April 2007

(04/27/2007)  --  Two states and numerous family physician practices will join a national quality care demonstration project as a result of a recently awarded $2.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant will support Improving Performance in Practice, or IPIP, which is designed to demonstrate that primary care physicians can incorporate evidence-based care protocols into their everyday clinical care, measure the results of providing that care and share the information with their peers. More

(04/27/2007)  --  The Academy hosted a delegation of physicians -- more than half of whom were family physicians -- from Singapore's public and private sector on April 13, when the group spent a full day in the Kansas City, Mo., area learning about family medicine. More

(04/27/2007)  --  President Bush recently signed legislation intended to increase the number of screenings for breast and cervical cancer available to low-income uninsured and underinsured women. Bush signed H.R. 1132 into law on April 20. The bill reauthorizes and increases funding for the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection, or NBCCED, program, which provides breast and cervical cancer screenings for low-income women with little or no insurance. More

(04/27/2007)  --  A revolution, of sorts, may be brewing in Alaska. In a state that already grapples with a serious primary care physician shortage, many doctors are declining new Medicare patients. Some are dropping Medicare participation altogether or are discontinuing current patients when they turn 65. "We have a Medicare crisis here," said Marilyn Dodd, executive director of the Alaska AFP. "People cannot find a doctor in Anchorage if they have Medicare." More

(04/25/2007)  --  Family physicians can update their maternity-care skills to enhance patient care during pregnancy and the birth process at the upcoming AAFP course Family Centered Maternity Care, July 18-22 in Monterey, Calif. More

(04/25/2007)  --  AAFP members who've implemented electronic health records in their practices now can help paper-based family physicians make the move to EHRs by completing Family Practice Management's 2007 EHR user-satisfaction survey. More

(04/24/2007)  --  The federal government needs to develop a uniform policy for protecting the confidentiality and security of electronic personal health records, or PHRs, before the current system of data management becomes even more unmanageable and difficult to navigate, said a senior adviser to the AAFP during testimony before a government subcommittee here on April 17. More

(04/24/2007)  --  The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, or ACGME, is accepting nominations for the 2008 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead Awards. The awards honor outstanding residency and fellowship program directors and institutional officials. More

(04/23/2007)  --  Sometimes numbers are so big, it's hard to wrap your mind around them. How can we fathom 44.8 million? That's more than the entire holdings of the research libraries in New York City. More than the number of registered users on the vastly popular MySpace.com. More than the total number of Hispanics living in the United States. And it's the number of uninsured Americans. More (Members Only)

(04/23/2007)  --  Medicare's payment system has contributed to the decreasing interest in primary care careers in the United States and to deterioration in the nation's primary care infrastructure, said a family medicine professor and medical researcher during a panel presentation before the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, in Washington on April 13. More

(04/20/2007)  --  Minorities often have less access to care; receive lower-quality care; and have higher rates of illness, injury and premature death than does the general population, according to the Institute of Medicine's 2003 report "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care." The problem is so great that HHS has issued a call to end health disparities by 2010. More

(04/20/2007)  --  Kansas has become the seventh state to require health insurance companies, hospitals and other credentialing organizations to accept a standard physician credentialing form developed by the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, or CAQH. More

(04/20/2007)  --  CDC officials recently announced that an entire class of antibiotics -- the fluoroquinolones -- is no longer recommended for treatment of gonococcal infections and associated conditions, such as pelvic inflammatory disease. The CDC announcement means that only one class of antibiotics remains to treat these infections. More

(04/20/2007)  --  Federal officials could use physician profiling as one part of an overall strategy to contain Medicare costs, according to a federal report scheduled for release by the end of April. The report, by the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, studied the physician profiling programs of 10 health care purchasers and the Medicare treatment patterns of physicians in 12 metropolitan areas. More

(04/19/2007)  --  AAFP elevated its commitment to the personal medical home, patient-centered care and health information technology on April 19 with the announcement of a new high-tech partner. The Academy has joined with Revolution Health Group, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that has built a comprehensive online health and medical information site. More

(04/18/2007)  --  Medical resident duty hours may come under the microscope again as a result of a request from Congress that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, fund an Institute of Medicine study into the issue. More

(04/18/2007)  --  The Democrat-controlled Congress may adopt a final budget resolution within the next few weeks that provides about $21 billion more in funding for domestic discretionary programs than the amount proposed by President Bush in his fiscal year 2008 budget. And that is likely to mean more money for certain health-related programs, according to analysts interviewed by AAFP News Now. More

(04/18/2007)  --  Cover the Uninsured Week 2007, April 23-29, comes amid a growing unease among Americans about health care, according to recent research. Several studies during the past two years indicate more moderate-income and middle-income families are joining the ranks of the uninsured. Health insurance premium increases are outpacing worker pay raises. Fewer employers are offering health benefits. More

(04/18/2007)  --  In case there was any question, those sounds you hear from your reception area are the sneezing and wheezing that signal spring's arrival. Whether deep in the heart of allergy season (which health experts say now comes earlier -- and lasts longer -- than it did decades ago) or at other times during the year, the AAFP offers many resources, such as DVDs and brochures, to help you provide relief to your suffering patients. More

(04/17/2007)  --  HHS has created a new online toolkit for physicians who may have to treat patients during radiation-related accidents or other radiologic incidents. More

(04/17/2007)  --  Juries seem to have more sympathy for doctors than they do for patients who allege medical malpractice and likely will rule in the physician's favor in any given case, particularly when the evidence is weak. So says a study by Philip Peters Jr., J.D., a professor at the University of Missouri - Columbia School of Law. More

(04/17/2007)  --  If you've recently found yourself besieged by patients asking if they or their daughters should get the quadrivalent human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine, here's help: the CDC has updated its brochure, "Human Papillomavirus: HPV Information for Clinicians," and posted four sets of counseling messages to help you in your HPV-related discussions with patients. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More

(04/16/2007)  --  The FDA has ordered a halt to all manufacturing and distribution of unapproved suppository drugs containing trimethobenzamide hydrochloride. More

(04/16/2007)  --  Few gifts are as selfless and compassionate as organ donation. Yet discussions regarding such end-of-life decisions can be difficult, even with the healthiest of patients. National Donate Life Month, observed annually during April, offers an opening for you to broach this delicate subject. More (Members Only)

(04/12/2007)  --  Congress should replace the current Medicare physician payment structure with a more equitable system that "adequately reflects increases in medical practice costs," AAFP member Edward Langston, M.D., of Lafayette, Ind., speaking as chair-elect of the AMA Board of Trustees, said during an April 3 forum in Washington, D.C., on Medicare physician payment. More

(04/12/2007)  --  The National Governors Association, or NGA, has called on Congress and the Bush administration to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, and to provide adequate, predictable funding that will avert future shortfalls. More

(04/11/2007)  --  The National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine, or NYLF-Med, an organization that fosters interest among high-achieving high school students in medicine, wants young people to know more about family medicine as a career. That's why NYLF-Med has turned to the AAFP Division of Medical Education to identify speakers at the organization's youth conferences. More

(04/11/2007)  --  Family medicine residency training programs have a new tool to demonstrate their value to sponsoring hospitals, their communities and their states, thanks to HealthLandscape.org. Now officially launched, the Web site allows users to combine several types of demographic, economic and other data to document and illustrate family medicine's contributions to improving community health, easing health care disparities, enhancing access to care and reducing primary care shortages, according to Andrew Bazemore, M.D., assistant director of the AAFP's Robert Graham Center in Washington, D.C. More

(04/10/2007)  --  Family physicians can expand their knowledge of common -- and some not-so-common -- skin disorders during AAFP's Skin Problems and Diseases Course June 11-16 in Galveston, Texas. They also can sign up to learn -- step-by-step -- how to perform various cosmetic skin procedures. And all while earning a generous helping of CME credit. More

(04/10/2007)  --  Full steam ahead. That's the outlook among dozens of family medicine residency training programs, thanks to the brainstorming generated by the Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice,or P4, initiative, according to Samuel Jones, M.D., of Fairfax, Va., co-chair of the P4 steering committee. More

(04/09/2007)  --  It's OK to be a little sad about the decline in medical students matching to family medicine residency positions this year. After all, it is disheartening that fewer young people want to work in a specialty that brings such satisfaction to physicians and offers so much to patients. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More (Members Only)

(04/09/2007)  --  Today's health care system is at the brink of collapsing because of problems with the quality, accessibility and cost of health care. The United States spends more than 50 percent more per capita on health care than Switzerland, which ranks second -- yet our country stands 37th in overall health, according to the World Health Organization. That coincides with the growing prevalence of chronic disease: 120 million Americans suffer from a chronic medical condition, and 60 million of these have more than one. By 2030, more than 20 percent of the U.S. population will be older than 65, where multiple chronic conditions are more commonplace. More (Members Only)

(04/09/2007)  --  A small percentage of the Academy's nearly 60,000 active members may have the opportunity to participate in a national survey spearheaded by the AMA, with the support of the AAFP, and conducted by the Gallup Organization. More

(04/09/2007)  --  The AAFP has asked Congress to increase funding levels in the 2008 fiscal year budget for three key health-related programs that are an essential part of enhancing access to care, decreasing costs and improving the overall quality of health care. More

(04/05/2007)  --  CMS has extended the May 23 deadline -- with one condition attached -- that had been set for family physicians and all other "covered entities" to begin using their National Provider Identifiers, or NPIs, on health insurance claims. More

(04/05/2007)  --  Family physicians with Medicare patients in select states and counties will need to add a few more digits to Medicare claim forms in the fall to ensure timely payment. Beginning Oct. 1, nine-digit ZIP codes will be required in 32 states on the portion of the physician claim form that indicates the geographic location where the health care service was rendered. More

(04/05/2007)  --  Family physicians play an essential role in providing health care to children, and in many parts of the country, they often serve as a child's only health care provider, said a pediatric researcher during a March 29 forum in Washington, D.C. "Anyone who advocates for kids would be foolhardy not to think seriously about the real role family physicians play in serving the health care needs of children," said Scott Shipman, M.D., M.P.H., during a forum on the maldistribution of the child physician workforce sponsored by the AAFP's Robert Graham Center. More

(04/04/2007)  --  Contracts with health insurance companies will become more understandable for Colorado family physicians under legislation passed by the Colorado General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter March 30. More

(04/04/2007)  --  Congress might not reform the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula used to determine physician payment rates under Medicare for at least another two years, even though congressional staff members are convinced the current system is not economically or politically feasible. That's the conclusion of a preliminary study report that evaluated the views of key congressional staff members and federal agency employees on physician payment and primary care. More

(04/04/2007)  --  The deadline to submit proposals for research papers or posters to be presented at the AAFP Scientific Assembly, to be held Oct. 3-6 in Chicago, has been pushed back to April 13. More

(04/04/2007)  --  Medicare patients typically see a variety of physicians during the course of a year, and that dispersion of care could make it difficult for Medicare pay-for-performance programs to award meaningful physician performance bonuses, thus limiting the effectiveness of such P4P initiatives, according to a study published in the March 15 New England Journal of Medicine. More

(04/03/2007)  --  Like many family physicians, Thomas Rosenthal, M.D., of Buffalo, N.Y., treats older adult patients, and he thinks family physicians are the go-to resource for cognitive issues among these patients. "We're the people most likely to hear the concerns from family members of patients who suffer cognitive decline," said Rosenthal. More

(04/03/2007)  --  A proposed regulation by CMS goes against the agency's own definition of a key term governing direct graduate medical education, or DGME, and indirect graduate medical education, or IME, payments to hospitals that send residents to community-based preceptors. Moreover, the proposal flies in the face of legislative intent. So says a recent letter from five family medicine organizations, including the Academy, to the federal agency. Based on these shortcomings, CMS should withdraw the proposed rule, the groups say. More

(04/03/2007)  --  Under an interim final rule, Medicaid now will automatically deem a newborn eligible for one year of coverage if emergency Medicaid covered the mother's labor and delivery, according to Leslie Norwalk, acting administrator of CMS. More

(04/02/2007)  --  President Bush has threatened to veto House and Senate versions of a supplemental appropriations bill that would provide emergency funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, a move that could further delay money for states without enough funds to cover SCHIP shortfalls this year. More

(04/02/2007)  --  AAFP member Arthur Snow Jr., M.D., of Shawnee Mission, Kan., recently was appointed to the Practicing Physicians Advisory Council, a federal commission that advises HHS and CMS on proposed physician rule changes under Medicare. Snow, an AAFP member for more than 30 years, will serve a four-year term as one of 15 members of the congressionally mandated council. He was nominated by the AAFP for the position. More