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Join your colleagues at The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting and Postgraduate Course in San Antonio, October 25 - 30, 2019.
Anti-MOC Bill Moving Forward at Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio House has begun hearings on an important bill that could ban maintenance-of-certification (MOC) as a prerequisite for licensure, insurance plan participation, hiring, and hospital admission privileges. Ohio is now one of about a dozen states that have or is currently seeking to curtail the use of MOC as a threatening tactic that could impact a physicians’ ability to practice medicine.
Legislative Update
While House Bill 273, the maintenance of certification (MOC) measure, has drawn the most attention from OGS, there are a number of other pending bills, rules and laws of interest for gastroenterologists.
Those who prescribe opioids to patients as part of a pain management plan should be aware that the state medical board has imposed new rules for treating acute pain conditions.
The state pharmacy board also has new rules related to prescribing opioids. The pharmacy board, to better track which doctors are prescribing opioids and for what reason they are prescribing the painkillers, will soon require ICD-10 codes to be included on the actual prescription that patients take to a pharmacy to be filled.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit blocking the implementation of a health care price transparency law that was supposed to have been started on Jan. 1 of this year is still pending. In late 2016, the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA), Ohio Hospitals Association (OHA), OGS and other provider organizations filed a lawsuit against the State of Ohio seeking an injunction against law.