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What is the MOA?

by Dennis M. Paradis
MOA Executive Director

While many members know "what" MOA is with regard to its role and how it helps members, few realize that this organization is, in reality, a group of organizations working together to meet the osteopathic profession's needs. MOA is a marriage of three separate corporations: the Michigan Osteopathic Association (MOA), the Michigan Osteopathic Association Service Corporation (MOASC), and the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons Charitable Fund (MAOPS Charitable Fund).

MOA is a 501(c)(6) organization, which means it is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing advocacy, education and communication for its members. The MAOPS Charitable Fund, on the other hand, is a 501(c)(3) charity, which is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization that houses charitable activities such as the Student Book Fund and the 49ers Club.

The Michigan Osteopathic Association Service Corporation (MOASC) is a for-profit Michigan corporation that houses various business ventures, which do not fit under the MOA not-for-profit umbrella. The MOASC is the organization that is undergoing the most rapid growth to meet the needs of our members. While the need for advocacy, education and communication remain relatively constant, the need for office management assistance increases as health care reimbursement constricts and regulation increases.

For the past five years, the MOA has been increasing its practice management offerings at its Annual Postgraduate Convention & Scientific Seminar to meet members' needs. These have included courses for physicians and their office staff on topics such as billing and coding, use of computers in medicine, how to access the Internet, compliance with federal statutes and organizing for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The convention's one hour overview of HIPAA created such a great demand for assistance with implementation that MOA partnered with Wachler and Associates, one of the state's premier law firms on HIPAA compliance, to offer nine courses on HIPAA readiness across the state.

HIPAA proved to be an excellent learning tool for the MOA because, even as the various implementation deadlines approached, the federal government was making changes to the HIPAA regulations and implementation schedule. Doctors' offices were left wondering which provisions had been changed, would be changed or would be postponed. To assist our members with the "moving target" that HIPAA created, MOA and Wachler and Associates created a website to keep those who attend the HIPAA programs informed about changes to HIPAA regulations. Through this mechanism, MOA gives its members the best up-to-date implementation information needed to comply with HIPAA and the mechanism to learn about changes as they happen. Because of this updating feature, MOA billed the seminars as "The HIPAA conference that isn't over at the end of the day."

The HIPAA seminars were a great success for MOA, and we are offering additional sessions this September through April 2003. This type of flexibility is the hallmark of the MOASC. We hope to provide our members with a broad array of necessary services - such as various insurance options, new practice services through our Business Partner relationships and fiscal management offerings - and rapidly deploy them to meet the needs of our members.

If there is some way we can help you, we'd like to know. Contact Deborah Zannoth, MOA manager, Member Support, at 800-657-1556 or email: deborah@moa-do.com.