Maine Quality Counts Podcast

This webinar provides a brief overview of the work happening at both the system level at MaineGeneral and at the practice level at the Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency (MDFMR) to provide Medication Assisted Treatment to patients.  Alane will discuss how they are providing compassionate care to patients with opioid use disorder and her experience tapering patients on buprenorphine.

Listen as Andrea Green talks about health literacy principles. Are we using the right words?  How we can use Health Literacy Principles to Engage Patients and Families.

Caring for ME pharmacy Webinar, Noah Nesin and Stephanie Nichols.

With new staff and new software, Maine’s Prescription Monitoring Program is undergoing major changes as the new opioid prescribing law, Chapter 488, makes its use mandatory for prescribers of opioids and benzodiazepines. Join us to learn what’s changed and what to expect when using the PMP. In this webinar, coordinator Evelyn Sharkey, MPH, MSW, will give a tour of the new online user interface with special attention paid to: • Registration and delegates • The new Requester Dashboard • Requesting patient info through Rx Search • Bulk patient search • Tracking prescriber’s activity with MyRx • Patient alerts • Finding and managing user profile PRESENTERS Chris Pezzullo, DO Evelyn Sharkey, MPH, MSW  Elisabeth Fowlie Mock, MD 

Recording of a webinar on how providers talk to parents surrounding HPV immunization guidelines with speakers Anny Fenton and Jonathan Fanburg.

Maine's new opioid prescribing law, Chapter 488, stipulates that opioid prescriptions be limited to 100 morphine milligram equivalents per patient per day, that prescribers take an opioid prescribing course, and that the Prescription Monitoring Program be consulted before any opioid or benzodiazepine prescription is written. This webinar reviews updates on the implementation timeline, as well as an exploration of the rule-making and exception process. Also included will be an overview of the law and associated rules on Maine’s pharmacy community. Presenters:  Gordon H. Smith, Esq. Kenneth ‘Mac’ McCall, BSPharm, PharmD, BCGP

Maine's new opioid prescribing law requires providers to limit the daily opioid dosages of chronic pain patients.  But how can providers meet this legal requirement while also limiting their patients' distress?  This webinar recording offers answers by exploring case study examples of common tapering scenarios and challenges and sharing techniques for effectively and compassionately tapering opioid dosages. Presenters: Noah Nesin, MD Eva Quirion, NP

Marijuana is undergoing a renaissance. It’s becoming more socially acceptable. Legal barriers to its use are being dismantled. And among some clinicians, its medicinal use is seen as a legitimate alternative to opioids and other therapies. But what do we really know about the health benefits or risks of cannabinoids, marijuana’s active ingredients? In this QC Lunch & Learn Webinar recording, UNE pharmacology professor Christian Teter, Pharm.D., BCPP, explores the impact of cannabinoids on the developing brain and discovers that, as currently being used recreationally and medicinally, the harm they can do may outweigh the benefits. Join us to learn what we currently understand about cannabinoids – and what we don’t. And for a legal perspective on marijuana use, sale and prescribing, the Maine Medical Association’s Gordon Smith will follow Christian’s presentation with a brief overview of current, and soon-to-be-implemented, Maine marijuana laws.

A QC Lunch & Learn Webinar with Nathan Morse, Maine state coordinator of the National Diabetes Prevention Program. Interested in referring your patients with prediabetes to evidence-based lifestyle change programs that will soon be a reimbursable service? Here in Maine, the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) is partnering with health systems, primary care practices, and community-based organizations to do just that – and more.  Join us for this webinar with Nathan Morse, supervisor of the Maine CDC’s Diabetes Unit and the State of Maine coordinator of the NDPP. He’ll discuss the cross-cutting effects of primary prevention for chronic diseases and delve into the NDPP history, successes , tools and opportunities for partnership.

Prescription drug and opioid overdoses continue to rise in Maine and in the United States as a whole. Communities with Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) programs have demonstrated how effective naloxone prescribing can be in the number of lives reported to have been saved. This webinar will explore how to prescribe naloxone, how to talk to patients about the importance of having and knowing how to use naloxone and how to access naloxone affordably. Elisabeth Fowlie Mock, MD, will present. Elisabeth regularly teaches providers about naloxone use and other opioid-related clinical topics for MICIS, the Maine Medical Association’s academic detailing program.

As the incidence of multiple chronic diseases increases among older patients, so does the phenomenon of polypharmacy. Forty percent of community-dwelling older adults take five or more medications per day. Fifty percent of nursing home residents take nine or more. And in the inpatient setting, the rates are even higher. According to the DHHS, “the burden of taking multiple medications has been associated with greater health care costs and an increased risk of adverse drug events, drug-interactions, medication non-adherence, reduced functional capacity and multiple geriatric syndromes.” In this webinar, we present “person-centered deprescribing,” a new approach to reducing medication burden that a 2014 British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology article hails “as the first deprescribing process developed using knowledge of the patients' views of medication cessation; it focuses on engaging patients throughout the process, with the aim of improving long-term health outcomes.” Please join presenters Dr. Roger Renfr

A discussion with Dr. Lisa Letourneau, Susan Dentzer, Gordon Smith and Jeff Austin regarding the implications of health care policy and funding under the Trump Administration.

PCMH Held it's final Webinar on November 16th. Lisa Letourneau, MD, MPH, Executive Director for Maine Quality Counts spoke on Life After PCMH Pilot/MAPCP and options for supporting alternative primary care payment. 

Medical Assisting is one of the allied health professions feeling the largest impact from recent healthcare reform. Highly competent support staff is increasingly important as population and health trends like team-based care and higher regulation shape the future of health care. Medical assistants (MAs) are widely recognized as part of the solution needed to provide quality, efficient care. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts 2.6% annual growth in the medical assisting field for the next 10 years, more than twice the average for U.S. employment growth. Job postings for MAs grew 15 percent in 2014 after growing over 10 percent per year in 2012 and 2013, according to Gray Associates, a strategy and consulting firm serving the education industry. With these trends comes the need for additional training to fit the ever-changing and expanding roles held within the healthcare community. Through training, curriculum redesign and strengthened clinical relationships MAs are being required to advance beyond

Maine's new Opioid Prescribing Law, Chapter 488, places limits on the total daily dose of opioid medication that most patients may legally be prescribed.  Those limits are measured using "Morphine Milligram Equivalents", or MMEs.  But measuring MMEs for various opioid medications can be tricky and prescribers, naturally, have questions. Which MME Calculator to use?  How will MMEs be handled by Maine's Prescription Monitoring Program?  How can providers keep track of changes in patients' daily MME dosage?  How can practices use EMRs to record providers' opioid prescribing by MME? This webinar will explore what we currently know about the use of MMEs, how they will be used to assure compliance with Chapter 488 and how one large primary care system in Maine is using its EMR to help providers understand their own opioid dosage trends.  

Since 2000, Maine’s adult obesity rate has jumped more than 58 percent. In 2016, nearly a third of adult Mainers are obese, a contributing factor in the increasing prevalence of many chronic diseases including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and even depression. There is little doubt that obesity needs to be addressed by Maine’s medical community, but what exactly should a primary care provider do when encountering an obese patient? In this webinar, we will talk about beginning conversations with patients about obesity treatment, review current and accepted algorithms for care, look at potential pharmacological causes of obesity and follow what happens when a patient is referred to a specialist for care.  

The PCMH/HH Monthly webinar was held on October 25th, 2016. Presenters Rhonda Selvin, APRN, CNP, Medical Director for Maine Quality Counts and Kim Garden, LPN, BS, CPC presented on enhanced CMS fee for service billing codes (TCM and CCM). 

Maine has one of the highest rates in the nation of individuals who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Some studies indicate that more than half of Mainers have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience. The health impact of ACEs has shown to be profound, both behaviorally and physically.  So, understanding both the high prevalence and significant health impact of ACEs, what is a responsible health care provider to do? During this webinar, we’ll discuss constructive ways that providers, administrators and entire systems can create a practice culture that acknowledges survivors of trauma, builds a supportive care environment and understands that treating their health needs sometimes requires going beyond the purely clinical.  

The afternoon Keynote address from the 09/29/2016 PCMH/HH/BHH/CCT Learning Session: Building Team Resiliency to Sustain Health Care Transformation, Presented by speakers Trip Gardner, MD, Penobscot Community Health Care and Angela Felicia, MSW, LCSW, Penobscot Community Health Care. 09/29/2016 [PCMH]  [HH] [BHH] [CCT] {Trip Gardner, MD, Penobscot Community Health Care} {Angela Felicia, MSW, LCSW, Penobscot Community Health Care}

Morning Keynote address from the September 29, 2016 PCMH/HH/BHH/CCT Learning Session: Building Team Resiliency to Sustain Health Care Transformation, presented by speakers Melora Simon, MPH, Stanford University and John F. Chamberlain, MD, University of Rochester School of Medicine. 09/29/2016 [PCMH] [HH] [BHH] [CCT] {Melora Simon, MPH, Stanford} {John F. Chamberlain, MD, University of Rochester School of Medicine}