Dear NCMS Colleagues,

I have officially been President for just over a month and it is as busy as ever. Before getting into the main course, I want to congratulate and thank Dr. Claire Murphy, our Immediate Past President, for all of her incredible work. She was able to help lead us through two extremely successful virtual events, including the Annual Meeting. Thank you to all who attended, and we truly enjoyed sharing the event with you.

As we move into Spring, our biggest priorities include the current legislative session and what that means for our members, along with our Virtual Education Series. There are many bills the Colorado Medical Society is tracking, and you can follow their progress through this link. The bill that continues to be a high priority is the Colorado Option. This bill was introduced during last year’s session, and indefinitely postponed.  The year the bill was rewritten and a draft was released in mid- March and was set to be heard in committee March 31^st. After significant opposition, the bill was pulled from the committee hearing and is being reconsidered. An entire rewrite is possible, and at the time of this writing, details are unavailable. The first draft of the bill that was released would have been implemented in two phases. The first phase allowed the health care industry to, without regulation changes, attempt to reduce individual healthcare premiums by 10% in year one and an additional 10% in year two.  If this is achieved in Phase 1, then phase 2 is not triggered. The second phase, if enacted, would create an independent advisory board to set up a low cost (meaning low premium) plan to be sold on the current healthcare exchange. This would require a waiver from the federal government, and any cost overruns would be paid federally. This advisory board would also be tasked with rate contracting for all healthcare providers in the state. In addition, it required mandatory participation in the plan, with potential risks to physician licensure if a physician does not accept the rates. The Colorado Medical Society Board Of Directors strongly opposed this plan and is awaiting the presentation of a follow-up bill before deliberating on any changes. Your NCMS Board of Directors has not yet taken a position on this bill as we agreed to wait until it was heard in committee, which did not occur.  As President, my priority is to make sure we are hearing from our physician members on how we can best advocate on your behalf, especially when it comes to something as practice changing as the Colorado Option. We are going to analyze our recent survey results in partnership with the Colorado Medical Society to help NCMS make the most informed decision for our position. Our mission is to advocate on behalf of our physician members, so your feedback is important!

On a different note, as we continue to look towards warmer weather, NCMS is only warming up in our Virtual Education Series. Our first THC event was a great success and it was a great turnout by our membership. Our next event is one you can’t miss—as Governor Jared Polis is introducing our speaker, Dr. Carl Streed from Boston University School of Medicine. Carl G. Streed Jr (he/him) earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins, where he advocated for the inclusion of LGBT health in the curricula of the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health, increased the visibility and value of the LGBT community through community advocacy, and achieved transgender equity in health insurance coverage. Governor Polis is extremely excited to greet our members and thank them firsthand for the amazing work they have done through the pandemic. If you have not registered yet, you can do so here.

Finally, we welcome the new medical students that will be joining the Northern Colorado community this year, and give kudos to the outgoing third year medical students, some of whom were working in your practices.  We are continuing to evaluate how we can create valuable programming for medical students, residents, and our entire membership . Stay tuned for more information!

I look forward to our continued work together, and I always enjoy hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Ted Norman, MD

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