January 2007

(01/30/2007)  --  Direct-to-consumer, or DTC, advertising by pharmaceutical companies has led to many family physicians having to deal with patients who demand medications that may not be appropriate for their conditions. Now, in the January/February issue of Annals of Family Medicine, researchers are looking at the ads themselves to see if the message they deliver to consumers is appropriate. More

(01/30/2007)  --  Practice-based research stands on its own as a separate body of work, family physician researchers advise the NIH in "Practice-Based Research -- 'Blue Highways' on the NIH Roadmap," an article in the Jan. 24/31 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA. More

(01/30/2007)  --  If you've been thinking about nominating a colleague for one of several AAFP awards or other honors, or if you've been developing an idea for a seminar to present at the Academy's 2007 Conference on Practice Improvement: Health Information and Patient Education, take note of some upcoming deadlines to submit materials for the following awards and other events. More

(01/29/2007)  --  When thinking about their chances of developing cancer, do your patients know the difference between absolute risk and relative risk? Do they understand the distinction between biological and genetic risk factors for cancer? Would they know how to evaluate the accuracy of a news story on clinical trial results? To help patients understand these and related issues, NIH's National Cancer Institute, or NCI, earlier this month launched a Web site, "Cancer Risk: Understanding the Puzzle." More

(01/29/2007)  --  The California AFP announces the candidacy of Leonard Fromer, M.D., of Los Angeles for AAFP director. More

(01/26/2007)  --  On the heels of his recent State of the Union address, President Bush traveled to Lee's Summit, Mo., on Jan. 25 to discuss -- and garner support for -- some of his proposals for making health care affordable and available to all Americans. More

(01/26/2007)  --  Thank you for entering into the dialogue on health care reform in your Jan. 23 State of the Union address and your Jan. 25 round-table discussion in Lee’s Summit, Mo., just down the road from the national headquarters of the American Academy of Family Physicians in Leawood, Kan. More (Members Only)

(01/26/2007)  --  Comprehensive medical liability reform that includes caps on noneconomic damages -- a searing issue two years ago -- has cooled this year, as state and federal lawmakers and constituent chapters begin the current legislative session. To date, 26 medical liability-related bills, out of more than 3,600 bills, have been introduced in state legislatures. More

(01/26/2007)  --  Acknowledging that Congress is unlikely to enact health care legislation that would reduce the number of uninsured Americans, a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers on Jan. 17 announced two proposals that throw the issue to the states. The identical bills -- known as the Health Partnership Act, S. 325, in the Senate and the Health Partnership Act Through Creative Federalism, H.R. 506, in the House -- would provide federal funding for state initiatives to expand health care coverage to the uninsured. More

(01/25/2007)  --  Under pressure from the Academy, Congress and other sources, NIH is beginning to signal its growing recognition of the importance of practice-based research, say several FP leaders. Signs of this increasing valuation include a new type of NIH grant, continuing AAFP discussions with NIH institutes, and a Senate committee report that uses language the AAFP and the Academic Family Medicine Advocacy Alliance recommended. More

(01/24/2007)  --  Access to health care has become a hot topic across the country, and state legislatures are stepping to the fore to develop solutions to the problems of rising costs and the growing number of uninsured Americans. More

(01/24/2007)  --  Family physicians now have until Feb. 14 to change their status as participating or nonparticipating Medicare providers. CMS has extended the Medicare participation enrollment period for physicians until the middle of February in light of updates in the 2007 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Congressional action in December. More

(01/24/2007)  --  Family physicians who have contracts with CIGNA HealthCare may see a little more money in their pockets because of what CIGNA calls a "significant" increase in its national reimbursement fee schedule for vaccines. More

(01/24/2007)  --  President Bush's plan to expand access to health insurance through tax deductions "is a step in the right direction," but falls short of comprehensive health system reform supported by the AAFP, according to Academy President Rick Kellerman, M.D., of Wichita, Kan. More

(01/24/2007)  --  Making fitness a focus of day-to-day patient care is the goal of an AAFP Foundation research project for which the PepsiCo Foundation has pledged more than $1.9 million. The AAFP Foundation, the grant recipient, will subcontract work on the three-year project to AAFP's National Research Network, or NRN, and the Academy's fitness initiative, Americans in Motion, or AIM. More

(01/24/2007)  --  More than 12 million people in the United States have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, according to NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. It is estimated that an additional 12 million individuals have COPD but have not been diagnosed with the disease. As part of their role on the front lines of health care, it is vital for family physicians to be aware of the prevalence of COPD and to recognize its symptoms. That's why the AAFP is partnering with the NHLBI and a variety of other organizations to introduce the COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign. More

(01/23/2007)  --  Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommendations to update hospital base payment rates and reduce indirect medical education, or IME, funding could enhance or prove disastrous to teaching hospitals' financial well-being, depending on how they are implemented, according to Perry Pugno, M.D., M.P.H., director of medical education at the AAFP. More

(01/23/2007)  --  FP researchers, take advantage of an unparalleled opportunity to learn about new studies, discuss the latest developments in practice-based research and review recent research findings at the 2007 Convocation of Practices and Networks, to be held March 1-4 in Virginia Beach, Va. More

(01/23/2007)  --  A groundbreaking alliance of health care stakeholders, including the AAFP, on Jan. 18 announced a proposal that would extend health care coverage to America's nearly 47 million residents without health insurance. The group, the Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured, or HCCU, advocates a mix of public programs and tax credits to achieve the coverage. HCCU estimates that the proposal, if fully implemented, would cover more than half of the uninsured population. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More

(01/19/2007)  --  Depression may be common among older adults, but it's not part of the normal aging process. To help older individuals understand the difference between depression and the emotional changes that often come with aging, NIH's National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine, which jointly developed the NIHSeniorHealth Web site, recently added a section on depression to the site. More

(01/17/2007)  --  Are you ready for April 1? How about May 23? The first date is the deadline to begin using the new CMS-1500 claim form to submit paper claims with public or private payers. By May 23, you must use your 10-digit National Provider Identifier, or NPI, when you file claims electronically. If you don't use the NPI, your claim might be delayed or even rejected. More (Members Only)

(01/17/2007)  --  Tracy Bird, C.P.C., director of management and consulting services for Kansas Medical Mutual Insurance Company -- Medical Service Corp. in Shawnee Mission, Kan., has seen "the good, the bad and the ugly" when it comes to results of medical practice management and mismanagement. A fellow in the American College of Medical Practice Executives with more than 30 years' experience in medical practice management, Bird has worked with hundreds of family physicians and other medical specialists. More

(01/17/2007)  --  Earn free CME using online programs from the Academy's 2006 Annual Clinical Focus: Caring for Children and Adolescents. The programs are designed to help family physicians enhance the care they provide their younger patients by increasing FPs' knowledge about such topics as overweight and obesity in children and teens, proper developmental assessment techniques, alcohol and drug abuse, asthma care, appropriate newborn screenings, and youth violence. More

(01/17/2007)  --  Increasing health care coverage, raising physician payment, safeguarding or expanding scope of practice, and promoting public health initiatives top constituent chapters' legislative priorities for the current legislative session, according to a 2007 survey of AAFP chapters. More

(01/16/2007)  --  The new year marks the launch of a new campaign to recruit young people into family medicine. The campaign, "Future Family Docs," is spearheaded by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, or STFM. More

(01/16/2007)  --  The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a final petition filed by the plaintiffs in an antitrust lawsuit filed over the National Resident Matching Program, or NRMP. The court's action means a U.S. District Court dismissal of the case will stand. More

(01/15/2007)  --  Continuing a trend that started in the 1990s, the percentage of adolescents who report using illicit drugs or drinking alcohol dropped overall in the past year, according to the 32nd annual Monitoring the Future survey, which involved 50,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in more than 400 U.S. schools. However, the survey also revealed some troubling statistics that may offer clues on what clinicians should look for when seeing their teenage patients. More

(01/11/2007)  --  An AAFP-inspired group of 10 medical associations has called on Congress to implement comprehensive health system reform that abides by 11 principles, including access to health care, medical liability reform and management of health care costs. More

(01/11/2007)  --  Family physicians can be proud of the AAFP's lead role in creating and promulgating the "Principles for Reform of the U.S. Health Care System" announced today by 10 major medical associations. The principles are the capstone of an AAFP-initiated process that started in 2004, when Academy leaders realized the logical and necessary next step in health-system reform had to be development of general principles that would garner a broad base of support throughout medicine. More (Members Only)

(01/10/2007)  --  The 2006-07 influenza season is far from over -- indeed, the season hasn't yet reached its peak, say CDC officials -- but vaccine manufacturers and distributors already have started prebooking orders for next season. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More

(01/10/2007)  --  Registering early for the Residency Program Solutions Conference, April 1-3 in Kansas City, Mo., means you not only save money -- you also gain a chance to win prizes. More

(01/10/2007)  --  Physician compensation programs based on quality are on the rise, but productivity incentives still dominate physician compensation, concluded a national study released Jan. 4 by the Center for Studying Health System Change, or HSC. More

(01/10/2007)  --  Don't miss your chance to join the National Immunization Program's first live "netconference" of 2007. “Current Issues in Immunization,” scheduled to begin at noon ET Jan. 18, is designed to provide clinicians with the most up-to-date information on some emerging immunization issues. More

(01/09/2007)  --  In a study designed to assess patient-oriented outcomes, such as complaint resolution and overall satisfaction, rather than disease-focused outcomes, patients overwhelmingly reported their skin lesions improved after family physicians diagnosed and treated the conditions, according to a research report in the January issue of The Journal of Family Practice. "How Well Do Family Physicians Manage Skin Lesions?" also noted dermatologists' high levels of agreement with the FPs' diagnoses and treatment plans. More

(01/05/2007)  --  Each January brings updated immunization recommendations for infants, children and adolescents developed by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, in collaboration with the AAFP and American Academy of Pediatrics. This year, because of the increasing number of immunizations recommended for these patient groups, the immunization recommendations have been split into separate schedules according to age ranges -- 0 to 6 years and 7 to 18 years. More

(01/05/2007)  --  The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, or MMWR, recently published a report summarizing new immunization recommendations intended to reverse a worrisome trend clinicians have noted in recent years: a resurgence of pertussis -- known to millions as whooping cough -- among adolescents and adults. More

(01/04/2007)  --  Advocacy for family physicians was at the forefront of the AAFP's activities during 2006. The Academy fought hard on physician payment issues, met with private insurers to ensure they were aware of FPs' concerns and worked to increase the national visibility of the concepts outlined in the Future of Family Medicine Project report. Those advocacy efforts met with success as CMS increased payments for evaluation and management codes, insurers backed off of some programs that were hurting FPs, and the idea of a medical home found acceptance within the public and private sectors. More

(01/04/2007)  --  More of your patients may enroll in health plans that carry a high deductible as a result of legislation signed into law last month by President Bush. According to some analysts, that could mean they won't be coming to you for many preventive services. More

(01/04/2007)  --  Black adults are at increased risk for infection with HIV and other STDs, even when their relative level of risky behavior is low, according to a study recently published by the American Journal of Public Health. More

(01/04/2007)  --  The Center for the History of Family Medicine, or CHFM, is asking AAFP members and other family physicians to send in their wartime memorabilia. More

(01/03/2007)  --  Magazines can be a great diversion and even an educational resource for patients who spend time in your reception and exam rooms. Now, one AAFP discount subscription program can help satisfy the diverse reading tastes and information needs of patients in many different practices. More

(01/02/2007)  --  Family physicians looking for cutting-edge initiatives regarding the care of patients with diabetes can check out DiabetesXChange, a new online resource. The DiabetesXChange site features information on more than 50 diabetes initiatives, including METRIC (Measuring, Evaluating and Translating Research Into Care), the Academy's online performance improvement program. More