Catherine Cummings MD

How bad is it in your hospital? In your state? Read interview with RI ACEP Prez, Dr. Dina Himelfarb in Boston Globe by Brian Amaral. The storm is hitting now. @RIMedSoc @AmerMedicalAssn @MarilynHeineMD

Kudos, @texmed! Gold carding is among prior auth reform principles of AMA + 16 other orgs AND agreed-to by health plans.  But, insurers have largely not adhered to a statement they signed in 2018. Stories of patient harm d/t prior auth delays were most compelling to lawmakers.

I’ve practiced at the ICU bedside in WA, AZ and OH since Mar 2020, going with teams of skilled providers to areas of need. Each time, we see the same story play out: lungs on the R ⬇️that could be saved by 2-doses of a vaccine.

Great lineup of speakers and topics! 🧠 #neurotwitter #MedEd #neurology

@MerckLisa Thank you. 30years. that’s a lotta books for a lotta years.. I’m pretty sure you read them all also, which is mind blowing.

Busy is an understatement! Check the report to see what affects you in Rhode Island. Advocacy matters. Thanks to the Legislative Team and many, many RIMS members! @RIMedSoc Get involved, be a member!

Unless I am reading this wrong, @GovDanMcKee today quietly, by executive order, re-upped the Covid "state of emergency" through September 1 that @GinaRaimondo 1st signed in March 9, 2020. And quarantine/isolation rules from March governor.ri.gov/executive-orde… governor.ri.gov/executive-orde…

@LizGoldbergMD If this is a RI doc, please ask if they will talk with me.

Spoke to pain physician recently re: getting patients care they need for chronic pain. He spends $250K on staff per year doing prior authorizations and paperwork for insurance companies. Many still end up paying out of pocket. No wonder we see so much untreated pain in ED 🙁

@MarilynHeineMD Look at RI legislation this year -finally after 3 + years. @AlynAdrain was the champion and saw it through.

#ColonCancer can be highly treatable if caught early. Under the Affordable Care Act, only routine screening tests are covered. If a #Cologuard result is positive, #colonoscopy would be considered “diagnostic,” and not fully covered by insurance. cbsnews.com/news/cologuard…

Congratulations Dina! Promoted and New President of RI American College of Emergency Physicians

@Alisonation Thank you. I am truly honored.

The presidentier president, the attendier attending, the fantastic @CCummingsRI winning physician of the year at RI ACEP!

@NatalijaFarrell @Alisonation Thank you

@Alisonation @CCummingsRI Congratulations @CCummingsRI

Prescribed cefixime (gonorrhea treatment) to a patient on MassHealth (Medicaid). Called back by pharmacist patient needs prior auth. Alternative: patient must go to ER to get IM ceftriaxone! Now wondering how many other Medicaid pts. not getting STI treated. @CDCgov ⬇️

Is a massive gun range really needed on cape cod? Is this the best use of incredible land that there is? I don’t think so. @meganranney @GAGnoguns @capecodtimes

@bradcollins53 @sargsyanz And just try to admit a patient without them.

@sargsyanz Never met an ER doc who didn’t order all of the above. (And I’m ok with that)

A CBC and chem-7 are generally accepted as worthwhile screens for almost any patient requiring hospitalization. Opinion: CXR, ECG, and UA meet that threshold too.

The best way to get honest feedback is to reward people for giving it. If you make it hard to tell you the truth, people take the easy way out. When people have the courage to be candid, you can reinforce it with gratitude and curiosity. tedtalks.social/WLAdam @MellodyHobson

@LizGoldbergMD No joke. There’s no way a person can recover with the sleep interruptions. And it doesn’t have to be that way. Why do hospitals weigh patients at 6am? Or much of anything before 7. Labs/med/X-rays all need a good review for sleep priority.

The hospital of the future should be quieter... Physiologic Monitor Alarm Burden and Nurses' Subjective Workload in a Children's Hospital pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34074710/

"It seems ridiculous that a patient could bleed to death because of a lack of blood,” a RI Hospital trauma surgeon says. Yet that's the situation doctors worry about with a shortage that @RIBloodCenter calls a "blood emergency" bostonglobe.com/2021/06/15/met…

Prior authorization can cause unnecessary, potentially life-threatening delays for patients with neurologic conditions. I join @AANmember in urging Congress to pass #HR3173, the Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act. #FixPriorAuth #AANadvocacy #neurotwitter