August 2007

(08/29/2007)  --  Family medicine resident scholars now have until Nov. 1 to submit their research and scholarly reports to the AAFP Resident Scholars Competition. The 2008 competition has broadened its focus to include two research categories. The discovery category includes reports of analyses of hypothesis-driven research; analyses of clinical process improvement/quality improvement project outcomes; and other analyses of quantitative or qualitative data. The synthesis category includes systematic reviews and case reports with literature reviews. More

(08/29/2007)  --  Pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co. Inc. has issued a letter apologizing to its customers for "recent vaccine supply interruptions" that have resulted in shortages and shipping delays involving some vaccines frequently administered by family physicians. Those vaccines are Merck's measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine, or MMRV, sold as ProQuad, and the adult and pediatric formulations of its hepatitis A vaccine, inactivated, sold as VAQTA. More

(08/29/2007)  --  A summer surge in private sector advocacy efforts by the Academy has seen letters fan out across the country to 65 health insurance companies on some of family physicians' most searing hot-button issues. The advocacy push included correspondence with high-profile plans, such as Aetna, Anthem, BlueCross BlueShield, CIGNA HealthCare, UnitedHealthcare and WellPoint. More

(08/28/2007)  --  Congress is likely to pass a bill to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, that is based more on the Senate's version of the program than a more expensive House measure. But Congress may adopt a key provision in the House reauthorization bill that provides a positive update in physician Medicare payments as part of a final SCHIP bill, according to analysts interviewed by AAFP News Now. As for whether the president would sign such a bill -- there are those in Congress who think Bush might be persuaded to accept a compromise bill, despite earlier veto threats. More

(08/27/2007)  --  The AMA has announced the launch of a multimillion-dollar campaign aimed at motivating the public and pressuring politicians and Congress to tackle the issue of Americans without health insurance. The three-year campaign, dubbed "Voice for the Uninsured," was formally announced at the National Press Club in Washington on Aug. 23. More

(08/27/2007)  --  Most family physicians should be only slightly affected by a federal regulation that requires large health care organizations, such as hospitals and managed care companies, to develop policies that comply with the U.S. False Claims Act and to educate their staff members about the law and relevant company policies. More

(08/24/2007)  --  Family physician will have to use tamper-resistant methods to transmit prescriptions for Medicaid patients as of Oct. 1, but they will have some flexibility in how they do so, according to an Aug. 17 letter from CMS to state Medicaid directors. The letter tells administrators that CMS will pay for prescriptions that are faxed, sent electronically or confirmed verbally by the prescribing physician. More

(08/24/2007)  --  Effective primary care and other outpatient treatments could prevent millions of unnecessary hospitalizations each year while saving billions of dollars in annual health care costs, according to a new report conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ. More

(08/22/2007)  --  If you want to move your practice to the next level -- focusing on disease prevention, using collaborative teams, incorporating technology and empowering patients -- then attend the 2007 Conference on Practice Improvement: Health Information and Patient Education, to be held Nov. 8-11 in Newport Beach, Calif. The conference is a joint presentation of the AAFP and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. More

(08/22/2007)  --  Family physicians should alert the parents of their younger patients that the FDA has issued a public health advisory regarding the use of over-the-counter, or OTC, cough and cold medications for children. "Do not use cough and cold products in children under 2 years of age, unless given specific directions to do so by a health care provider," the advisory says. More

(08/22/2007)  --  Practice medicine according to your principles. Don't compromise on your values, but be flexible enough to ensure financial health. Listen to your patients. Realize "you don't need a BMW." Do that, and you will flourish in an era when hospitals and communities are scrambling to hire family physicians. More

(08/22/2007)  --  AAFP Board Chair Larry Fields, M.D., of Flatwoods, Ky., this week approved a recommendation to further expand the routine use of quadrivalent meningococcal polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine, or MCV4. The new recommendation calls for immunization of all individuals ages 11 to 18 years with one dose of MCV4 at the earliest opportunity. More

(08/21/2007)  --  The 2007 Congress of Delegates will act on proposed amendments to the AAFP Bylaws, as well as on resolutions submitted by various constituencies, when the Congress meets Oct. 1-3 in Chicago. More

(08/20/2007)  --  "I honestly think that this is the best time in our specialty to come into a residency program. Every program director I talk to has the spirit of innovation. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity." With that, Joseph Gravel, M.D., director of the Tufts University Family Medicine Residency program at Cambridge Health Alliance, Malden, Mass., introduced himself to residents, students and peers during the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students Town Hall on Education Aug. 2 in Kansas City, Mo. More

(08/20/2007)  --  Want a quick reference for Medicaid-covered services in your state? Check out the interactive Medicaid Benefits: Online Database, released Aug. 16 by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. The database presents state-by-state information for the years 2003, 2004 and 2006 under a section titled "Benefits by State." Under a "Benefits by Service" section, the database includes information on covered services, ranging from physician care -- listed under "Practitioner Services" -- to targeted case management -- listed under "Other Services." More

(08/16/2007)  --  Delegates to the National Congress of Family Medicine Residents and National Congress of Student Members in Kansas City, Mo., chose new leaders Aug. 4 to represent them in the coming year. More

(08/16/2007)  --  In an effort to push the adoption and use of health information technology -- particularly e-prescribing -- the AAFP has joined with SureScripts and other health care stakeholders to launch the Center for Improving Medication Management. Steve Waldren, M.D., director of AAFP's Center for Health Information Technology, will serve on the board of directors for the new medication management center. More

(08/15/2007)  --  For the first time, a major insurance plan is putting money on the table to test whether health care delivered in a patient-centered medical home really does improve the delivery of care, improve overall patient health and reduce total health care spending. UnitedHealth Group is working with the AAFP, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians to undertake the pilot project, which will launch in Florida with a small number of primary care practices yet to be chosen. More

(08/15/2007)  --  The AAFP recently received an Accreditation with Commendation for Excellence designation from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, or ACCME. The designation demonstrates that the Academy's CME program exceeds ACCME standards. Only 8 percent of all ACCME-accredited programs receive accreditation with commendation, according to the organization. More

(08/15/2007)  --  Two new topic areas recently added to the NIHSeniorHealth Web site offer older patients information about skin cancer and how to make the most of their visits to their physicians' offices. The Web site is a joint effort of the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine, both of which are NIH components. More

(08/15/2007)  --  Family physicians can leave a global legacy by working with international colleagues to improve the health of the world. The 2007 International Family Medicine Development Workshop, Sept. 13-15 in Tucson, Ariz., will give participants an opportunity to learn about recent developments in global family medicine, help develop approaches to sustainability issues, network with leading international family medicine development experts and share experiences with peers. More

(08/10/2007)  --  America's patients need health care heroes. They want personal medical homes, but they are surrounded by a mushrooming number of subspecialists. They read that the quality of care is spiraling downward, and they see that the cost of care is billowing. More

(08/10/2007)  --  Tomorrow’s family physicians want to see more progress toward health system reform, stronger language regarding retail health clinics, and an arm’s length between the pharmaceutical industry and medicine. They voiced those opinions in resolutions adopted during the Aug. 2-4 resident and student congresses held during the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students in Kansas City, Mo. More

(08/09/2007)  --  The nation's community health centers, or CHCs, save billions of dollars each year in public and private health care expenditures by relying on a primary care system that employs a patient-centered medical home model to provide and coordinate care, according to a new report released Aug. 6. More

(08/09/2007)  --  Good health care doesn't focus on a single organ system. It doesn't focus on a single disease. It doesn't stop with the patient in the exam room. It envelops the organ, the disease, the patient, the family and the community. And family medicine is at the center of all of these, said David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., former U.S. Surgeon General and current director of the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities at Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta. More

(08/08/2007)  --  Get four full days of CME, hear top-name speakers address issues of key importance to family medicine and participate in hands-on clinical procedures workshops -- all in the world-class city of Chicago -- during the 2007 AAFP Scientific Assembly Oct. 3-6. Those who register by Aug. 29 save as much as $100. More

(08/08/2007)  --  The House recently passed a bill that would provide slight increases in physician payments under Medicare in 2008 and 2009 as a substitute for the steep payment cuts that were called for under the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula. The provision, which was passed as part of a larger $50 billion bill to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, would provide a 0.5 percent increase in Medicare physician payments in both 2008 and 2009. More

(08/08/2007)  --  The FDA would gain the authority to regulate tobacco products under a bipartisan bill recently passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee. A similar bill is winding its way through the U.S. House. More

(08/08/2007)  --  North Carolina officials have asked the federal government to approve a plan to move the state's higher-cost Medicare patients into a primary care Medicaid management program that has saved the state millions of dollars during the past few years. Officials submitted what is known as a 646 waiver to CMS earlier this year, asking the agency to approve a five-year demonstration project that would put the state's high-risk Medicare patients and dual eligibles (i.e., patients qualifying for both Medicaid and Medicare) into a primary care program known as Community Care of North Carolina, or CCNC. More

(08/07/2007)  --  Family physicians who are Medicare providers and use clearinghouses to process their claims need to know that some clearinghouses are stripping physicians' National Provider Identifier, or NPI, numbers from claims before submitting them to Medicare, says CMS. More

(08/06/2007)  --  The AAFP's online resource Value of Family Medicine recently posted a new videoconference presentation by renowned health policy researcher Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H. Starfield, a university distinguished professor in the health policy and management and pediatrics departments at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, gave the presentation, "Primary Care: Improving Quality and Reducing Costs," at a June round-table discussion sponsored by the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative. More

(08/03/2007)  --  Merck & Co. has notified the CDC that the company currently reports backorders, with associated shipment delays, for both the pediatric and adult formulations of its hepatitis A vaccine, inactivated. At this time, however, CDC officials are not calling for any related changes in hepatitis A immunization recommendations. More

(08/03/2007)  --  Legislation that would prohibit employers and health insurance companies from discriminating against individuals based on those individuals' genetic makeup soon may become law. The House overwhelmingly passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007, H.R. 493, in April, and the Senate is on the verge of passing similar legislation. President Bush supported the House legislation and is expected to sign a final bill negotiated between the House and Senate, said William Pewen, health policy adviser for Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, who sponsored the Senate bill. More

(08/02/2007)  --  In its 2006 Physician Workforce Reform report, the AAFP warned of a pending shortage of family physicians. That shortage now is showing up in Massachusetts, which recently mandated that all of its residents have health insurance. More

(08/01/2007)  --  The council of the World Organization of Family Doctors, or Wonca, recently named AAFP Past President Richard Roberts, M.D., of Madison, Wis., Wonca president-elect. More

(08/01/2007)  --  The U.S. Senate has passed the Higher Education Access Act of 2007, which, if enacted, would allow family medicine residents to defer their student loan repayment plans until they complete additional education, such as a fellowship or a four-year resident training program. More

(08/01/2007)  --  Family medicine practices interested in improving care for their patients with chronic illnesses and instituting a quality improvement, or QI, project may want to take part in the Academy's Michigan Practice Enhancement Forum, or PEF. An added bonus: Family physicians who participate can complete their American Board of Family Medicine Maintenance of Certification Program for Family Physicians, or MC-FP, Part IV requirement. More

(08/01/2007)  --  Americans have less "face time" with their primary care physicians than patients in Australia or New Zealand, a situation that "may have real consequences in terms of preventive care and management of chronic conditions" and "could partially explain why the U.S. does not have health outcomes that correspond to its overall investment in health care." More