cardiovasular Disease will convene on Dec. 4-7 in Los Angeles. Learn more and register.