Advocacy Successes
Physician Advocacy Successes
Good health policy is made with physicians in the discussion.
MSDC, working with its members, partners, and other organizations, has won major policy victories to help its members practice medicine. Below is a sampling of those victories. Do you want to be a vital part of the next policy victory helping improve the health of the District? Contact us today.
Opioid Policy
- MSDC was added to the opioid fund oversight panel by the Council in its legislation authorizing the oversight body
Scope of Practice
- MSDC supported legislation to ban the sale of flavored electronic smoking devices and restrict the sale of electronic smoking devices.
- Working with a coalition, MSDC added funding to the DC budget to support the hiring of more license specialists to help with the delay in processing medical licenses.
Women's Health
- B24-143, to regulate certified midwives, passed the Council with MSDC's support
Health Equity
- Mayor Muriel Bowser signs into law the Electronic Medical Order for Scope of Treatment Registry Amendment Act of 2019. The eMOST Registry Amendment Act permits the creation of an electronic database of advanced directive wishes for District residents that can be tied into the health information exchange.
- Mayor Bowser signs into law the School Sunscreen Safety Temporary Amendment Act of 2019. The bill permits students to bring and apply sunscreen during the 2019-2020 school year.
- MSDC comments on the importance of funding United Medical Center (UMC) and health facilities in Wards 7 and 8 in the mayor's budget. Those comments are used almost verbatim in CM Trayon White's comments advocating for funding of United Medical Center.
Scope of Practice
- DC Health publishes draft regulations removing the 3 mandatory CME hours for HIV/AIDS awareness and replaces them with a requirement to fulfill 10% of mandatory CME hours with a topic from a public health priority list. DC Health then waived the requirement for 2020.
- The Strengthening Reproductive Health Protections Act of 2020 is signed into law with MSDC support. The bill prohibits government interference in reproductive decisions between a patient and doctor, and prohibits employers from penalizing physicians for practicing reproductive medicine outside of their work hours.
- The Mayor's Commission on Healthcare Systems Transformation releases its final recommendations. One recommendation is for the District to explore options to make providing health care more affordable, including financial relief for higher malpractice insurance rates.
- The Council removes "telephone" from the list of prohibited types of telemedicine to allow physicians and other providers to be reimbursed for telephone telemedicine appointments after MSDC and health community advocacy.
- MSDC worked with the Council to modify onerous language in the Health Care Reporting Amendment Act that potentially would have penalized physicians from seeking help for substance abuse or addiction issues.
Opioid/Drug Policy
- The Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) waives prior authorization for key medication assisted treatments (MAT) treating substance use disorder patients in Medicaid.
- The Mayor signed into law The Access to Biosimilars Amendment Act of 2019, a top MSDC priority as it would help prescribers to prescribe more cost-effective drugs for patients.
Behavioral Health
- The Behavioral Health Parity Act of 2017, a major priority for MSDC and DCPA, officially becomes law. The legislation requires all health benefit plans offered by an insurance carrier to meet the federal requirements of the Wellstone/Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Health Equity
- The District Council passes B22-1001, The Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Amendment Act of 2018. The bill prohibits the sale of Short Term, Limited Duration health plans and Association Health Plans (AHPs) in the DC Health Benefits Exchange.
Scope of Practice
- DC joins 28 other states in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact with B22-177 becoming law. The IMLC is designed to ease physician licensure in multiple states.
Women's Health
- The Maternal Mortality Review Committee is established by law. The Committee is responsible for finding solutions to maternal health crisis in the District. District physicians are an important part of this vital committee.
- B22-106, The Defending Access to Women's Health Care Services Amendment Act, becomes law. The act requires insurers to cover health care services like breast cancer screening and STI screenings without cost-sharing.
Opioid Policy
- Right before the Council adjourned for the session, it passed B21-32, the Specialty Drug Copayment Limitation Act. The bill limits cost shifting by payers for prescription drugs.
Behavioral Health
- B21-0007 passes the Council. The Behavioral Health Coordination of Care Amendment Act of 2016 permitted the disclosing of mental health information between a mental health facility and the health professional caring for the patient.
Women's Health
- MSDC was proud to have worked on B21-20. The law requires payers to cover up to 12 months of prescription contraception, advancing women's health and equality.
MSDC Member Dr. Zelivianskaia: From Moscow to Nebraska
Only bits and pieces from her early childhood years remain in Dr. Zelivianskaia’s memory of Moscow. Having been back several times as an adult, she can attest to the city’s beauty, charm, culture, and varied history.
When she was only eight years old, her father, who worked as a medical center scientist, relocated the family from Moscow to the Midwest state of Nebraska. Although the culture shock was significant, she had a good support system while she settled. “Thankfully, I had a wonderful third grade teacher who took me under her wing and gave me the attention I needed to learn English and get up to speed with my classmates,” she recalled.
Six years later the family moved again to Chicago. “I lived in a culturally diverse community in the north suburbs of Chicago,” she said.
With scientists in her family, she knew early on that she was going to pursue medicine during her undergraduate studies at the University of Chicago. “I remember flipping through the course book to see what interested me. Initially, I was most drawn to biology and focused on that for several years before adding a double major in anthropology, which really broadened my perspective,” said Dr. Zelivianskaia.
Her studies awoke a passion for public health and how to address health disparities. Her focus soon narrowed to medical anthropology, which is the study of how health and illness are shaped culturally, which she then applied to the public health field. “We cannot treat and improve health if we are not looking at the factors that influence it,” she explained.
Throughout her career, Dr. Zelivianskaia has taken great care to address the cultural nuances of her patients. “In older Asian families, for example, the whole family may be in the exam room and regardless of who the patient is, the doctor needs to be culturally sensitive and deduct whether it is most appropriate to address the oldest family member in the room, the patient themself, or another member,” she explains.
Dr. Zelivianskaia will become an attending this summer when she finishes her fellowship. She then hopes to open her own OBGYN practice and welcome new patients.
Dr. Zelivianskaia satisfies her continued interest in anthropology with travel. “I love to study different cultures and different settings. Travelling gives me a fresh perspective,” she said adding, “It is also a great way to reset.”
She and her husband, Jean Paul, have travelled to Lisbon, throughout Spain, and spent time in Iceland this past December.
At home they enjoy soaking up local culture from their Adams Morgan home. “We love the D.C. museums and food scene,” she said.
During COVID she and her husband, Jean Paul, started painting large paint-by-number canvasses. “I tried a lot of things during COVID, painting and sour dough bread were two that stuck. We also spent a lot of time looking for board games for just two players,” she said. Two of their favorites are Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle and the tile game Azul.
Dr. Zelivianskaia joined the Medical Society of Chicago early in her residency and continued her membership with MSDC when she relocated to the District. “I love the networking, connections, and resources MSDC offers,” she said. She finds the mentorship important for early career physicians, “it really helps to combat burnout” she said.
While Dr. Zelivianskaia plans her next travel adventure, she and her husband are happy at home with their Beagle/Border Collie rescue dog, Madden. Adopted in January 2020, Madden is living the good life, never having been left home alone.
Leave a comment