CMA Membership Benefits

• CMA Legal and Reimbursement Information Documents (CMA On-Call)   www.cmanet.org/

CMA’s 24 hour information on demand library of thousands of pages of medico-legal, regulatory, and reimbursement information is free to members and is easily accessed through our members-only web site at www.cmanet.org.

• Legal Information Line   415-882-5144

Health Law Information Specialists assist members in obtaining medico-legal resources and information, including referrals to outside resources as appropriate.

• Contract Analysis Service

CMA Model Managed Care Contract   This model contract provides physicians with information on issues commonly present in managed care contracts.  Model language is accompanied by explanatory annotations in order to educate physicians regarding contracting pitfalls and benefits.

CMA Contract Analysis Service   CMA contracted attorneys provide written reviews of physician contracts to assure compliance with California and federal law.  There is a 15% discount in attorney fees for CMA members, and examples of contracts include managed care contracts, hospital-based contracts, recruitment contracts, employment contracts, independent contractor agreements and billing service agreements.

Health Plan Contract Analysis   This is a free service for CMA members available through our members-only web site at www.cmanet.org.  Physician members have access to objective written analyses of major health plan contracts that draw attention to issues which may warrant further inquiry or clarification.

• Reimbursement Advocacy Hotline 888.401.5911

Reimbursement Advocates assist members with reimbursement related problems including coding and compliance, billing and collection, managed care contracting and other practice management issues.   They also provide assistance to physicians affected by a medical group/IPA bankruptcy or closure.

Mini-Consultation Program CMA Reimbursement Advocates visit the county medical society where they are available for face to face consultation on a prescheduled basis.

Educational Seminars CMA offers seminars throughout the state covering a variety of practice and revenue management issues including coding and compliance, healthcare information technology, billing and collections, managed care contracting  and other relevant topics.

• Legislative Hotline   866.462.2819

CMA’s Government Relations provides a weekly legislative update as well as additional information on what physicians can do to support or oppose a particular bill.

• CME Pain Medicine and End-of-Life Care Certificate

CMA has been hard at work constructing the most appropriate continuing medical education program to help physicians meet California's new requirement that they complete 12 Category-1 CME hours in pain medicine and end-of-life care by December 31, 2006. The result is a two-day course, "Pain, Palliation, and Politics: The Art and Science of Pain Medicine and End-of-Life Care in California," to be presented at two California sites, one northern and one southern, in spring 2003.

• CME Certification Tracking

Keep track of your CME credits using this complimentary member service ($49 per year for non-members) that allows physicians to meet state licensure requirements for CME, including Medical Board of California audits that are satisfied automatically, when certified through this service.  CMA’s subsidiary, the Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ) maintains an official log of self-reported CME hours, which it also makes available on the physician’s authorization to hospitals, health plans, specialty societies, etc. for credentialing purposes.

•Physicians’ and Dentists’ Confidential Line

Northern California   650.756.7787

Southern California   213.383.2691

The Confidential Line offers a 24-hour phone service for physicians, dentists, medical students, residents, and their families and colleagues, who may have an alcoholic, chemical dependent, or mental/behavioral problem.  This service is completely confidential and using it will not result in any form of disciplinary action or referral to any disciplinary body.

• CMA Bookstore    www.cmanet.org

From clinical education to practice management and patient information materials, CMA publications offer you a variety of useful resources with up-to-date, straightforward information to help you make the best decisions for you and your practice.  Information is available either at no charge or at a discount for members, including CMA’s HIPAA Compliance Guide, Model Medical Staff Bylaws, Managed Care Laws, Benchmark Capitation Rates: The Physician’s How-To Guide for Calculating Fee-for-Service Equivalents, and ACT SMART, a manual of compliance strategies for physicians’ offices to avoid billing and coding problems.

• CMA Alert   Click on “NEWS” at www.calphys.org

News with a capital “N”, this weekly newsletter provides up-to-date information about CMA's legislative, legal and public health advocacy, and positions on current health care issues.

•CaliforniaPhysician at www.calphys.org

This online magazine at www.Calphys.org is updated several times a week with news pertinent to California physicians.  It provides in-depth articles on the world of health care, and will shortly provide a forum where doctors can communicate with fellow physicians about the latest issues facing medicine. 

*** For further information regarding the California Medical Association visit our website at www.cmanet.org.