October 12, 2023

In this issue:

• Local doctors, local issues town hall meetings begin October 16

• Call for nominations: Zonal/Regional RF delegates

• Apply today: AMA Informatics Committee

• Alberta's Pathway Hub now live

• Follow these steps to ensure you get lab, specimen and imaging results

• Alberta Medical Association/TD Insurance Stabilization Fund

• Presidential ghosts in your inbox?

• October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

• New: MD Culture Shift October 2023 issue

• MD Financial Management

  • Practice management team: Assemble!

• Community Connections
  • Are you interested in shared care planning with complex patients?

Local doctors, local issues town hall meetings begin October 16

AMA President Dr. Paul Parks and AMA Executive Director Athana Mentzelopoulos are hosting a series of member-only town hall meetings across the province to meet with members in person and to hear directly about local issues and ideas. The intent of these events is simply to listen to members – to hear from physicians about what’s going on in their local area, what they are facing in their practices and what they and their patients need most. We will hold meetings in seven Alberta locations: Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge and Fort McMurray.

Call for nominations: Zonal/Regional RF delegates

The Call for Nominations for election of zonal/regional delegates to the AMA Representative Forum is now underway.

See the AMA website for details about the election and the nomination process for anyone wishing to run for election to RF (members only; login required), including: call for nominations, nomination form and ZMSA nominees in each region/zone.

The deadline for responding to the call for nominations is 9 a.m., Friday, November 3.

Each Zone Medical Staff Association has been asked to put forward a slate of candidates for election as the RF delegates for their zone (Calgary, Edmonton) or the regions within their zone (South – Regions 1 and 2, Central – Regions 4 and 5, and North – Regions 7, 8 and 9).

Apply today: AMA Informatics Committee

Applications deadline: October 20

The AMA Informatics Committee is looking for a physician to join the team as chair to provide expertise on informatics issues that impact AMA members. The successful candidate may be assigned to provincial informatics tables as needed. The Informatics Advisory Committee is a committee of the AMA and is directly accountable to the Board of Directors. Experience and interest in informatics, including but not limited to Connect Care and/or community EMRs is required.

This is a three-year term position.

Alberta's Pathway Hub now live

Alberta’s Pathway Hub (The Hub) is the new provincial online location for trusted, evidence-informed clinical, patient and referral pathways. The Hub is available for all providers to access pathways to optimize their practices and simplify workflows.  
 
The Hub is updated and maintained by AHS’s Provincial Pathways Unit (PPU). Pathways found on The Hub are co-designed with patients and primary and specialty care providers to provide information and guidance on management, diagnosis and referral of patients for a specific specialty.

Contact PHC@AHS.ca if you have any questions.

Follow these steps to ensure you get lab, specimen and imaging results

As of November 5, all lab and diagnostic imaging (DI) sites and services in Alberta Health Services will be using Connect Care. Many of the lab and DI sites in the South Zone and North Zone are using Connect Care for the first time, so the processes below may be new to these providers. Community providers and clinics need to:

• Know your provider, submitter and department IDs: look them up here.
• Use provider and submitter/department IDs on all lab, specimen and imaging requisitions.
• Update AHS if contact/eDelivery information changes or providers join or leave your clinic: Use this form.
• Note: if you work at more than one clinic, courtesy copies (cc:) may only go to a single default location.
• Be aware: community providers will continue to receive some clinical documentation from Connect Care via their EMR, mail and/or fax.

View details here.

For support on the processes above, call 1-877-311-4300. 
Questions: PHC@AHS.ca.

Alberta Medical Association/

TD Insurance Stabilization Fund

In 2018, the AMA signed a 10-year agreement with TD Insurance, which included a rate stabilization fund in the terms of the agreement. The purpose of this fund was to monitor our group experience: if the claims experience was favourable, the excess was to be used for the benefit of the members insured under the TD Insurance program.

We are delighted that our stabilization fund allowed TD Insurance to reduce premium increases by 3% upon renewal, for all members insured under the TD Insurance program with homeowner policies that renewed from October 2022 to November 2023.

As shown in this chart, the Canadian insurance industry continues to experience rising claim costs in Alberta due to catastrophe and many severe weather events. Additionally, inflationary trends continue to impact claims costs, which is increasing residential premiums across the industry. Given those trends, the distribution will end in November 2023.

Presidential ghosts in your mailbox?

It's October, which means the AMA Annual General Meeting has concluded and we have installed our new president, Dr. Paul Parks.

As Dr. Parks sends out his President's Letters, you may see the names of past AMA presidents (e.g., Dr. fred Rinaldi) in the "From" field.

The problem may be haunting your personal address book, which might still be connecting the email address president@albertadoctors.org with a past president's name.

Ghost busting

1. Search your personal address book for the older contact linked to president@albertadoctors.org. Delete that contact.
2. Create a new contact called "AMA President" with the email address of president@albertadoctors.org.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The Alberta Breast Cancer Screening Program is encouraging physicians to talk to eligible patients about the importance of breast cancer screening.

In 2022, Alberta lowered the recommended starting age for biennial screening mammograms for women at average risk from 50 to 45. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a great time to talk with patients between the ages of 45 and 49 who may not be aware of this change.

In addition to lowering the recommended starting age, last year’s update to the Alberta breast cancer screening clinical practice guidelines included several recommendations.

New MD Culture Shift October 2023 issue

In this issue of MD Culture Shift:

• October is Healthy Workplace Month
• TILT, TACT & TIPS now available on MLL – multiple dates
• CMA Wellness Connection – multiple dates
• Sexual Violence Awareness Education – Lunch Hour Learning Sessions – multiple dates
• PFSP: Changing Your Self-Criticism to Self-Compassion – October 18
• MD Culture Shift Community of Practice – October 25
• Medical Leadership Development Series – October 25 & 26
• Lunch Hour Physicians’ Healing Group – Wednesdays, 12-1 p.m. until October 25
• Canadian Conference on Physician Health - November 3-4
• Resident Wellness Conference - November 9
• And more!

MD Culture Shift is an AHS publication created by physicians for physicians through the Physician Diversity, Wellness and Leadership Development portfolio. It shares news of the constructive efforts happening in Alberta that support physician diversity, wellness and leadership.

Visit ahs.ca/mdwellness to learn more and read previous issues.

Practice management team: Assemble!

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As a new physician, assembling a team of non-medical professional advisors is a very important part of your transition into practice. Their expertise will steer you toward smart decisions and help you set a solid foundation for the rest of your medical career. Here’s how to get started.

Community Connections

This month, the following is available for your consideration:

Are you interested in shared care planning with complex

patients?

One:carepath is looking to partner with primary care physicians and clinic teams who use MedAccess, PS Suite, Healthquest or Accuro EMRs to care plan with up to 10 complex patients over an 18-month period. There are funds to support this work and participation in this project can be used as part of the PPIP-CPSA QI requirements.

One:carepath is a provincial research study that takes a proactive and co-managed approach to care planning with patients who have advanced/decompensated/non-curative COPD, heart failure, cirrhosis, kidney disease, and stage 3 or 4 solid organ cancers.

Promoting a local charitable health-related event?

Recruiting physicians and medical learners for a medical study?

Seeking AMA member participation in a survey?

The AMA receives many requests to promote local events, research participation opportunities and surveys to our members. We consider all requests based on specific criteria and general relevance/appropriateness. Please note that, unless explicitly stated, the AMA is not associated with or responsible for items listed in Community Connections.

In case you missed it...

CMA Awards: Nominate in one-step.

AMA committee openings closing soon:

Committee on Achievement Awards - apply by October 31.

AMA membership renewal. Renew online.

Fall 2023 RF Reports and Resolutions are now available online (member login required).

Upcoming events

PFSP: Changing your Self-Criticism to Self-Compassion

October 18

Social media training for AMA members:
 

Media Relations 201

November 16

1-4 p.m.
 

View all upcoming events on the AMA website.

Have an event you'd like to promote?

Review our criteria and submit your event.

Recognition Roundup

Below are special dates deserving recognition:

October:
Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Recommend a special date.

Last issue's top stories

- First Nations life expectancy: a deeply concerning drop infographic

- Meet Dr. Franco Rizzuti, AHS medical health officer and member of the MD Physician Council

In the October 12
MD Scope Classifieds
you'll find listings for:
 

- Physicians wanted

- Locums wanted

- For sale or lease
- Services

More from the AMA

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