News from ACOI

The American College of Osteopathic Internists Board of Directors welcomes its new Resident Representative, John A. Arthur, DO.

At the Annual Member Meeting, ACOI officially announced the Board of Directors Appointments.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is accepting applications through December 14, 2023, for new voluntary payment and delivery model — Making Care Primary (MCP). Eligibility requirements and additional details can be found in the request for applications. The model, which will run 10.5 years, will be launched on July 1, 2024 and will be tested in eight states: Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Jersey, North Carolina and certain counties in New York.

ACOI announced the appointment of Robert T. Hasty, DO, FACOI, FACP, as President for 2023-2024 during the ACOI 2023 Annual Convention & Scientific Sessions in Tampa, Florida last week. Dr. Hasty, who has served on the ACOI Board of Directors since 2015 enters the presidency with clear objectives in mind. “My goals are to grow ACOI’s advocacy efforts, while also continuing to advance our world class education that we know many osteopathic internists count on. Plus, we’ll focus on further increasing leadership and community opportunities for our internists.”

Two Current SOIMA Officers Progress to New Roles; Seven New Officers & Regional Representative Elected. ACOI announces the results of the second national election of officers for its Student Osteopathic Internal Medicine Association (SOIMA) held in September.

Anya Cope, DO, FACOI, believes everyone matters and has value. Perhaps that is what drew her to serve on the ACOI Committee for Health Equity and Inclusion in Medicine. As Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) in Harrogate Tennessee, she is using her time and talents paying forward her experience and personal philosophy of care and compassion as she grooms the next generation of osteopathic physicians.

The ACOI has submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to its proposed payment policies for 2024. In the letter, ACOI re-stated its concerns about Medicare payments that are not keeping pace with inflation. Next year the Medicare conversion factor — the basic starting point for calculating Medicare physician payments — will be reduced by more than 3 percent. While Congress has provided a 1.25 percent positive adjustment for 2024, it is half of the 2.5 percent provided for 2023. The remainder of the cut is due to requirements of budget neutrality triggered by the proposed implementation of office/outpatient evaluation and management visit complexity add-on code G2211 that begins on January 1, 2024.

2023 Award Winners to be Celebrated for their Professional Accomplishments; Presidential Citation to be Granted Posthumously to James C. Giudice, DO, MACOI

I am often frustrated with those who post their questions on blogs and web pages instead of looking for the answer themselves. All too often the answers I see in response to these questions are incorrect. You will see a discussion with multiple people involved discussing how they handle a specific coding or billing situation, and their answers are all wrong. None of them know they are wrong and, in doing so, continue to distribute incorrect information.

Robert A. Cain, DO, FACOI, FAODME, believes there’s value in every experience, and today as President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) he is using his vast experience as a pulmonologist, educator, leader in medical education, and advocate for osteopathic medicine, to lead an organization that is an important voice in the education and training of physicians who practice osteopathic medicine in settings across the medical spectrum.

Melanie De Shadarevian is a Post-Graduate Year 3, Internal Medicine Resident at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego. A daughter of Lebanese, Armenian, and Syrian immigrants, she was raised with ingrained values of gratitude and is leveraging her observations of life, and her vast exposure to a multitude of cultures, into a heart for serving underserved populations. Whether she connects with patients speaking French, Spanish, or Arabic, she is happy to give them the comfort of speaking to them in their native language when she can while addressing their care in the signature holistic way that makes her proud to be a DO.

When you join us at ACOI 2023, you’ll witness unique speakers that will no doubt expand your mind and challenge your perspectives. In honor of this year’s theme—Health, Wellness, or Medicine?—the ACOI is proud to present a broad spectrum of keynote speakers and topics that will have you thinking about health, gratitude, and the future of medicine.