NMPS Chosen “Voice of the Year”: We are proud to announce that the New Mexico Pediatric Society was chosen
by Voices for Children as the 2007 Voice for Children award winner in the health policy category for our
“unwavering dedication to children during the past 20 years”. We were honored at Voices’ 20th Anniversary Gala
Celebration on November 9, 2007!
Advocacy for Children and Pediatricians and 2008 Legislative Session
The Governor’s bill, the NM Health Solutions Act, included (1) a health care authority appointed by the Governor,
which would set the guidelines for health care reform, (2) a fee/tax on employers who did not provide health
insurance to their employees. These fees/taxes would be used by the state to provide health insurance to
uninsured New Mexicans and (3) introduction of electronic billing and then electronic health records. Legislators
introduced bills that ranged from (1) a single payer health program, (2) a health insurance exchange which could
recommend tax credits/voucher payments for individuals to purchase health insurance, (3) a health care authority
with member appointments divided between the Governor and the Legislature and (4) health savings accounts.
Medicaid: Medicaid was funded at about $103 million. This is a shortfall of between $10-20 million from what the
Governor’s budget requested. The Governor did make a commitment to enroll more children; Other Bills
Regarding Health and Health Care: Many health related bills such as (1) stem cell research and cloning, (2)
mandatory HPV vaccination, (3) a dental school in NM, (3) nurse triage hotline, (4) UNM telepsychiatry, (5) health
care career recruitment and retention and (6) a GRT deduction for co-payments and deductibles died in committee
or on the Senate or House floor. Eighty-thousand dollars was appropriated to waive medical doctors’ licensure
fees to recruit and retain doctors in NM. Many appropriations for the Department of Health and for UNM may have
been funded in their budgets as outlined in HB 2. It is very difficult to find them in the 276 page HB 2. The memorial
to study a possible correlation between antidepressant dugs and suicidal thoughts and behaviors was passed. A
Birthing Workforce Retention Fund for certified nurse-midwives and physicians providing birthing service to low
income patients to assist with their medical malpractice premiums passed; Obesity and Nutrition: The Manny
Herrera Health Foods Act, which would have provided financial assistance to qualified applicants proposing
projects to improve access to health foods, was vetoed by the Governor; Early Childhood: Voluntary Pre-K received
$5 million (of this, $2 million is non-recurring) The Governor had requested $9.3 million to expand Pre-K. The
Family Infant Toddler Program received increased funding of only $1 million ($5.5 million had been requested to
expand services and increase reimbursement to early intervention providers. Home visiting was funded a $1
million recurring fund. The Governor vetoed increases in Child Care Assistance. Small appropriations (about $
50,000) were included in HB 2 for Autism Spectrum Disorder services beyond recurring funding for the Center for
Development and Disability; Scope of Service: The following changes in scope of service passed: (1) Updates to
various laws to include physician assistants within the definitions and provision for health care providers, (2)
Advanced chiropractors prescribing and administer drugs subject to the Controlled Substances Act, and (3)
Genetic Counselor Licensing Act .
Pediatric Council
Our spring council meeting was spent on old business, followed by a presentation by Larry Shandler on
developmental screening. The meeting was topped off with the appearance of Rep. Heather Wilson, who received
the Excellence in Public Service Award for 2007 from the American Academy of Pediatrics. NMPS President Rob
Miller presented the plaque. The AAP cited her “leadership and commitment to children,” especially for her support
on the floor of Congress for reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Nebulizer
Closets: Karen Carson of Roswell presented the update on the nebulizer closet proposal. She said information
has been disseminated to all NMPS members on how to establish a neb closet. Jeannette Velarde, Medical
Director of Lovelace Health Plan, said that providers can also stock spacers, aerochambers and peak flow meters
in their equipment closets for distribution to their patients. Sandia Surgical is the Durable Medical Equipment
supplier for Lovelace, BCBS and Molina. Interested?Call the Lovelace contact number you have been given
previously. (Let’s put that in here – I can’t find last week’s paper, let alone a newsletter from 3 months ago!) We
will clarify the availability of these DME items through BCBS, Molina and Presbyterian. We also have been asked
to assess utilization of the nebulizer closets and to help determine the best way to spread the word to family
practice physicians and other providers that neb closets are available; Asthma Medication Prior Authorization
Form: A nearly final revision of the PA form that followed the new national guidelines for the Stepwise Management
of Asthma was presented, but tabled until the summer meeting at Jeannette’s request. There is concern that our
work in developing a PA form should not duplicate efforts by the 34 School Based Health Centers in their asthma
management, nor that of the Albuquerque Public Schools. All members agreed that coordination of forms and
uniformity of management was very important. All of these activities will continue to receive our attention; AAP
Resolution for Synagis Administration: The health plan directors learned that our chapter’s resolution to ask the
AAP to consider revising the criteria for administration of palivizumab (Synagis) to 32- to 35-week preemies was
defeated by a 60 to 40 percent margin at the Annual Leadership Forum in March. The Committee on Infectious
Disease spoke strongly against our resolution, stating that there is no new literature that would warrant an earlier
review of AAP criteria before its scheduled 2009 review. We will keep this issue alive, but will look at a different
approach. A similar resolution was brought forward by the Kentucky Chapter, but withdrawn at the floor vote.
Another resolution by Kentucky asked the AAP to relax the definition of gestational age to allow more 35-week
preemies to be administered palivizumab. This was adopted by a wide margin; Dental Varnish:Joanne presented
an update on the fluoride dental varnish issue, which the Council adopted as a new topic late last year. Britt
Catron, state Dental Director for Medicaid, sent the results of her survey of nine states whose pediatricians and
dentists participate in dental varnish programs. Each state has adopted different variations of varnish application
schedules, payment and paperwork. In New Mexico, Doral Dental is the contractor providing dental benefits to
Medicaid patients. Norm said New Mexico has one of the highest penetration rates in the country [can’t tell what
this means: what’s penetrating what?], but our members pointed out that this doesn’t mean that children in the
smaller communities have access to pediatric dentists, or that these dentists apply varnish. Dr. Carson proposed
that the Council explore the possibility of asking Doral Dental to contract with pediatricians for varnish application,
as this would avoid many issues; Palivizumab Universal PA Form Changes: Minor changes have been suggested
and will be considered at the summer meeting. Presbyterian and Lovelace officials both agreed to continue to
use the form; Molina’s and BCBS’ new directors will have a chance to review the form and its use;
Developmental Screening: Larry’s presentation on developmental screening focused on the new AAP periodicity
schedule and the rationale behind routine standardized screening. He said he will work to educate our members
on this aspect, as well as his and the Council’s efforts to have payment for developmental screening be covered
by commercial insurance companies.
Education for Pediatricians
At the end of September 2007, we held an educational meeting in Cloudcroft, NM which focused on pediatric
neurology and developmental health along with practice management and QI updates. This CME Conference was
designed to accommodate the continuing educational needs of the practicing Pediatrician, Resident in Training,
and other health care professionals (i.e. physician assistants, nurse practitioners, practice managers). The
course will provide the most current technologies for handling cases related to pediatric neurology (migraines,
seizures) and developmental health issues (autism, developmental delay disorder and screening). Also
addressed will be practice management issues such as coding and billing, billing for procedures and modifiers,
reimbursement and pay for performance. Further, we’ll address the importance of quality improvement in light of
the updated recertification requirements of the American Board of Pediatrics.
Speed Mentoring, Bosque Walking and Children Singing Opera: It’s what happened at the 30th Anniversary
Wylder Lectures, a great weekend of innovative events and activities as well as excellent continuing education. We
held another Pediatric Council meeting at which we presented the AAP’s Excellence in Public Service Award to
Representative Heather Wilson. We also held our “It’s Just Mentoring” event and happy hour which was
generously funded by a grant from the AAP’s Young Physician Outreach Program. A total of 12 student members of
the University’s Pediatric Interest Group attended and had the opportunity to ask questions of a variety of practicing
pediatricians. We especially want to thank our facilitator Dr. Ken Richardson, time keeper extraordinaire, and those
who acted as mentors: Drs. Lance Chilton, Erika Fernandez, Joe Dean, Joanne Ray, Rob Miller, Javier Aceves,
John Ratmeyer, Rob Martz, Jane McGrath, Kelly Moore, Stephanie Nevarez-Hernandez, and Anne Marie McCarthy.
We also awarded our first ever “Robert E. Greenberg Lifetime Achievement in Pediatrics Award” to long time
pediatrician in Las Vegas, NM, George Bunch, who was able to attend the festivities to receive his award; On
Saturday April 5, the following educational presentations were made: Vaccines and HPV, From Columbine to
Melrose Place: Sex, Drugs and Violence in the Media, Contraceptives, and Quality Improvement for Recertification.
Saturday evening was full with our first ever silent auction and dinner, an award presentation to Dr. George Bunch
(the Robert E. Greenberg Lifetime Achievement in Pediatrics Award), a talk on the AAP and Access to Care by
immediate past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Jay Berkelhamer, MD, and a performance by
“Opera Unlimited”; On Sunday April 6, we wrapped up a fun weekend with lectures ranging from Get Wise, Get
Stepwise: The New Asthma Guideline, Management of Congenital Cardiac Conditions That Can Present in
Adolescence, Safe Routes to School and the NM Child Helmet Safety Law, The Seven (Common) Wonders of
Pediatric Dermatology, Spirometry in the Office Setting and The Varnished Truth: The Role of Primary Care in
Preventing Early Childhood Caries. A portion of our education program was funded by a small grant from New
Mexico’s McCune Foundation, a grant totaling $5000.
Information Sharing: Some of the major work we do is to be active in disseminating information to our members
that comes from a variety of locations. We have a new group email process using Constant Contact which makes
our emails more visually interesting and captivating and also allows easier linking and downloading. Our website,
sponsored this year by Presbyterian’s Children’s Medical Center is chalk full of information and finally our dense
newsletter (a great source of information and updates) has gone completely “green” being available as a
hyperlinked PDF file that is on the web as well as emailed each time it’s published.
Quality Improvement: We continue to partner with Envision New Mexico: The initiative for child healthcare quality
which continues to grow and has focused their last year’s worth of work on bringing QI projects to 33 school-
based health care centers throughout New Mexico. We have also seen the growth of a developmental screening
quality improvement project headed by Sherri Alderman, MD and the in collaboration with the UNM Center for
Development and Disability. Envision was recently granted the qualification of being a certified QI project for
inclusion in the ABP’s requirements for Recertification part 4.
Young Physicians: We are actively supporting the UNM Department of Pediatrics’ Child Health International
Program which is dedicated to supporting resident physician education with experiences in international
pediatrics and medical service endeavors in the developing world. The NMPS continues to be able to fund travel
grants with our International Child Health Resident Travel Grant Program which aims to assist pediatric residents
in pursuing their international child health interests with small grants to help with travel expenses. We also
shamelessly stole the idea for “speed mentoring” from Kyle Yasuda, MD and implemented our initial effort for this
kind of interaction with physicians and students with funding assistance from the YP Grant Program in the amount
of $2000. We also secured a small grant from SoHEC or the Southern Area Health Education Council, to help
residents traveling to Silver City, NM be reimbursed for their mileage to that community rotation.
Other Items: In October of 2007, Child Health Month, we again held our Child Health Hotline at the local NBC
television affiliate for the 14th year in a row. It was fun and successful as usual.
Underage Drinking Call to Action: Last fall we were visiting in NM by the then Acting Surgeon General Kenneth
Moritsugu, MD, who discussed his recently released report on underage drinking. We were also closely involved in
the planning of the medical roundtable portion of that visit.
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