Dr. Stockwell Nominated for Leadership Award

By Karen Wendland

Leadership Tallahassee, a division of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce has announced 16 finalists to be recognized at the Distinguished Leadership Awards Dinner on September 18, 2008.

Our very own, Dr. Jim Stockwell has been nominated as a finalist for the Servant Leadership Award. His fellow nominees are: Carmen Cummings, Executive Director, Alumni Affairs, Florida A&M University; Walt McNeill, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections; Steve Uhlfelder, Attorney, Uhlfelder, Zepp and Associates; Roosevelt Wilson, Publisher & Editor, Capitol Outlook.

The Servant Leadership Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated consistent community leadership and begun to achieve results beyond a single field of endeavor, combining efforts in business and non-profit organizations. Individuals with 10 to 25 years of community involvement are considered for this award. Previous recipients are: Bryan Desloge, Lane Green, Steve Evans, Gil Ziffer & Glen Davidson.

There are two other awards presented at the September 18th dinner: the Leader of the Year award and the Leadership Pacesetter award. The Lifetime Leadership award will be presented to Marjorie Turnbull and Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce Past Chairmen’s award will go to Judge James Joanos.

Dr. Stockwell is in very highly regarded company with his nomination and this Servant Leadership award is very, very prestigious. We are proud of Dr. Stockwell’s nomination.

Within the medical society, we know Dr. Stockwell as the President of CMS when the We Care Network was founded in 1992. He was the driving force behind its creation. Since then he has chaired our Access to Care Committee and been involved with numerous medical society endeavors.

In 2005, he won our I.B. Harrison, M.D. Humanitarian Award.

Dr. Stockwell has gone on to serve Leon County, as a member and now the Chair of the Leon County Healthcare Advisory Board. Leaders in our community seek and respect his opinion on access to healthcare issues.

He was very active in the campaign to promote the tax referendum in 2006, which, if passed, would have dramatically increased the number of insured individuals in our County.

The Leadership Tallahassee’s 14th Annual Distinguished Leadership Awards Dinner will be held on Thursday, September 18 at 6:00 p.m. at the Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center. Reserved tables of 8 are $1,000 and individual reservations are $100.

For information contact Barbara Boone, Executive Director at 224-8116. Congratulations Dr. Stockwell !!!!

The Leadership Tallahassee Distinguished Leadership Awards event is our major community fundraiser, with proceeds going to the Youth Leadership Tallahassee program. Created in 2004, Youth Leadership Tallahassee is a year-long program that brings together a diverse group of high school juniors from the public and private schools in Tallahassee who have demonstrated leadership in formal and informal situations, and prepares them to become ethical leaders committed to active community involvement.

Medicare Caps Home Oxygen

By Michael Kramer, CEO Desloge Home Oxygen & Medical Equipment

The Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 requires Medicare to implement new policies that will have a significant impact on home oxygen patients, their physicians and their equipment providers. Traditionally, Medicare provided home oxygen benefits for patients with COPD and other physician documented illnesses for as long as the patient needed the therapy. The great majority of patients require continuous therapy for the remainder of their lives. More than one million Medicare patients are currently receiving Oxygen Therapy at home.

In an effort to reduce expenses, Medicare implemented a policy on January 1, 2006 that caps the payments for the home oxygen benefit at 36 months. The first wave of patients will be affected in January 2009. The providers of Home Oxygen therapy (Home Oxygen Companies) will no longer be reimbursed for providing 24-hour on call service, routine maintenance, replacement supplies, or for delivery of portable oxygen tanks for mobility or backup. In fact, patients may now be required to pay for supplies and unscheduled service and to pick up their supplies and replacement tanks. Further, they may not have access for 24-hour on call emergency support.

Industry estimates are that 10-30% of patients currently exceed the 36 months of need and the Home Oxygen providers cannot service that segment of their business without reimbursement. The level of care and service that any private provider would offer to a significant portion of their patients for which they will receive no reimbursement should be a major concern.

Our conversations with case management staff at area hospitals have confirmed the likelihood of increased admissions as a result of reducing the role played by home oxygen companies. Many in the industry anticipate an increase in hospitalizations and higher costs as a result of these changes. Home Oxygen Therapy costs Medicare $7.62 per day versus $4,600 per day in a hospital. In 2002, there were 673,000 hospitalizations for COPD at an average cost of $23,920.

These policies can be found on the Medicare Website at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/press/release.asp?Counter=2043

Medicare has not initiated an education or communication program on these new policies and most patients and physicians are unaware of what is coming. If you have concerns about these changes and the impact they could have on your patients and their families, contact your senators and representatives or Medicare directly. Although continuing to improve the efficiency of the Medicare system is important, this change presents more problems than solutions and in fact may not generate any of the savings that are hoped for.

Michael Kramer has been with Desloge Home Oxygen since May 2005. He is also the son of Dr. Joel Kramer, an esteemed CMS member.

Dr. Brian Sheedy Retires
from Medical Practice

On July 16th, Hematology Oncology Associates hosted a retirement party for Dr. Brian Sheedy at Chez Pierre Restaurant. Although everyone wished him and Wende well, Dr. Sheedy will be very much missed in the physician community of Tallahassee.

Dr. Sheedy is a past-president of the Capital Medical Society, the CMS Foundation and is a past recipient of the I.B. Harrison, M.D. Humanitarian Award. Pictured are (l-r) Dr. Jack MacDonald Dr. Sheedy, Dr. Jim Mabry, Dr. Tim Broeseker, Dr. Marie Amanze, Dr. Frank Santoli and Dr. Viralkumar Bhanderi.

The We Care Network Receives Prestigious Donations

The Florida Dental Health Foundation made a generous donation to the Capital Medical Society Foundation – in support of Project Dental Care. Pictured here: James Walton, D.D.S. (right), President of the Florida Dental Health Foundation presenting a check to Dr. John Mahoney, President of the CMS Foundation. Project Dental Care is part of the We Care Network, in which 48 local dentists donate dental care to low-income, uninsured patients in our community. LeTasha Screen is the case manager for these dental patients. Last year, Project Dental Care saw 212 patients and donated more that $94,000 in services. Services are primarily extractions and fillings. In addition, transportation and prescription medications are donated as needed to patients.

We appreciate the support from the Florida Dental Health Foundation for the efforts made by our local dentists and physicians to increase access to care.

The Florida Dental Health Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization, supporting dental education and dental care programs benefiting the people of Florida. Their offices are in Tallahassee, at 1111 E. Tennessee Street. For more information, go to www.floridasdentalcharity.org.

The Rotary Club of Tallahassee made a generous $1,000 donation to the Capital Medical Society Foundation’s We Care Network. The Club has a long-standing tradition of supporting the We Care Network. Karen Wendland, Executive Director attended the Club’s meeting on August 6th, as the guest of Dr. Nelson Kraeft and accepted the Club’s check on behalf of the CMS Foundation.

Many CMS members are members of the Rotary Club of Tallahassee: Dr. Kraeft, Dr. Mike Forsthoefel, Dr. Lee Elgin, Dr. Nancy Van Vessem and Dr. Tom Wood. Pictured here is Karen Wendland at the podium, thanking the Club for its donation to the We Care Network.

Pictured at her left is Mark Horner, Director, Community Service for the Rotary Club and seated is Dr. Mike Forsthoefel, who introduced the Club’s speaker that day.