Newsroom
April 23, 2019
Dr. Mark McNeill
Wouldn’t you want to bring a $4 billion investment into NC that could add 40,000 jobs to our economy in just five years? What if these funds also helped address the opioid crisis and lowered insurance premiums? You probably would.
Read more
April 15, 2019
HB 655 - NC Health Care for Working NC Families is a common sense solution that provides an alternative insurance product to low income North Carolina citizens. The plan would emphasize preventative care and wellness programs to incentivize health. Through covering more lives, this plan helps your patients gain greater access to the health services they need.
Read more
April 15, 2019
Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community Hospital Reaches Agreement with UnitedHealthcare for Employed Physician Services UnitedHealthcare - insured patients will again have “in - network” access to employed physician* services
Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community Hospital is pleased to announce that we have reached a new agreement with UnitedHealthcare that reinstates “in-network” status for employed physician* services. This is a win for our patients who deserve access to quality healthcare here at home, and we appreciate their patience as we have worked through this process.
Read more
April 12, 2019
The Graduate program in Bioethics at Wake Forest University recently announced that it will be offering on-line course offerings this summer for existing and newly enrolled students in Wake Forest’s Graduate Certificate in Bioethics program who live outside the central-NC area. Applications are now being received.
Read more
April 12, 2019
April 11, 2019 – More Powerful NC, a public education campaign to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic and empower North Carolinians to take action to address the epidemic in their homes and communities, launched in early April.
Read more
March 22, 2019
On Tuesday, May 21, 2019, the Asheville Buncombe Institute of Parity Achievement (ABIPA), Mission Health, the Western Carolina Medical Society Foundation (WCMSF) and the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) will host the annual Minority Medical Mentoring Program (MMMP) HOPE Banquet. This is a program for underrepresented high school students with an interest in high-level health professions. The primary goals of the program are to increase the number of underrepresented minorities training and practicing in WNC, enhance quality of care (prevention and wellness) as a result of increased workforce diversity, and achieve increased levels of health parity for populations of color in WNC.
This year’s keynote address will be given by four MMMP Alumni: Davon Washington, Melvis Madrigal, Darryl Jayda Hart, and Zaria Bunn. Proceeds from the event will support the Dr. Charles Blair Health Parity Scholarship Fund that awards each MMMP intern a scholarship. The HOPE Banquet will be held at the MAHEC Mary C. Nesbitt Biltmore Campus on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 from 6:00-7:30pm.
Read more
March 22, 2019
COMMUNITY INPUT SESSIONS
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA
- GREENSBORO – 4/3, GUILFORD TECH. COMM. COLLEGE, 5:00-7:30
- CHEROKEE – 4/9, CHEROKEE INDIAN HOSPITAL, 8:00-10:00
- MARION – 4/9, MARION SENIOR CENTER, 1:30-4:00
Read more
March 22, 2019
Presidents Message WCMS 3/2019
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As I write this message I sit preparing for an exciting week ahead, a week that makes me proud to be part of the WCMS. In a couple of days I will leave with a cohort of WCMS staff and physicians for our first White Coat Wednesday of the year at the North Carolina General Assembly. For years, advocacy on behalf of physicians and patients to our representatives in government has been a key strategy of the WCMS. However advocacy this year is special. With the shakeup of power in Raleigh after the last election, we can now discuss access to affordable healthcare for all more easily. The association board has chosen to make closing the coverage gap in NC our top legislative priority this year. WCMS has already been hard at work meeting with representatives locally in Asheville, and with the support of our allies at the NCMS, we will take the discussion to the next level in Raleigh this week.
Read more
March 7, 2019
Thanks to the NC Academy of Family Physicians, which has compiled a checklist as another way to ensure you're aware of all possible issues!
Click here to read the checklist
Read more
February 28, 2019
Submitted by Mariela Solano, Director of WCMSF Interpreter Services
Western Carolina Medical Society Foundation’s Interpreter Network (WIN), in collaboration with MAHEC’s Department of Continuing Professional Development, has just completed the second yearly Winter Cross Cultural Communications Interpreter Training taught by one of WIN’s Contract Russian Interpreters and Interpreter Trainer, Gulnara Akbarova.
Read more
February 28, 2019
Interview with Dr. Richard Bunio of Cherokee Indian Hospital Regarding the Implementation of a MedServe Fellow
Q: Please describe the MedServe Fellowship Program in your own words.
A: The MedServe program links college grads with an interest in a healthcare field with private practices, hospitals, clinics etc. where they spend two years serving that community. It’s like the Americorp for healthcare. They are dually “sponsored” by the program and by the clinic they’re working with.
Read more
February 25, 2019
WCMS CEO, Miriam Schwarz, meets with Representative Brian Turner to discuss WCMS' 2019 Legislative Priority of "Affordable Healthcare for All"!
We discussed examples of Project Access patients who are unable to access affordable healthcare in spite of working hard to do so. Almost 60% of Project Access low income uninsured are ages 50-64, 62% are working poor, many lost jobs due to health issues, and have difficulty finding employment because they are close to retirement. We shared with Rep. Turner the story of Jerry Moncus (insert youtube link here). We also discussed keeping legislation out of the exam room, scope of practice, and HCA’s charity care policy.
Read more
February 19, 2019
Public Policy and Legal Perspective on Impact of HCA Deal, Expiration of COPA, and Medicaid Transformation in North Carolina
Read more
February 19, 2019
1. AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE FOR ALL
- Patient and provider protections in new Medicaid Reform law
- Medicaid expansion
- Mental Health Access
- Keeping legislation out of the exam room
- Scope of Practice
Read more
February 19, 2019
Meeting with Representative Joe Sam Queen
Read more