August 2006

(08/30/2006)  --  AAFP News Now approached residents like these at the Aug. 2-5 National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students and asked them to describe -- in 60 seconds or less -- why they were inspired to go into family medicine. Hear their enthusiastic responses! More

(08/30/2006)  --  The FDA has approved OTC sales of levonorgestrel tablets, also known as Plan B®, for emergency contraception, according to an Aug. 24 press release from the agency. The contraceptive will only be available without a prescription to women 18 and older, according to the release. More

(08/30/2006)  --  An Aug. 22 executive order signed by President Bush will have little immediate impact on family physicians, unless they plan to buy or upgrade their electronic health records, or EHRs. Family physicians who are changing their EHR systems, however, should ask whether their vendors have already certified or are planning to certify their systems with the Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, or CCHIT, according to Rosemary Sweeney, AAFP vice president for practice management and policy analysis. More

(08/30/2006)  --  Family physicians who want to share their expertise by presenting CME sessions at the AAFP Scientific Assembly, Oct. 3-7, 2007, in Chicago, should submit proposals by Nov. 1. Now live on the AAFP Web site, "Submit Your 2007 CME Proposals" gives suggestions and has links to related materials, including the form for proposals. More

(08/30/2006)  --  If your office is running low on paperclips and staples, then look no further than the AAFP and OfficeMax. More

(08/29/2006)  --  "Excess body weight during midlife, including overweight, is associated with an increased risk of death," say researchers in the abstract for "Overweight, Obesity and Mortality in a Large Prospective Cohort of Persons 50 to 71 Years Old" in the Aug. 24 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. More

(08/29/2006)  --  Put the September issue of Family Practice Management on your required reading list for fall. In addition to all of the journal's regular departments, this upcoming issue will be chock full of articles featuring tools from The FPM Toolbox, an online collection of handy resources -- all free and most downloadable as PDF files -- to help FPs improve their practices. More

(08/28/2006)  --  Grade school -- that's when family medicine resident Kelly McMullen, M.D., of Denver had one of her earliest brushes with family medicine. She entered -- and won -- one of the first poster contests sponsored by Tar Wars, the tobacco-free education program that now is an AAFP initiative. More

(08/25/2006)  --  A revolution in family medicine residency training is in the works. More

(08/25/2006)  --  CMS has said it wants physician feedback concerning Medicare Part D, and the AAFP has made it easy for the agency to get it. More

(08/25/2006)  --  Treatment of chronic conditions and obesity among Medicare beneficiaries are the two greatest factors driving much of today's increased Medicare spending, according to research published in an Aug. 22 Health Affairs Web exclusive. More

(08/25/2006)  --  The Academy invests a lot of time and money in research to understand the issues, needs and preferences of members and to determine how best to address those needs. This year, the Academy sharpened one of the primary tools used in that effort, replacing the venerable Member Attitude Survey, conducted since 1992, with a new Member Satisfaction Survey, fielded in April 2006. More (Members Only)

(08/24/2006)  --  Physicians continue to drop out of the Medicaid program, leaving a dwindling number of physicians to see an increasing number of Medicaid patients, concludes an analysis of new data from the Center for Studying Health System Change. More

(08/23/2006)  --  Studies estimate that 15 percent to 54 percent of reported medical errors in family medicine relate to the diagnostic testing process, say the authors of a new study. They define the diagnostic testing process, which doesn't include the tests themselves, as a continuum that ranges from ordering a test to taking follow-up action with a patient. More

(08/23/2006)  --  One section of the AAFP Web site can help family physicians simplify their lives, redesign their practices and prepare for the future. The AAFP's Clinical Quality Improvement section is designed to offer up-to-date information on quality improvement issues that are reshaping the health care industry. More

(08/23/2006)  --  A "baby beeper" alerts a first- or second-year medical student to rush to the labor and delivery area of the local hospital where a family medicine resident soon will deliver a baby. Students in another medical school help find and care for homeless people under bridges or on the streets. These and other experiences give students an exciting entrée into family medicine, according to a recent panel presentation by leaders of family medicine interest groups, or FMIGs. More

(08/23/2006)  --  Family physicians who graduated from overseas medical schools are more likely to care for Medicaid patients than are their counterparts who graduated from U.S. medical schools. That difference, says a study by AAFP members and health care analysts at the AAFP's Robert Graham Center in Washington, may have implications for the nation's low-income and older patients. More

(08/23/2006)  --  Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A., provided a shot of inspiration to attendees at the 2006 National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students here, when she took the stage Aug. 2 to talk about her work providing health care to the underserved. More

(08/22/2006)  --  Don't expect Medicare payments to arrive at your bank or in your mailbox between Sept. 22 and Sept. 30. That's when CMS will be complying with the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and placing a hold on all Medicare claims during the last nine days of the federal fiscal year. More

(08/18/2006)  --  Covering Kids & Families' annual Back-to-School Campaign, which began Aug. 9, encourages families to enroll their children in Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and family physicians can participate in the August-September campaign in multiple ways. More

(08/16/2006)  --  If you're a fan of podcasts, here's good news: Beginning today, AAFP News Now is podcasting selected news coverage. The ANN podcast kicks off with an audio segment from the Aug. 5 "Transitioning Into Practice" panel presentation at the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students in Kansas City, Mo. An ANN story about the panel presentation also is available. More

(08/16/2006)  --  AAFP members can save money on personal digital assistant software bundles and subscription services when they order customizable PDAs from PDA Verticals through the AAFP. More

(08/16/2006)  --  Congress still has time to avert a 5.1 percent reduction in what Medicare plans to pay physicians as of Jan. 1, 2007. But legislators need to get on the ball to make that happen, says one AAFP leader. More

(08/16/2006)  --  Medical students and their undergraduate and graduate school peers dodged a financial bullet Aug. 10, when the Commission on the Future of Higher Education dropped a recommendation that effectively would have limited federally subsidized school loans to low-income applicants. More

(08/15/2006)  --  For the past several years, the AAFP has spoken out loud and clear about a broken U.S. health care system that dispenses high-cost, low-quality care in an inefficient system driven by subspecialists rather than by family physicians and other primary care physicians. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More

(08/15/2006)  --  How do you test the financial viability of a practice you want to join? Do you need an obstetrics fellowship to do OB? How do you get rid of your educational debt? Residents and students shot these questions and more at a panel of new family physicians who presented "Transitioning Into Practice" here Aug. 5 during the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. More

(08/15/2006)  --  Simply using the phrase, "for Part D," could save physicians a lot of trouble when prescribing medications covered by Medicare's prescription drug benefit that also are covered under Medicare Part B for other indications. More

(08/14/2006)  --  Family medicine residents and students are asking the AAFP to help physicians close their drug closets without closing the door to low-income or uninsured patients. To that end, they adopted resolutions on the issue here during the National Congress of Student Members and National Congress of Family Medicine Residents. More

(08/10/2006)  --  Many a mom has packed a son or daughter off to medical school, but few have trod the same career path at virtually the same time. Yet such is the case with two physicians who attended AAFP's National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students Aug. 2-5 in Kansas City, Mo. More

(08/09/2006)  --  From clinical procedures to procedural deliberations, 1,051 residents and 630 medical students gained new knowledge and skills Aug. 2-5 during the 2006 National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. More

(08/09/2006)  --  Delegates to the National Congress of Family Medicine Residents and National Congress of Student Members chose new leaders here Aug. 5 to represent them in the coming year. Here are the election results: More

(08/09/2006)  --  The woman, an older American visiting Israel, fell as she stepped from a tour bus to enter the Tel Aviv airport. As the tour physician, FP Gary Morsch, M.D., of Bucyrus, Kan., had a choice: He could send her to the hospital, guaranteeing she would face the consequences of missing her flight, or he could rely on his own experience in disaster areas, war zones and poverty-stricken regions of Africa. More

(08/09/2006)  --  Take the reins of community health initiatives, FP Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., M.P.H., told FPs-in-training at the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students, held here Aug. 2-5. More

(08/08/2006)  --  Several prominent members of Congress have voiced their determination to do away with the annual ritual of having to legislate a physician pay raise through Medicare. The lawmakers also want to find an acceptable alternative to the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula now used to set physician payments. More

(08/08/2006)  --  Stay current on the latest treatments and advances in the care of younger patients by attending the AAFP’s Infant, Child and Adolescent Medicine course, scheduled for Nov. 15-18 in St. Petersburg, Fla. More

(08/07/2006)  --  The 2006 Congress of Delegates will act on proposed amendments to the AAFP Bylaws, as well as resolutions submitted by various constituencies, when the Congress meets Sept. 26-28 in Washington, D.C. More

(08/04/2006)  --  Family medicine education programs have suffered from federal cuts in funding during the past couple of years, but there still is hope that work in Congress can raise federal funding levels for 2007. More

(08/02/2006)  --  Oct. 15: That’s the deadline to apply for the American Cancer Society's Cancer Control Career Development Award. The award is open to family physicians and other primary care physicians who currently are serving in academic posts, generally with a rank of assistant professor, and who are interested in pursuing an academic career with an emphasis on cancer control. More

(08/02/2006)  --  Christiana Care Health System family medicine residency program in Wilmington, Del., plans to launch a combined family medicine-emergency medicine training program in July 2007. More

(08/02/2006)  --  The decision to offer patients preventive counseling is complex, say researchers in an article in the July/August issue of Annals of Family Medicine. "The Art and Complexity of Primary Care Clinicians' Preventive Counseling Decisions: Obesity as a Case Study" builds on clinicians' reports about their decisions to counsel obese patients. More

(08/02/2006)  --  Articles in the July/August issue of Annals of Family Medicine shed light on the challenges of implementing a chronic care model and indicate that primary care offices could serve as useful surveillance centers for emerging infections, including those possibly tied to bioterrorism. Here's a summary of Annals articles on these topics and a list of titles of several other articles in the issue. More

(08/01/2006)  --  Your patients now can read a new edition of Family Doctor: Your Essential Guide to Health and Wellbeing while they're waiting in your office or clinic for their appointments with you. The 2006 edition of the book, provided free to AAFP members' practices, was shipped in June and early July. More

(08/01/2006)  --  Enterprising students soon may have a new item on their back-to-school shopping lists: soda pop. That's because beverage companies Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schweppes announced in May that they would stop selling sugary soft drinks and other high-calorie beverages in schools across the country. More

(08/01/2006)  --  Learn how to help your patients improve their fitness and earn 2 Prescribed CME credits at no cost by participating in an AAFP webcast, "AIM to Change: Encouraging 'Fitness' For All: Prevention and Management of At-Risk, Overweight and Obese Patients," from 12 to 1 p.m. CDT on August 16. More