HJNO May/Jun 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAY / JUN 2020 55 in jeopardy. Because of this, the Louisiana Department of Health set up a 24-hour cri- sis line to help healthcare providers cope with the increasing challenges of the pan- demic. Dr. Bachhuber touched base on the pri- orities of the Louisiana Medicaid program, such as the availability of COVID-19 test- ing (or lack-there-of) for the underserved; physician reimbursement from Medicaid; relaxing policies related to prescription refills; and waiving patient copays for pre- scriptions. He also discussed the impor- tance of telemedicine, and the measures that they were taking to limit restrictions going forward. Dr. Kanter encouraged physicians and medical students on the first call to upload their credentials into the Louisiana Vol- unteers In Action (LAVA) database. LAVA is administered by the Louisiana Depart- ment of Health, Office of Public Health. LAVA works to recruit, credential, train, manage, and deploy volunteers (medical and non-medical) to assist during emer- gencies and day to day activities by pro- viding additional staff to meet health/ medical surge needs. Close to 500 physicians registered for the next teleconference on March 31, which featured Dr. Kanter; Lee Engel, MD, PhD, LSU School of Medicine, Infectious Disease; Gregory Sossoman, MD, MSPH, Ochsner Health, Pathology; John Schief- Tanya Busenlener, MD President Jefferson Parish Medical Society (JPMS) felin, MD, MSPH, Tulane University School of Medicine, Pediatric & Infectious Dis- eases; and Jon Michael Cuba, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, Ochsner Health, Emergency Med- icine. Orleans and Jefferson Parish Medi- cal Societies hosted a third all-physician teleconference on April 7, featuring pre- sentations and Q&A by Dr. Kanter; David Janz, MD, MSc, assistant profession of medicine, pulmonary/critical care and allergy/immunology; and Julio Figueroa, MD, profession of medicine, chief of infec- tious diseases, LSUHealth Sciences Center. Additionally, physicians on the call were provided with business and legal updates and a Q&A session that included liability, telehealth, employment law, and stimulus packages. The fourth COVID-19 all-physician tele- conference took place on April 14, with 300 physicians registered. The call fea- tured updates and clinical presentations from Jennifer Avegno, medical director, New Orleans Health Department. In ad- dition, Dahlene Fusco MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, adjunct assistant professor of tropical medicine, Tulane Uni- versity School of Medicine; and Meredith Clement, MD, assistant professor of clini- cal medicine, infectious diseases, LSUHSC, provided an update on infectious disease clinical trials; Stacy Drury, MD, PhD, as- sociate professor, psychiatry, Department of Pediatrics, Tulane University School of Medicine, provided a behavioral health update; Sonia Malhotra, MD, MS, FAAP, director palliative medicine & supportive care, assistant professor of medicine, & pe- diatrics, Tulane University School of Med- icine & LSU Schools of Medicine, provided information on palliative care and medical ethics. On April 21, OPMS and JPMS hosted a fifth COVID-19 all-physician teleconfer- ence. It featured presentations, updates, and a Q&A with Dr. Kanter; Katherine L. Baumgarten, MD, medical director, in- fection control and prevention, Ochsner Health; and Thomas LaVeist, PhD, dean, Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. “We hope to continue to work with phy- sicians in our area as well as OPMS in or- der to help bring our community together and provide support to the physicians of our region,” said Dr. Busenlener. Orleans and Jefferson Parish Medical Societies followed up by answering email questions from participants and providing recorded sessions upon request. Since sev- eral registered and were called into front- line duty, links to recordings were provid- ed to all of the physicians that registered for the teleconference. In addition to the all-physician telecon- ferences, the two medical societies share real-time news, information, and updates with physicians, medical students, and their community networks through their websites (OPMS.org and JPMS.org ) and social media platforms on LinkedIn, Face- book, and Twitter (@OrleansParishMS and @JeffMedical). They also share helpful content with members through their re- spective e-mail platforms. n Jennifer Avegno Joseph Kanter, MD