April 2005

(04/29/2005)  --  Representatives from the AAFP have requested a meeting with Herb Kuhn, director of the CMS Center for Medicare Management, to discuss the agency's rules on volunteer preceptors in residency training programs. More

(04/28/2005)  --  When a coalition headed by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America launched its Partnership for Prescription Assistance initiative April 5, the group hoped to quickly reach large numbers of people needing help getting prescription medications. As of April 25 -- just three weeks into the program --142,000 patients have qualified for assistance, said Anne Berry, PhRMA's director of alliance development. More

(04/28/2005)  --  The sustainable growth rate that determines Medicare physician payments "makes no sense," but it is up to Congress to change the system. That was the word from Herb Kuhn, director of the CMS Center for Medicare Management, who spoke here April 20 during the Family Medicine Congressional Conference, an annual effort by FPs to beef up on legislative issues and contact Congress about them. More

(04/28/2005)  --  A growing national debate over pharmacists' rights to refuse to fill prescriptions has spurred the AAFP Commission on Legislation and Governmental Affairs to recommend a policy on the issue. More

(04/27/2005)  --  Consumers now have the chance to tell the Academy what types of health-related resources they want to receive from their physicians, thanks to a survey created by AAFP's Americans in Motion program. The survey is available to familydoctor.org visitors, and the results will guide AIM in creating materials fitting patients' requests. More

(04/27/2005)  --  Although the United States has done "a terrific job" of protecting American children from vaccine-preventable illness, the nation's adults have not fared as well, according to the Partnership for Prevention. It's time to rectify that shortfall, say health advocates, the Academy among them. More

(04/26/2005)  --  The family physicians raised their hands. "I promise," they said, "to call my legislator next week. And the next week. And the week after that. And the following week." With that, some 90 family physicians and AAFP chapter staff -- data, maps and personal stories in hand -- prepared their trek to the U.S. Capitol to pitch family medicine's legislative agenda. More

(04/26/2005)  --  The Academy recently streamlined its stance on colorectal cancer screening. While continuing to strongly recommend screening men and women 50 years of age or older for the disease, the new policy gives no specifics on how often screening should be performed or what methods should be used, citing insufficient evidence. More

(04/25/2005)  --  Claims-filed data, as used by the UnitedHealthcare performance program described in "Academy Blasts Insurer's Performance Program," is a totally inappropriate way to determine quality of care. More

(04/25/2005)  --  Grab a copy of the May Reader's Digest next time you're in the grocery store checkout line. The May edition is the publication's second annual "America's 100 Best" special issue. On page 128 -- in the "America's 100 Best Innovations" section -- is Reader's Digest's choice for "Best MD": FP Richard Paris, M.D., of Hailey, Idaho. More

(04/22/2005)  --  The U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced a new food pyramid April 19, launching an interactive Web site -- MyPyramid.gov -- the same day to highlight the event. More

(04/21/2005)  --  Would you like to assign one more task to your trusty Palm OS® PDA? Then check out a new vehicle for delivering up-to-date clinical knowledge and for earning and recording CME credit -- CME in Hand. More

(04/20/2005)  --  The AAFP Board of Directors is "seeing red" -- or at least it seemed that way when it recently voted to support the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign. More

(04/20/2005)  --  Hoping to forestall the types of problems encountered during the 2004 - 05 flu season when one major U.S. flu vaccine supplier was unable to provide any vaccine, the AAFP is urging members to adopt a two-tiered vaccine prebooking plan for the 2005 - 06 flu season. More

(04/19/2005)  --  If you're looking for a comprehensive source of patient safety information, check out the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's new Patient Safety Network, or PSNet. More

(04/19/2005)  --  In the next few weeks, you'll be receiving information about FamMedPAC, the Academy's new political action committee. Citing a need to bring family physicians' voices directly to the nation's political table, the 2004 Congress of Delegates approved formation of the federal PAC, poised to begin operations in June. More

(04/18/2005)  --  Cut Medicare reimbursement to physicians, slash beneficiary access to office-based care, and watch government health costs spiral as seniors turn to more expensive institutional services. More

(04/15/2005)  --  The AAFP Board of Directors recently voted to support the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100K Lives Campaign. Organizers of the campaign, launched in December 2004, hope to save 100,000 lives by encouraging hospitals nationwide to implement changes in care that have been shown to help prevent avoidable deaths. More

(04/14/2005)  --  News that their child has hearing loss devastates and bewilders parents. Now you can help prelingually deaf children and their families by giving them a free, interactive and educational CD-ROM. The CD, "A Parent's Guide to Hearing Loss," describes virtually every aspect of rearing hearing-impaired children. More

(04/14/2005)  --  Some 144 family physician office labs enrolled in the AAFP Proficiency Testing program are among the more than 4,400 laboratories in 18 countries caught up in a potentially hazardous situation involving lab proficiency test kits. The kits include strains of a flu virus that killed millions worldwide between 1957 and 1968 before vanishing from circulation. More

(04/13/2005)  --  HHS has awarded a five-year $97 million contract aimed at streamlining production of U.S. influenza vaccine supplies -- a move heartily welcomed by one family physician infectious disease expert. More

(04/13/2005)  --  HHS has committed $1.2 million toward efforts to reduce obesity in black Americans. More

(04/13/2005)  --  When the CDC set about obtaining information about the use of influenza testing, availability of flu vaccine and prescription of medications for flu in clinical practice, it only made sense that officials with the agency would come to the Academy for help. And so they have. More

(04/13/2005)  --  It's not always apparent when older patients are suffering from malnourishment, AAFP President Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., said in an April 12 article in The New York Times on malnutrition in the elderly. Sometimes you have to dig for that information. More

(04/12/2005)  --  The AAFP has asked UnitedHealthcare to suspend implementation of its UnitedHealth Performance Program until serious flaws can be addressed. More

(04/12/2005)  --  The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) understands the challenges health insurance plans face with spiraling health care costs that lead to added pressure from your customers, the employers, to reduce premiums and medical expenses. The UnitedHealth Performance Program is an experimental method to meet this challenge by creating a tiered network for self-funded employers. More

(04/12/2005)  --  AAFP and 33 other organizations have called on Congress to pass the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (H.R. 1376), a bill that would give authority to the FDA to regulate the manufacture, marketing and sale of tobacco products. More

(04/12/2005)  --  Want to know how your state fares in 100 quality measures? Check out state-by-state results from the second annual National Healthcare Quality Report. More

(04/11/2005)  --  Are you paying off student loans? A new member service -- the Federal Consolidation Loan Program from College Loan Corporation -- can help you manage your student loan debt. More

(04/11/2005)  --  The Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust wanted to call Congress' attention to health disparities and asked the Academy for help. So Darlene Lawrence, M.D., a practicing family physician in Washington and a former member of the AAFP Board of Directors, spoke at the caucus' rally and news conference April 7 on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. More

(04/08/2005)  --  Key Findings of the Lewin Group More

(04/08/2005)  --  Michael Uretz, executive director of a company called the EHR Group, keeps health care professionals on the edge of their seats when he launches into a dialogue on selecting, purchasing and implementing an electronic health records system. More

(04/08/2005)  --  The AAFP was among organizations cited by Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in an April 6 media release urging colleagues to support legislation that encourages Americans to complete advance medical directives. More

(04/08/2005)  --  What do you get when you pack nearly 150 technology-hungry physicians -- and the folks who help run their offices -- into one location? Answer: A whole lot of questions. More

(04/08/2005)  --  Patients will lose access to timely, high-quality medical care if Congress limits reimbursement for imaging services to physicians who meet accreditation or certification requirements. More

(04/07/2005)  --  As part of an ongoing series of changes involving selective COX-2 inhibitors, FDA officials on April 7 asked that a second member of this class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs -- valdecoxib, sold as Bextra -- be withdrawn from the U.S. market. More

(04/07/2005)  --  Chronic disease burden. Explosive health care costs. Fragmented care. These elements plague the U.S. health care system. How to heal it? Try the new model of care proposed in The Future of Family Medicine report. More

(04/06/2005)  --  With 45 million or more Americans uninsured, you may want to join activities for Cover the Uninsured Week, May 1 - 8. Your efforts can spread the word that most of the uninsured are employed and tend to get care that's too little, too late. More

(04/06/2005)  --  Food labels may be Americans' handiest source of information on the health quotient of their foods. If you'd like to help improve the labels, the FDA has a job for you: Comment on two notices of proposed rule making published in the Federal Register April 4. More

(04/06/2005)  --  In an era of transition, family medicine residency programs must teach residents to provide the medical care of the future before that future has arrived. More

(04/06/2005)  --  If you or your patients have called the CDC for immunization information lately, you may have noticed a change in where those calls are going. That's because beginning in mid-March, the National Immunization Information Hotline was replaced with a new service -- the CDC-INFO Contact Center. More

(04/06/2005)  --  If you and your staff have spent countless hours trying to hook low-income patients up with the prescription medications they need but can't afford, you'll welcome a new resource. More

(04/05/2005)  --  Despite the Healthy People 2010 initiative's goal of reducing teen tobacco use during the preceding month to 21 percent or less, the rate of tobacco use among young people has remained largely unchanged in the past two years, according to the 2004 National Youth Tobacco. More

(04/05/2005)  --  You still have time to register for the 2005 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Spring Conference, scheduled for April 30 - May 4 in New Orleans. More

(04/05/2005)  --  Your dietary iron may put you at risk for cancer; it's likely there's a significant association among continuity of care, preventive care and lower hospitalization rates; and preferences for physicians of a given minority group may affect patients' satisfaction levels. More

(04/05/2005)  --  Your reimbursement for Medicare services may plummet 4.3 percent next year. That's the dire warning the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission received from CMS March 31. More

(04/05/2005)  --  "We're not opposed to quality. We encourage quality. This is not quality," AAFP President-elect Larry Fields, M.D., of Ashland, Ky., said recently about a UnitedHealthcare performance program. It has fueled physician anxiety in some states, and AAFP News Now interviewed Fields and others about the topic. More

(04/04/2005)  --  "If your patient is pregnant, screen for domestic violence every time you see her." More

(04/04/2005)  --  Screening for domestic abuse in all its forms -- physical, psychological, financial and sexual -- is vital, say women's protection advocates. More

(04/04/2005)  --  Two weeks ago I had a patient request a scooter/motorized wheelchair. I usually send my patients to occupational therapy for wheelchair evaluations. Historically, this has worked very well and guarantees that the patients truly get what they need. More

(04/04/2005)  --  The National Quality Forum and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations are accepting nominations for the 2005 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. More

(04/04/2005)  --  Welcome to AAFP News Now, a member benefit designed to simplify your life … make the best use of your time … and provide one "brand" you can trust for news from the AAFP. More

(04/04/2005)  --  The couple enters your exam room together. His hand gently rests on her shoulder. He eagerly participates in her medical history, often answering questions before she can. When you notice and ask about large bruises in various stages of healing across her back, she glances at him and attributes them to a fall down the steps last weekend More

(04/04/2005)  --  PfP. P4P. Pay-for-performance. Call it what you may, the newest buzz term for physician reimbursement is probably going to affect Medicare payment in the future. Most likely, P4P will be wrapped into legislation that addresses the sustainable growth rate, the formula with which CMS determines physician reimbursement, say political observers. More

(04/04/2005)  --  Should physician-owned specialty hospitals -- those that limit care to a specific set of diagnosis-related groups, or DRGs -- be allowed to proliferate unfettered? Two government agencies recently presented their views in congressional testimony -- but the issue is far from settled. More