April 2006

(04/28/2006)  --  CMS has issued a final rule designed to standardize existing Medicare enrollment requirements and increase the efficiency with which physicians and other health care providers bill Medicare. More

(04/28/2006)  --  Family physicians may find a new study compelling for what it says about black and white patients' trust in health care professionals and about how that trust relates to where patients receive care. The study, "Racial Differences in Trust in Health Care Providers," appears in the April 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine and suggests remedies to the trust gap. More

(04/27/2006)  --  A Government Accountability Office report critical of the FDA's oversight of safety after drugs reach patients may help resurrect the Food and Drug Administration Safety Act of 2005, S. 930 (at the Library of Congress' THOMAS Web site http://thomas.loc.gov/, type "S 930" in the search box after selecting "Bill Number"). More

(04/26/2006)  --  Want to apply for the AAFP Degree of Fellow? Aug. 1 is the date to remember. Active, life or inactive members with dues and re-elections in good standing have until that day to apply to the Academy for this honor. More

(04/26/2006)  --  Most physicians wouldn't bat an eye over a new CPT code. But the prospect of more than 10,000 new CPT codes and Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System Level II codes got the attention of the Academy and 91 other medical associations and institutions. More

(04/26/2006)  --  The Residency Review Committee for Surgery of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has called for surgical residents to have a minimum of 50 proctored colonoscopies for entry into practice. The requirement, announced Feb. 1, applies to surgical residents, but family physicians and their proctors may find it helpful as they make the case for FPs' colonoscopy privileges. More

(04/26/2006)  --  The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, is not likely to recommend a ban on specialty hospitals, according to its chair, Glenn Hackbarth, J.D. More

(04/25/2006)  --  Family physicians who volunteer to take a survey could say their action helped improve safety on the nation's highways. More

(04/25/2006)  --  Chronic fatigue syndrome appears to have its roots in genetics, yet also includes additional elements -- environmental factors, risk-conferring behaviors and patients’ responses to stressors -- according to research released April 20 by the CDC and published in the April issue of Pharmacogenomics. More

(04/25/2006)  --  Since its inception last year, the Partnership for Prescription Assistance has helped 2 million individuals find low-cost or no-cost medications by providing a single point of access to more than 475 assistance programs, according to a news release from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, which sponsors the initiative. More

(04/25/2006)  --  Drug manufacturers with prescription assistance programs may have an avenue to continue providing free medications to Medicare patients without running afoul of the law, according to an April 18 opinion from HHS' Office of Inspector General, or OIG. More

(04/24/2006)  --  David Brailer, M.D., Ph.D., the country's first National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, resigned from his post April 20. More

(04/21/2006)  --  The Arizona AFP takes health information technology seriously. Enough so that this constituent chapter, in partnership with the Health Services Advisory Group, or HSAG, a quality improvement organization in Arizona, has established the Kibbe Award for Excellence and Leadership in Health Information Technology. More

(04/21/2006)  --  Future patient-centered care depends on current student-centered education. If family medicine educators and preceptors can apply that principle to their interactions with medical students, the specialty will have a strong workforce, said one of family medicine's most renowned representatives recently. More

(04/20/2006)  --  Requesting an exception to Medicare Part D plans' off-formulary or restricted drugs has become a bit easier, thanks to a standardized form -- the Medicare Part D Coverage Determination Request Form -- that CMS and America's Health Insurance Plans are encouraging all insurers to accept. More

(04/19/2006)  --  Physicians itching to learn more about bacterial skin infections, melanoma, cutaneous viral infections and diabetic skin manifestations will have their chance from June 12-17, when the AAFP hosts its Skin Problems and Diseases course in Myrtle Beach, S.C. More

(04/19/2006)  --  At its March meeting, the AAFP Board of Directors approved recommendations submitted by the Academy's Influenza Vaccine Task Force, a group formed last November to investigate and seek potential solutions to problems members had obtaining influenza vaccine for the 2005-06 flu season. More

(04/19/2006)  --  Concerns about federal recommendations on newborn screening have led AAFP to issue a legislative brief. More

(04/19/2006)  --  Iowa, a state that typically conjures up images of nothing more sinister than gently waving cornfields, now has the dubious distinction of being ground zero for an outbreak of mumps that is rapidly spreading throughout the Upper Midwest. More

(04/19/2006)  --  The high cost of the U.S. health care system is having a toxic effect on primary care and patients, and it's time for family medicine to be counterculture again, starting with the specialty's residencies, according to Robert Phillips, M.D., M.S.P.H., director of the AAFP's Robert Graham Center in Washington. More

(04/19/2006)  --  "Baseball’s Best Burger" may hit one out of the park, but chances are its consumers won’t be able to circle the bases. It's up to family physicians to coach their patients along the base path. More

(04/18/2006)  --  Here's some good news you can share with your patients: Parents worried about the loud sounds their children are forcing into their ears via those ubiquitous ear buds may have some recourse if the ear buds are connected to the latest generation of iPod or iPod Nano. More

(04/18/2006)  --  For tools to help patients "get it" when they receive health information, attend a symposium the AAFP helped develop. Health Literacy: The Foundation for Patient Safety, Empowerment and Quality Health Care, dubbed "Reading, Writing and Arrhythmias," will be June 26-27 in Rosemont, Ill. More

(04/18/2006)  --  April marks the first anniversary for AAFP News Now online and its weekly e-mail; May will mark the first anniversary for the print ANN. How better to cap ANN's inaugural year than to share results from the first readership survey -- and to announce a future enhancement that will make ANN even more interesting for members? More

(04/14/2006)  --  In anticipation of congressional action on medical liability, the Academy has launched a targeted strategy to garner support for reform legislation among U.S. senators and other federal policy makers. More

(04/14/2006)  --  Who could have guessed that merely tweaking the patient schedule could snowball into better chronic disease management and a nearly $13,000 increase in one physician's yearly revenue? More

(04/13/2006)  --  The AAFP Commission on Science has announced the winners of the AAFP's 2006 Resident Scholars Competition and encourages residents to vie for the 2007 awards. More

(04/12/2006)  --  Many patients approach their family physicians for advice about minimally invasive surgical options because such procedures often are less painful and require shorter hospital stays and recovery time than traditional surgeries, according to a new resource from the Academy. More

(04/12/2006)  --  Working with Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, or PDPs, should get easier for physicians next year as a result of instructions recently sent to insurers by CMS. More

(04/12/2006)  --  Congress must recognize the financial and time pressures that discourage small to medium-sized physician practices from implementing electronic health records and should step in with policies to ease those pressures. More

(04/12/2006)  --  In a proactive move, the Academy recently alerted health plans across the nation to a new coding reality: Expect an increase in the number of high-level evaluation and management codes (e.g., 99214, 99215) billed by family physicians. More

(04/12/2006)  --  Employed mothers at five weeks postpartum show a need for rest and recovery beyond the traditional leave period of about six weeks; the exclusion of patients with comorbidities from randomized controlled trials limits the applicability of research results; and payment for performance in primary care in accord with guidelines should be undertaken only when the scientific evidence for the guidelines is relevant to primary care. More

(04/12/2006)  --  Assumptions collided with reality when residency faculty and staff at a recent meeting pondered how to train family physicians for the 21st century. More

(04/12/2006)  --  Want to practice medicine? Real medicine? Then go into family medicine. That's where physicians see, diagnosis and treat patients with conditions as varied as umbilical cord prolapse, retinitis pigmentosa, aniridia, latent hemorrhagic disease of newborns, green tea hepatitis, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and thyroid storm associated with Grave's disease in pregnancy. More

(04/11/2006)  --  Steven Waldren, M.D., assistant director of AAFP's Center for Health Information Technology, has been selected by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, or CCHIT, to co-chair its ambulatory electronic health record functionality work group. More

(04/11/2006)  --  "Energizing," "inspiring," "educational" and "fun." These words describe the annual National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students, say past participants. More

(04/10/2006)  --  The Georgia AFP announces the candidacy of D. Ann Travis, M.D., of Fayetteville for AAFP director. More

(04/07/2006)  --  The AAFP has called on Congress to take steps to improve the quality of U.S. health care, reduce health costs and ensure medical staffing for community health centers by budgeting $88.8 million for Section 747 of Title VII in the Public Health Service Act for fiscal year 2007. More

(04/06/2006)  --  It's the domino effect: Restraining physician income may restrict physicians' ability to provide charity care to the uninsured, who then stand to lose access to medical services. More

(04/05/2006)  --  It's time to congratulate AAFP members who have won the annual AMA Foundation Excellence in Medicine Awards. More

(04/05/2006)  --  The AAFP will host its first live CME webcast from noon to 1 p.m. CDT on April 19. Register online for the free webcast, Beyond the Guidelines: Advances in Tobacco Cessation Treatment and Payment; registration will be open through April 17. More

(04/05/2006)  --  As others decry the impending collapse of primary care in the United States, AAFP's TransforMED initiative stepped into the future April 3 by announcing the launch of a national demonstration project designed to test an innovative practice model that could ensure the rebirth of primary care. More

(04/04/2006)  --  CMS issued a statement on March 31 notifying physicians that a glitch on its registration Web site for physicians intending to participate in the Physicians Voluntary Reporting Program, or PVRP, has been corrected. More

(04/04/2006)  --  As the dust settles after the first 90 days of implementing Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, CMS has released a toolkit that explains the program, describes patients' rights under the program, contains instructions for filing appeals to adverse plan determinations and provides contact numbers for additional information. More

(04/04/2006)  --  A new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies says that quality improvement organizations, or QIOs, are stretching their resources too thinly. More

(04/04/2006)  --  Sometimes, it's not family physicians' medical expertise that people need. Sometimes, they most need family physicians' compassion, leadership and organizational expertise. More

(04/03/2006)  --  Women tend to live longer than men, so they have a greater chance of being affected by heart failure, a condition most prevalent among people age 65 and older, according to NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. But now family physicians can ensure that their older patients at increased risk for heart failure are not without resources to combat and prevent the condition. More

(04/03/2006)  --  Women tend to live longer than men, so they have a greater chance of being affected by heart failure, a condition most prevalent among people age 65 and older, according to NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. But now family physicians can ensure that their older patients at increased risk for heart failure are not without resources to combat and prevent the condition. More

(04/03/2006)  --  When is a doctor not a physician? When the "doctor" is a nurse practitioner. More