by: Gene M. Battistella, DO

I continue to hope that all of you and your families are safe and healthy during these difficult times of the COVID pandemic and social unrest among other issues ongoing in our state, our nation and our world.  Now more than ever our patient's look to us for reliable and up-to-date information regarding the pandemic and the POMA has continued to provide that to you in our COVID newsletter updates, providing information from reliable and trusted resources.  In addition to pandemic related medical care and information, our patients are also looking to us now more than ever for reassurance, comfort and guidance navigating through their other medical care concerns at a time when access to laboratory and other diagnostic centers, and even some instances physicians has been restricted due to this pandemic. 

As we strive to advocate and provide care to our patients during these trying times, we need to be aware that in addition to the wellness of our patients, we too are being cognizant of our own healthcare needs and wellness.  Whether taking a moment during our busy work day to stop and refocus, spending some quality time with family, engaging in a hobby or activity to “get away” even just for a brief period of time from our hectic and stressful work lives is important for our own health as well.  It is difficult for us to provide care to our patients if we are not taking time for care for ourselves.

The POMA has recognized this for some time and has advocated for our physicians and our patients on a multitude of issues and continues to strive to be the resource that each of you look to for education and information, as well as support and whatever else we may require to help navigate through our professional careers.  The POMA Officers, Board, Committees, Chief Staff Officer and our dedicated and resourceful staff, continue to discuss ways we can provide further member value and benefit to you along these lines as well.  We established a POMA Wellness Committee to address just such issues.  POMA provides wellness grants to Osteopathic resident groups to participate in approved wellness activities outside of their routine duties.  In regards to our Members, funding is available to each of our Districts to support social events for members and families to become involved to improve our well-being and promote collegiality amongst each other, without the need to rely on pharmaceutical support.  If you are unaware of these opportunities in your District, please contact your District leadership to see how you can get involved and possibly engage in or plan an activity.  Information to help you in these endeavors is available on our web site and other social media platforms or just pick up the phone and call the POMA Central Office and someone will be there to assist. 

Furthermore, the POMA Public Relations Committee is always looking for authors to submit for our “How Are You DOing” Blog, typically featuring short pieces on topics related to mental health and wellness, as well as our “DOs DOing More” column which presents a personal account of something you DO in the community through volunteerism, education and other activities and hobbies outside the practice of medicine.  Both are published monthly in this very POMA Newsletter and on our social media platforms. 

In closing, I am grateful to the entirety of our great POMA Family, including each of YOU as POMA Members, and wish you and your family’s good health and best wishes.  Be safe and take care!

by: Diana Ewert

“I sustain myself with the love of family." - Maya Angelou

I hadn’t experienced a sense of family in a work environment before I started working with physicians, except for the short time I spent at Hallmark Cards back in the… well a long time ago. Then I joined the osteopathic profession and I started to experience this sense of family, of belonging, on a completely different level. It is this sense of family that allows me to ask the orthopedic resident prepping me for surgery what COM he graduated from and how his program is going and will he remain in Pennsylvania. In this situation, you could consider me the eccentric aunt. When individuals call seeking an osteopathic physician, I could be a distant cousin… trusted because I’m family and family cares for each other.

It is this sense of family that unites us. It is this sense of family that makes us consider others above ourselves. And over the past two weeks, it’s this sense of family keeping me sane. Checking up on me after surgery. Making sure I’m taking my meds and offering me their caring sympathy on the loss of my brother. Thank you, my osteopathic family, for being here. 

General Assembly...Still in Session?

It is mid-July, a stopgap budget has been enacted and the General Assembly is still in legislative session.  There have been years past that legislators have been in session deep into the summer, but that has been almost exclusively because of budget impasses. But this esoteric year has brought unpredictability to everything, including Pennsylvania state government.  There are still volleys of partisan wrangling on the Democratic Governor’s emergency powers in a pandemic on one side and the Republican-led House and Senate to limit those powers on the other.  In many respects, Pennsylvania has mirrored the national debate on how many liberties the American people are willing to forgo to conform to the public health needs brought on by the pandemic.  POMA has correctly positioned itself above the political fights and concentrated on providing its membership with as many facts and resourced information as possible to help Osteopathic physicians during the pandemic.  POMA has been successful with the Administration in obtaining some liability protection for physicians and limiting the advancement of non-physician provider scope of practice expansion through executive order. It is hopeful as we move into the Fall, we can focus some time and attention in state government away from the pandemic and revert to concentrating on insurance and liability reforms on behalf of physicians and patients.  But it is still a guessing game to see what pathway Pennsylvania and the Country will take in the age of COVID-19. 

Hazard Pay Grants Now Available for Front-Line Workers in Life-Sustaining Industries

On July 16, 2020, Governor Tom Wolf announced the availability of $50 million in grant funding to help employers provide hazard pay to employees in life-sustaining occupations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This reimbursement-based grant was created through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and is available to employers offering hazard pay during the eligible program period. It will be administered by the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). Businesses may apply for grants up to a maximum of $3 million.

The following applicants are eligible to apply:

• Businesses
• Healthcare Non-profits
• Public Transportation Agencies
• Certified Economic Development Organizations (CEDO)

Eligible Pennsylvania-based industries include:

• Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Ambulatory Health Care Services
• Hospitals
• Nursing and Residential Care Facilities
• Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation
• Food Manufacturing
• Food Retail Facilities
• Security Services for eligible industries listed above and commercial industries not closed as a result of the Governor’s Business Closure Order
• Janitorial Services to Buildings and Dwellings

Eligible applicants may apply for grants using the online DCED Electronic Single Application for Assistance located at http://www.esa.dced.state.pa.us from July 16, 2020, to July 31, 2020. Program inquiries may be directed to (717) 787-6245 or [email protected].

Read the Governor’s full press release here. 

Fee Regulations In Place

Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) approved the regulations yesterday that will increase the licensure application and renewal fees for Osteopathic physicians and other clinicians under the State Board of Osteopathic Medicine. This goes into effect for the renewal cycle which ends October 31, 2020.  The increase is $110 or $55 per year for Osteopathic physicians.

POMAF Funds 3D Printed P100 Mask

Thanks in part to grants from the POMA Foundation and the American Osteopathic Information Association, POMA resident members James R. Latronica, DO and Steve Martin, DO have designed a 3D printed P100 respirator mask, called the Unity, and an instruction manual and video to make it. The project was initially conceived as an emergent, rapid response to the nationwide PPE shortage. View a pdf of the guide or click here watch the 30-minute video.

Drs. James Latronica and Steve Martin are residents at the Clarion (Pa.) Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program.

 POMA Dues Renewal

We all need family, especially in times like these.  POMA is your professional family and has been ceaselessly working on behalf of you and the osteopathic professional throughout the pandemic.  The impact on your professional and personal life is immeasurable.  That’s why it’s important to renew your membership today!

POMA's 2020-21 membership year began July 1 and it's easier than ever to remain part of our osteopathic community when you Choose POMA. Call 717-939-9318 x170 or renew online today – your username is 

Thank you for all you DO and thank you for continuing to Choose POMA! 

View the
newsletter online!  

POMA continues to monitor the rapidly changing information surrounding the spread of COVID-19. Please visit www.poma.org/covid-19 for all of our updates, as well as resources we are finding to be most useful and accurate at this time.

Table of Contents...

1. President's Perspective
2. Executive Opinion
3. Policy Points
4. Hazard Pay Grants Now Available for Front-Line Workers in Life-Sustaining Industries
5. Fee Regulations In Place
6. POMA ISMIE Affinity Program
7. POMAF Funds 3D Printed PPE Mask
8. POMA Dues Renewal
9. SoFi
10. COVID-19 Updates
11. POMA20 Certificate Update
12. Under the DOme
13. Welcome New Members
14. Classified Ads Information
15. Follow POMA on Social Media
16. POMPAC
17. Upcoming CME Conferences
18. APOMA Virtual Meeting 

POMA20 Certificate Update

CME statements are available in the POMA CME module for attendees of POMA’s 112th Annual Clinical Assembly.  Check your email for login instructions to access your records.  The CME credits were also submitted to the AOA on your behalf. 

As a reminder, if you have not submitted your attestation form, please do so by July 20, 2020.

CLASSIFIED AD
RATES
— Per insertion —

Member Ads*: $10 for the first 20 words, $.25 for each additional word. $2 each for special services: box letter, all caps or all bold type, boxing an ad in.

Non-member Ads: (Payment must be received in advance.) $50 for the first 20 words, .50 each additional word. $5 for each special service (listed above).

*Please Note: Member ad rate to be used only by POMA members and only for their medicine- or practice-related ads. Charges for other types of members’ ads will be calculated using the non-member ad rate.

POMA does not take a position of endorsing any organizations, individuals or services whose classified advertisements appear in this publication. The POMA Newsletter reserves the right to select and edit all advertisements submitted.

Follow POMA on social media for all the latest news!

POMPAC is the collective
voice of the osteopathic profession in Pennsylvania.

Send your personal check to POMPAC c/o POMA, 1330 Eisenhower Boulevard, Harrisburg, PA 17111, or charge your contribution to your credit card!

PAC contributions are not tax-deductible.

Save the Date 
Upcoming CME Conferences!

POFPS Virtual CME Symposium

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the POFPS CME Symposium is transitioning this year’s in-person conference to a virtual conference and registration is OPEN.  The dates remain the same, August 7-9, and a tentative schedule is available.  Click here to register – your username is .

For more information, please visit the POFPS Symposium webpage, email [email protected] or call (717) 939-9318 x170 with any questions. 

APOMA Virtual Meeting

Please join APOMA for a virtual board meeting on August 8, 2020 at 11am. We were hoping to see everyone in Hershey but unfortunately that was canceled. The meeting will be held using Zoom. Please see the meeting info below. 

Topic: APOMA Board Meeting
Time: Aug 8, 2020 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 718 891 0002
Password: 121663

Should you have any questions please contact us at
[email protected]. 

We look forward to seeing everyone virtually.

Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association | 1330 Eisenhower Boulevard, Harrisburg, PA 17111  (717) 939-9318 | www.poma.org