Kansas Voter Information

KAFP

The upcoming election is an important one and KAFP urges YOU to vote!  To assist you in preparing to vote, KAFP provides this non-partisan Kansas Voter Registration information:

 You need to register if you meet one of these criteria:  
  • You’re not currently registered: check your registration status
  • You’ve changed your name
  • You’ve moved or changed your address
  • You want to change your party affiliation
Last date to register before next election: October 16, 2018
Registration forms available:
When to vote:  Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Locate your polling place.

Need an advance voting application?  Call your county election office to request one.

If you have questions, call toll-free 1-800-262-VOTE (8683).

How to evaluate the candidates, decide your vote: 
  • League of Women Voters surveys candidates with pertinent Q&A and provides a helpful non-partisan Voter Guide.
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Prescribe Your Patients to Walk

Editorial by Barbara Coats, MD

 

WHAT IF?

“What if there was a pill you took one day that lowered your BLOOD PRESSURE, prevented DIABETES, improved your MOOD and protected against DEPRESSION, increased BONE DENSITY and prevented FRACTURES, helped you remain INDEPENDENT as an older adult, enhanced your ability to THINK and gave you more ENERGY?”

“WOULD YOU BE ASKING YOUR DOCTOR TO PRESCRIBE IT FOR YOU?”

  – Dr. Robert Sallis in Sports Medicine Bulletin

So why aren’t doctors consistently prescribing this pill to their patients? The “pill” that Dr. Sallis is referring to is walking.  Physical activity is associated with decreased cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some forms of cancer, and decreased osteoporosis; it also protects against dementia and benefits mental health. The CDC recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week, and walking is the easiest activity for patients to do.

The Kansas Academy of Family Physicians supports use of this simple prescription and joins other local organizations in promoting WALKTOBER– a community-wide effort during October to encourage people to accumulate 150 minutes of physical activity per week. In past years, paper prescription pads for exercise were sent to physicians. This year, in cooperation with the Medical Society of Sedgwick County, a Walking Prescription can now be accessed electronically and given to your patients to emphasize the importance of this simple activity for their health. The exercise prescription can be customized with your office logo if desired. Practitioners are free to integrate it into their own EMR or simply bookmark it for use as needed. The prescription includes local resources that can help educate your patients to meet their goals. Take the time to evaluate those resources so that you can direct patients to the ones you feel would be most useful. And please share this information with physician extenders as well.

We are excited to support this effort. The electronic walking prescription and resources page can be customized with your office logo and community resources, please contact Kim Neufeld or call 316-425-5607.

Encourage your patients to participate in WALKTOBER.  That may help develop a habit that can bring life-long benefits to their health. Patients can register at Health & Wellness Coalition of Wichita.

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Resource Available to Negotiate Dues Payment in Employment Contracts

AAFP

Are you an employed physician?  Please share this resource with your employer to help explain the value of membership. The American Academy of Family Physicians developed it as a result of a National Conference of Constituency Leaders resolution. It requested AAFP to develop language to help employed physicians negotiate with employers to support state and national specialty society membership dues within their compensation/continuing medical education package. The AAFP worked with focus groups of employed physicians and employers of family physicians to develop a resource that describes the value that AAFP membership provides to a physician’s employer.  Everyone wins with the AAFP was the result.

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Support “Raise the Age KS”

Tobacco Free Kansas

Tobacco use remains the #1 cause of preventable death and youth tobacco use rates are unacceptably high with new users starting every day. Nearly 95 percent of adults who smoke started smoking before the age of 21. At current rates, 61,000 Kansas kids alive today will die prematurely from smoking. According to the Institute of Medicine, raising the sale age of tobacco products to 21 could reduce the prevalence of smoking by 12%, saving thousands of lives and millions of dollars.

Raise The Age KS is a statewide effort led by diverse health groups including KAFP to decrease youth tobacco use by increasing the age of sale for all tobacco products to 21.

You have two opportunities to join this effort to protect KS kids through Raise the Age KS:

We hope you’ll lend your voice and urge your clinic, hospital, schools, church and other organizations in which you’re involved to decrease youth tobacco use by increasing the age of sale for all tobacco products to 21 through Raise the Age KS!

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New Influenza Vaccination Coding and Billing Webinars: Sept. 12-25

Sanofi

Sanofi Pasteur is now offering live influenza vaccination coding webinar events to assist you with billing accurately and appropriately this immunization season. This new program offers two viewing options across six live event dates. Registration is available at www.crackingthecodestraining.com

How to Code and Bill for Sanofi Pasteur Influenza Vaccinations for Patients of Any Age
  • 4 live event date options
How to Code and Bill for Sanofi Pasteur Influenza Vaccinations for Pediatric Patients
  • 2 live event date options

You may also view the program’s on-line modules, on demand, at your convenience, 24/7, and you’ll have access to the extensive library of coding and billing resources available on the resource page of the program, including state-specific Medicaid billing guidance.

 

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KDHE Strategic Plan Outlines Efforts to Address Opioid Crisis

KDHE

In 2016, there were more than 300 drug-poisoning deaths in Kansas, and approximately half of those involved a prescription or an illicit opioid. Although Kansas is below the national average for fatal opioid overdoses, the opioid crisis is an emerging threat that remains a priority for the state to address. The Kansas Prescription Drug and Opioid Advisory Committee has developed a four-year plan to provide help to those affected and empower professionals with the strategies they need to reduce prescription drug and opioid misuse, abuse and associated adverse health outcomes. The Committee published the Kansas Prescription Drug and Opioid Misuse and Overdose Strategic Plan 2018-2022, with the overarching Protect and Improve the Health and Environment of all Kansans goal of identifying and implementing prevention and intervention efforts around prescription drug and illicit opioid abuse, thereby decreasing fatal and non-fatal overdose rates in Kansas.

This strategic plan was developed around five priority areas: Prevention, Provider Education, Treatment and Recovery, Law Enforcement, and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). The goals, objectives, and strategies in the plan are driven by Kansas-specific data, support best practices, and aim to address multiple levels of impact. You may download the document at Prescription Drug Overdose/Misuse Prevention. A limited quantity of hard copies will be available by request by emailing Theresa.Freed@ks.gov or by calling 785-296-5795. This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Prescription Drug Overdose: Data-Driven Prevention Initiative and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Partnerships for Success program.

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Kansas Health Champion Nominations Open

KDHE

The Governor’s Council on Fitness is now accepting nominations for its annual Kansas Health Champion Awards. Awards are given to individuals and organizations that make an exceptional effort to model, encourage and promote health and fitness in Kansas. The deadline for nominations is Sept. 30. Award recipients will be recognized at the Community Health Promotion Summit on Jan. 24, in Manhattan, Kan.  Nominees would be expected to have demonstrated:
• Work that goes above and beyond what is expected to model, encourage and promote fitness
• Far-reaching impact
• Sustainable influence or activity

For more information and to submit a nomination, go to getactivekansas.org, and click on the nomination form link. Contact Jennifer Church at 785-296-6801 with questions.

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September PSA Focuses on Sports and Exercise

AAFP

The AAFP’s national public service announcement campaign (PSA) in September features a segment about concussions. Watch the PSA about the concussions. Each PSA educates the audience about an issue and urges them to visit familydoctor.org for more information. Please help educate your patients by referring them to the familydoctor.org website.

Below is the schedule of monthly PSAs:

Ultimately, it is important that patients, after viewing the PSAs, will gain a sense of empowerment over their own health. Increasing patients’ knowledge of important health issues that affect them is intended to help them feel more prepared and willing to talk about them with their family physician.

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Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative Support and Alignment Network Resources

American Board of Family Medicine

The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) offers the following customized training, resources, and technical assistance to support the improvement of Patient and Family Engagement (PFE) programs:

  • Coaching calls with PFE subject matter experts
  • Virtual trainings and webinars customized to meet Practice Transformation Network (PTN) and clinicians’ specific needs
  • On-site workshops or technical assistance
  • Assistance with developing community partnerships with local YMCAs that align with TCPi aims
  • Support for patient and family advisors through the IPFCC’s PFCC
  • Connect, an online portal for patients and family members, clinicians, health care staff, and administrative leaders.

For more information, visit PCPCC.

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Roots of Health Inequity

KDHE

You may be interested in this online learning opportunity developed by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO): Roots of Health Inequity.  The project explores root causes of inequity in the distribution of disease, illness, and death. Particularly, rural residents are more likely to experience some of the contributing social factors that impact health.

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