“The City That Never Sleeps” is a well-known nickname for New York City that was popularized by Frank Sinatra, in the song “New York, New York”:
I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
And find I’m a number one, top of the list…
Well, the ORA might be the medical subspecialty organization that never sleeps, judging from all the activities undertaken by our members, committees, committee chairs, Board and executive. We are definitely top of the list, in my admittedly biased opinion, in terms of working to fulfill the needs of our members.
Recent examples include our 2 successful ORA Town Halls. Our ORA infectious disease expert-on-call, Dr. Zain Chagla, spoke on September 14th and provided an excellent update on COVID-19 and COVID vaccinations, including third doses for our most vulnerable patients. Updates were also provided on prior authorization issues by Dr Imtiaz Khan, and on our upcoming ORA web directory of rheumatologists by Dr. Yan Yeung. We followed that with our how-to session on SADIE on September 21, featuring a live demo by Dr. Felix Leung, and important information from Menzies Jardine and her team at the DDD branch of MOHLTC. Remember that the EAP program is “axing the fax” as of January 2022, so SADIE will become a necessary part of your repertoire, via your GO SECURE login.
Recordings of both Town Halls are available in the members section of the ORA website.
ORA membership renewals for 2022 begin Nov 1st, 2021. We are pleased to confirm reduced fees for 2022 of $150 (early bird) and $200 thereafter, compared to the 2021 fee of $250 for regular members, as approved at our September 2021 ORA Board meeting.
We work hand-in-hand with the OMA Section on Rheumatology, now led by Dr Julie Kovacs, who also chairs the OMA Committee at ORA. The OMA continues to negotiate our new physician services contract with the government, while addressing issues ranging from virtual care, COVID-19, burnout, and relativity to issues related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Please read Julie’s in-depth analysis of OMA issues in her contribution to the ORA Fall Newsletter.
As always, I want to recognize and thank all our committee chairs for their hard work on so many important files. In this newsletter, you can review updates from the Government Affairs Committee, Northern Ontario Committee, Informatics/ORDER project and Private Payers Committee.
Looking forwards, in November we will host our annual Industry Council meeting & Fall Board Retreat. Reports on those activities will follow in a future ORA newsletter. Until we meet again in person, stay safe and consult our website for ORA news you can use.