November 2005

(11/30/2005)  --  Physicians interested in honing their business and leadership skills and improving organizational operations -- and who also enjoy saving money -- will be happy to learn that the AAFP has the perfect venue for achieving these goals: the Fundamentals of Management seminar, March 1 - 5 in San Antonio. Registering before Jan. 6 will save you $150. More

(11/30/2005)  --  The Academy's new tobacco cessation initiative, Ask and Act, features online materials you can use to help your patients "kick butt." The initiative encourages you to ask your patients about their tobacco use and then act on that information. More

(11/30/2005)  --  AAFP President Larry Fields, M.D., of Ashland, Ky., wants to revolutionize the health care system. How? By making family medicine its base. In this interview, Fields focuses on access to health care for all, family physicians' bottom line and a new model of care for the specialty. More

(11/29/2005)  --  A long-simmering dispute with CMS over use of volunteer preceptors in community-based residency training may come to an end as a result of the Community and Rural Medical Residency Preservation Act of 2005. If passed, the bill would affect the 61 percent of AAFP members who serve as volunteer preceptors for medical students and family medicine residents. More

(11/29/2005)  --  Yes, the physician community supports a Medicare fee structure that incorporates value-based purchasing, also known as pay-for-performance or P4P. And yes, physicians can cope with a P4P phase-in if the current payment formula's sustainable growth rate (linked to the country's economic growth and the volume of physicians' services) is replaced with a factor reflecting the cost of providing care. More

(11/29/2005)  --  Preserve the safety net. That's the message sent by AAFP and its Partnership for Medicaid colleagues in a Nov. 21 letter to the chairs and ranking members of a congressional conference committee that is working toward a final Medicaid budget. More

(11/28/2005)  --  Family physician Kathleen Uhl, M.D., of Silver Spring, Md., has been named director of the FDA Office of Women's Health. Board-certified in family medicine and an AAFP Fellow, Uhl is a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and most recently served as a supervisory medical officer with the FDA's Center for Drug Research and Evaluation. More

(11/23/2005)  --  You may have concerns about developmental delays in your young patients. A new online CME Video, "Autism," discusses the genetics of autistic spectrum disorder and the importance of routine screening for developmental problems. The video is part of the Academy's Annual Clinical Focus 2005 Genomics. More

(11/23/2005)  --  Americans in Motion, the Academy's fitness initiative, now has four products family physicians can order to share with their patients. More

(11/23/2005)  --  On Nov. 18, the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory after recent study findings raised concerns about use of the asthma products Serevent Diskus, Advair Diskus and Foradil Aerolizer. Use of these bronchodilating agents, which contain the long-acting beta 2-adrenergic agonists salmeterol and formoterol, has been associated with increased risks for severe asthma exacerbations and asthma-related deaths. More

(11/22/2005)  --  Screening for ovarian cancer using a transvaginal ultrasound or CA-125 protein test may detect the disease but also can produce many false positives, reports a National Cancer Institute study published in the November American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The upshot: an increased likelihood of unnecessary surgery. More

(11/22/2005)  --  Sanford Bloom, M.D., 84, of Santa Barbara, Calif., died Sept. 18. He had been a member of the Academy since 1957. More

(11/21/2005)  --  If your practice serves a lot of older patients with diabetes, tools from a new NIH campaign may be just what they need to help them manage their disease. And there's no better time to let them know about these tools than November -- National Diabetes Month. More

(11/21/2005)  --  The Academy recently led seven other medical specialty organizations in an appeal to America's Health Insurance Plans to utilize a single standard for the content and message structure utilized in personal health record projects. The AAFP's actions come in the face of "an emerging trend by AHIP members" to launch PHR projects that will give physicians and patients the ability to view personal health data via a secure Web site. More

(11/21/2005)  --  Winter has come to the Gulf Coast. Nighttime temperatures have plunged into the 30s, forcing Hurricane Katrina survivors to abandon their tents in favor of heated shelters that reopened in mid-November. Volunteers at free health clinics throughout the hurricane-devastated region have begun to worry about not having enough doctors to treat respiratory infections and other winter ailments. More

(11/21/2005)  --  Resist the urge to "let perfect be the enemy of the good," urged the Academy and 11 other medical professional organizations in a Nov. 10 letter to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. The letter recommended the use of an existing continuity of care standard in proposed personal health record projects. More

(11/21/2005)  --  The AAFP supports a well-planned and thoughtfully implemented Medicare pay-for-performance system, but it does not support CMS' recently unveiled voluntary reporting system, widely considered to be a "warm-up" to P4P implementation. More

(11/18/2005)  --  Frustrated by a perceived lack of legislative will? So are thousands of other people. But those who see political progress do so because they understand -- and use -- a crucial equation: In politics, patience + people + persistence = passage. More

(11/18/2005)  --  There are some new kids on the health care block. With names like Take Care and MinuteClinic, they offer limited medical services provided by nurse practitioners in chain and discount drug stores across the nation. More

(11/17/2005)  --  The AAFP Foundation has received a $208,953 grant from the Physicians’ Foundation for Health Systems Excellence to support AAFP's Practice Enhancement Program in 2006. The grant will be used to “expand the program to three additional constituent chapters and to initiate faculty development so the program can be delivered to more constituent chapters in 2007," according to a special bulletin from Bruce Bagley, M.D., AAFP medical director for quality improvement, to AAFP chapter leaders. More

(11/17/2005)  --  At its interim meeting Nov. 5 - 8 in Dallas, the AMA House of Delegates issued a number of requests to the AMA. The delegation from AAFP joined in the policy-making at the delegates' gathering, which Daniel Ostergaard, M.D., AAFP vice president for international and interprofessional activities, called the nation's "largest stage in the house of medicine." More

(11/17/2005)  --  Medical liability reform will be on the Senate's agenda in 2006, according to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Meeting with members of the AAFP Board of Directors Oct. 20, Frist told them he planned to begin moving pending legislation on medical liability through the Senate as soon as Congress had acted on tort reform legislation affecting the asbestos industry. More

(11/17/2005)  --  Hats off to AAFP's health information Web site for patients, familydoctor.org, for winning the Healthcare Web Site of the Year award for 2005. The award was presented at the Medical Marketing and Media awards ceremony Nov. 9 in New York City. More

(11/17/2005)  --  "We've moved the AMA a long way," Joseph Zebley, M.D., of Baltimore, an AAFP delegate to the AMA, said in an interview after testifying before an AMA reference committee on the issue of providing health services to the uninsured and underinsured. More

(11/17/2005)  --  AAFP's National Research Network and the Robert Graham Center in Washington were involved in more than 15 research presentations at the recent annual meeting of the North American Primary Care Research Group, says Robert Phillips, M.D., director of the Graham Center. More

(11/17/2005)  --  Get ready for an onslaught of questions about the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan in the next few weeks. That's because senior patients may need help selecting a prescription drug plan, and they likely will turn to their physicians for that help, say two recent reports. More

(11/16/2005)  --  Contact your U.S. senators and representative before Nov. 18 and urge them to vote "no" on the Labor/HHS appropriations conference report on H.R. 3010. That's the focus of a recent AAFP Action Alert and an e-mail sent to all AAFP members this week. More

(11/16/2005)  --  Diagnosing depression may be the easiest part of dealing with the disorder. Opening a dialogue with the patient and ensuring quality management often pose more of a problem to physicians. More

(11/16/2005)  --  Reduced Medicare payments to physicians will render the program useless to millions of elderly and disabled Americans because it means many doctors will no longer accept these patients. More

(11/16/2005)  --  Three groups, representing 250,000 physicians, took one message to key members of Congress Nov. 9 - 10: For patients' sake, fix the Medicare payment formula. More

(11/15/2005)  --  If your practice offers postpartum care or early well-baby care to at least 50 women or their babies each year, consider joining a study on postpartum depression, or PPD. You'll help build information on identifying and managing PPD in women during their first year after giving birth. More

(11/15/2005)  --  Hurricane Katrina shattered the medical infrastructure for 47 Mississippi counties and 31 Louisiana parishes along the Gulf Coast. Mississippi's Harrison and Hancock hospitals lie in ruins. The storm destroyed clinics, damaged hospitals, decimated communications systems, wiped out the power grid, toppled trees and scattered debris across roads and highways. More

(11/15/2005)  --  As the end of the year approaches, you may be tying up loose ends. If you're up for re-election to AAFP membership this year, one of those loose ends is ensuring you've earned -- and reported -- 150 CME credits between Jan. 1, 2003 and Dec. 31, 2005. More

(11/15/2005)  --  When Hurricane Katrina demolished the medical infrastructure throughout the Gulf Coast, it left a yawning gap in America's health care system. Without functional physician clinics or hospitals, disaster survivors were left with virtually no medical care. More

(11/15/2005)  --  Family physician Nguyen Linh, M.D., a captain in the U.S. Air Force, has a message for Americans. Don't forget the civilians who, after surviving the horrors of war, now must contend with the horrors of Hurricane Katrina. More

(11/14/2005)  --  International medical graduates who belong to the AMA are now voting members of AMA's International Medical Graduates Sectionand are eligible to apply for a leadership award. More

(11/14/2005)  --  Each year, the Academy asks its members what they think about AAFP, its work and services, and family medicine. The Board of Directors studies the results of the Member Attitude Survey for insight into members' attitudes and their perceptions of AAFP's products and services. More

(11/14/2005)  --  Christopher Boston, M.D., can't go home again. That's because much of his hometown, Bay St. Louis, Miss., is no more. Boston learned that firsthand on Sept. 3, when he and three colleagues drove from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, where he is a family medicine resident, to Bay St. Louis to deliver medical supplies and offer help to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. More

(11/11/2005)  --  In a single day, Hurricane Katrina pushed the lives of Gulf Coast residents back to the 19th century and earlier. Many had no water, no electricity, no roads and no communications. More

(11/11/2005)  --  Family physicians have until Nov. 17 to request payment under a proposed WellPoint Health Networks/Anthem Inc. settlement agreement that would end a class-action lawsuit filed by physicians against health insurers. More

(11/11/2005)  --  AAFP members looking for a resource to investigate electronic health records can find answers to their questions on the Center for Health Information Technology's newly redesigned Web site. More

(11/11/2005)  --  At a time when people need family physicians the most, the future of primary care along the Gulf Coast may be at risk. The impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on medical care in southern Louisiana and Mississippi will be long lasting, say many, as they survey the damage. More

(11/11/2005)  --  A voluntary physician reporting system recently unveiled by CMS has drawn strong criticism from the medical community, including the AAFP. More

(11/10/2005)  --  I read your recent article, "Coding Correctly But Denied Payment? Help Is Coming," in AAFP News Now. We were just informed that Anthem is going to "blend" payment for 99213 and 99214 codes -- apparently because of the higher use of 99214 with the advent of electronic medical records and proper documentation for that code. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More (Members Only)

(11/10/2005)  --  In the midst of discussion about the medical community's role in disaster response, the Alabama AFP is taking action. That action -- establishing a coordinated disaster medical team -- will ensure that a cadre of family physicians who have previously registered with state officials and a stock of medical supplies and equipment can be ready to roll within hours of natural or man-made disasters. More

(11/09/2005)  --  In response to numerous reports from AAFP members that they have yet to see any of the annual influenza vaccine they ordered earlier this year, the Academy has established a task force charged with investigating members' "current and continuing concerns regarding the purchase, distribution and payment for influenza vaccine." The task force is to rapidly report its findings and recommendations to the AAFP Board of Directors for further action. More

(11/09/2005)  --  Your patients may be firing questions at you about the role genetics plays in their health. The Academy is trying to help you find answers. The Annual Clinical Focus 2005 Genomics has been posting Video CME programs online about once a month, and three recently developed sessions cover colorectal cancer, newborn screening and hemochromatosis. More

(11/08/2005)  --  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently launched three initiatives designed to address well-documented racial and ethnic disparities in health care in the United States. The three initiatives, which will be funded by a $23 million commitment from the RWJ foundation, will focus on "developing practical solutions that can be tested and replicated in real-world clinical settings," according to a press release from the foundation. More

(11/08/2005)  --  Looking for ways to improve the health of your Spanish-speaking patients? Two AAFP publications can help More

(11/07/2005)  --  If you've already downloaded a copy of the Recommended Adult Immunization Schedule for 2005 - 06 to help you track the vaccinations recommended for your adult patients, take note. An erratum published in the Nov. 4 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report corrected the age range given for Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine in footnote 10. More

(11/07/2005)  --  If you've signed up to attend the 2005 Conference on Patient Education sponsored by the AAFP and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Nov. 17 - 20 in Orlando, Fla., you're in for a treat. Family physician Jeffrey Levine, M.D., of Hillsborough, N.J., a contestant on the second edition of NBC's The Biggest Loser, a reality show for weight-loss contestants, will give participants an inside look at his personal struggle with obesity and how it has changed the way he cares for patients. More

(11/07/2005)  --  Participants in the Maintenance of Certification Program for Family Physicians, or MC-FP, soon will have the option to extend the length of their recertification cycle from seven years to 10 years. More

(11/04/2005)  --  Over a thirty-year span, 90 percent of men and 70 percent of women will be or will become overweight, according to a study in the Oct. 4 Annals of Internal Medicine. More

(11/04/2005)  --  Testing for HIV at the onset of fever or other viral symptoms may help curtail the U.S. HIV infection epidemic. Employing patient-centered communication could lower diagnostic testing rates and increase visit lengths. Certain antidepressants have now proved to be more effective than placebo in primary care settings. Patients' understanding of their family history of chronic disease and their perception of personal disease risk can inform risk management discussions. These findings and more may be found in the September/October Annals of Family Medicine. More

(11/02/2005)  --  It's that time of year again: not just for turkey and all the trimmings, but also to sign up for or renew your membership in the AAFP's Proficiency Testing Program for Office Laboratories. This year, you've got even more reasons to participate. More

(11/02/2005)  --  Medical school enrollment for the 2005 - 06 entering class reached a record 17,000, according to data recently released by the Association of American Medical Colleges. More

(11/02/2005)  --  Three family physicians are among new members the Institute of Medicine elected in October. Michael F. Fleming, M.D., professor and director of an NIH research fellowship in the family medicine department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Vanessa Gamble, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, Tuskegee, Ala., were elected as new members. Ann Macaulay, M.D., professor in the family medicine department at McGill University, Montreal, and a past president of the North American Primary Care Research Group, was elected as a foreign associate member. More

(11/01/2005)  --  Hurricane Wilma's 125 mph gales wrought $10 billion in damage, but the storm did not take the wind out of southern Florida family physicians' sails. More

(11/01/2005)  --  Big Business wants comparative clinical effectiveness research. So do Big Labor, health insurers, pharmacists and advocates for the elderly. More

(11/01/2005)  --  Academy members and staff have donated more than $213,900 to hurricane disaster assistance, including $55,000 to help family physicians recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. More