February 8, 2016

Dear colleagues,

This is a time for tremendous change for physicians and health care providers.  We are particularly concerned about our primary care and rural medicine colleagues.  The boards of ‘Ahahui o nā Kauka and the National Council for Asian and Pacific Islander Physicians (NCAPIP) would like you to be aware of some important free resources that are available from CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) to aid with the transitions being required of your practices over the next couple of years in converting to a value-based payment system by 2019.

As an overview, CMS awarded more than $685 million to 20 national and regional collaborative health care practice transformation networks (PTNs) and 10 Support and Alignment Networks (SANs) to provide technical assistance to help train and prepare 140,000 clinicians with innovative tools and support.  At this point in time, the training and support are free!

However, you need to register before the end of February.

The PTN that is largely charged with covering Hawai‘i is the National Rural Accountable Care Consortium (Feb 2016 presentation).  The contact person is Shannon Calhoun, scalhoun@nationalruralaco.com, NRACC PTN Regional Vice President for Hawaii, Southwest Region.

Please review the resources above.  Time is of the essence as they are signing up practitioners and practices at this time.  We want to make sure that everyone gets the support they need during this critical transition time.

Also, please note that the two boards have been working with a SAN, HealthCare Dynamics International, which has assisted in making contacts with the PTN assigned to Hawai‘i.  The SAN has partnered with NCAPIP, National Medical Association and the National Hispanic Medical Association to assure their respective members, many in small urban or rural practices, don’t miss out on this opportunity.  Its staff is also available for support and to help answer questions.  Please contact Ms. Jan Kelley at HealthCare Dynamics.

Aloha,

     Martina L. Kamaka, MD, President, ‘Ahahui o nā Kauka; Director, NCAPIP

     Dee-Ann L. Carpenter, MD, Secretary, ‘Ahahui o nā Kauka; Member, Hawaii IPA

[PDF letter]