MMA News
Be Prepared
What can physicians do to ready themselves for a pandemic?
We asked John Hick, M.D., an emergency physician at Hennepin County Medical Center and medical director for the Minnesota Department of Health’s Office of Emergency Preparedness, how physicians can prepare for an influenza pandemic.
Is avian flu something physicians really need to worry about?
We are closer than we’ve been since 1918 to the kind of pandemic that could fundamentally alter society, and that kind of threat demands our attention.
Which physicians need to be thinking about this?
All physicians need to ask themselves, What are my skill sets? and What do I have to offer? Whatever specialty training you have, you have the ability to help tremendously because of your training as a physician. You should figure out what elective parts of your practice could be delayed during an emergency so you can be free to better serve your community.
What questions should physicians ask at their workplaces?
Physicians should find out the policy of their clinic or hospital for managing patients during a pandemic and how it plans to continue to operate. Physicians also need to know what their workplaces are going to do to protect medical staff. Will they provide masks, barrier gowns, sanitizing gels, gloves, anti-virals, etc.?
Are there established response teams that physicians can join in advance?
There are county-based medical reserve corps and the state’s Minnesota Responds database. I would urge every physician who wants to play a part in any disaster response, not just in a pandemic, to register with the reserve corps.
What steps should physicians take now to prepare for a possible pandemic?
Physicians need to ask themselves, Will I stay and provide care? or Will I go with the family to the cabin up north? Hopefully, they will weigh the personal risks (which should be small but depend on the characteristics of the pandemic strain) and decide to contribute to the community’s response. Physicians also need to create a family disaster plan and ask questions such as Who’s going to provide the child care if school is out for weeks at a time?
What should physicians do once they hear the pandemic has started and is heading for Minnesota?
If we know it is imminent and spreading in other countries, that is when we need to get the people who need medication refills, prenatal checks, general exams, elective surgeries, etc., through the health care system as fast as possible in order to open up capacity during the time that the pandemic is here. That is also a good time to refine facility emergency plans and family emergency plans and make contingencies based on whatever supplies that you have set aside.
For more information about volunteering with the Medical Reserve Corps, go to www.health.state.mn.us/minnesotaresponds
MMA Looks at Early Retirement Health Insurance Options
Doesn’t early retirement sound wonderful? You’d have more time for family, hobbies, and travel.
One drawback of hanging up the stethoscope before age 65, however, is that you have to buy your own health insurance until Medicare kicks in. Health care coverage can be expensive and difficult to find, especially for physicians with pre-existing medical conditions. For those reasons, the 2005 Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) House of Delegates directed MMA staff to identify group and individual coverage options for physicians who wish to retire early.
The first option is COBRA coverage, which allows physicians to buy their former employer’s coverage for up to 18 months after they leave the job.
Once those 18 months are up, physicians must look for coverage in the private insurance market, where insurance companies underwrite policies for individuals and base the premiums primarily on the person’s age and health history. Insurers aren’t required to sell policies to people they consider financial risks, and they can decide not to renew a policy.
Those who have pre-existing conditions and are turned down by private insurers can apply to the state-run Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA). MCHA is sometimes referred to as Minnesota’s high-risk pool for health insurance or the health insurance of last resort. Approximately 30,000 Minnesota residents are insured by MCHA, which charges premiums between 100 percent to 125 percent of the average price for comparable policies in the state.
The MMA considered offering insurance to physicians through a self-funded plan but found that the idea wasn’t financially viable, as it would require a large upfront investment, and the small pool of physicians in early retirement would have significant potential for large claims and high premiums.
The MMA also considered creating a product for early retirees backed by an insurance company but found insurers opposed taking on such a high-risk pool of people.
This article is based on research done by Schwarz Williams, now known as the Stanton Group, the MMA’s endorsed insurance broker. To learn more, contact Dave Stedman at 800/422-0504.
MMA Supports Gov. Pawlenty's Call for Study of Drug-Marketing Costs
Governor wants a two-year moratorium on consumer-directed drug ads.
The Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) joined with Gov. Tim Pawlenty in July to call for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to study the cost and impact on patients of direct-to-consumer marketing of drugs.
The governor called on Congress to place a two-year federal moratorium on direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising. During the moratorium, the FDA would be required to examine the cost impact of direct-to-consumer marketing and make recommendations to improve existing regulations.
He also announced proposed legislation that would require drug companies to report the costs of their advertising in the state and proposed making FDA guidelines for drug advertising state law. This would allow state regulators to prosecute drug companies violating the guidelines.
Minnesota would be the second state to enact such regulations. Maine was the first.
At the press conference, Pawlenty derided drug advertising that shows butterflies or middle-aged men throwing footballs as “silly,” inappropriate, and unhelpful to patients.
The advertising has led to rising costs and patients self-diagnosing based on little information, he said, noting that the United States is the only industrialized nation that allows this type of
advertising.
MMA President David Luehr, M.D., also spoke at the press conference. “This is an important issue, and the governor is on track in calling for further study of how this affects the cost of health care,” Luehr said.
Luehr said physicians are often frustrated with direct-to-consumer marketing because it interferes with the physician/patient relationship.
“When a patient sees an ad that is more about a brand than a cure, it makes it harder for us to have a conversation about what’s the best treatment for them,” he said.
The press conference received coverage in the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, and St. Cloud Times. MMA Member Benjamin Whitten, M.D., appeared on a WCCO-TV news report and said, “[Patients’] expectations for a result may be quite improper and quite over-expressed in a clever marketing ad. So it really puts us behind the eight ball.”
The amount of direct-to-consumer advertising has significantly increased since the federal government loosened restrictions in 1997.
Minnesota physicians studied the issue of direct-to-consumer advertising and adopted a report by the MMA Pharmaceutical Issues Task Force in 2001.
In their report, task force members indicated a need to study the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising on the price of drugs and the attitudes of patients. They also called for the FDA to develop advertising guidelines to ensure the messages patients received were accurate, scientific, and balanced.
In general, their conclusions were in line with the governor’s proposal to further study the cost and patient care effects of direct-to-consumer marketing.
However, the MMA has not taken a position on whether a moratorium on such advertising should be imposed.