January 2008

(01/30/2008)  --  The controversy about whether autism is linked to childhood exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines might get hotter this week when a new TV drama airs its first episode. That's despite solid evidence disputing any such tie. More

(01/30/2008)  --  A major health care reform initiative in Massachusetts has revealed a fundamental truth -- comprehensive health care reform efforts cannot work without adequate access to primary care services. In April 2006, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to enact a law requiring its residents to carry health insurance. Since its inception, the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Plan has dramatically reduced the number of uninsured residents in the state, cutting the state's uninsured rate to about 5 percent by bringing more than 300,000 previously uninsured people into the health care system. More

(01/30/2008)  --  The American Health Information Community, or AHIC, will be phased out in coming months as its successor, AHIC 2.0, is established, according to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt. During a Jan. 22 AHIC meeting, Leavitt named LMI Consulting, based in McLean, Va., and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., recipients of a two-phase, multimillion-dollar grant aimed at funding the transition. More

(01/29/2008)  --  During his Jan. 28 State of the Union address, President Bush urged Congress to make health care "more affordable and accessible" by passing initiatives to reduce the ranks of the uninsured while giving consumers more options when choosing health care plans and making health care decisions. But Bush's proposals do not go nearly far enough in addressing the nation's ongoing health care crisis, said AAFP President Jim King, M.D., of Selmer, Tenn. More

(01/29/2008)  --  The rising cost of health insurance has made it difficult for owners of small businesses, including physicians' offices, to provide health care benefits for themselves and their employees. This creates gaps in coverage and fuels the nation's health care crisis, said a family physician who testified before the House Committee on Small Business on Jan. 23. More

(01/25/2008)  --  A recent FDA advisory about dietary supplements from China that are considered illegal illustrates why it's important for physicians and patients to discuss complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM. More

(01/25/2008)  --  As part of a plan passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2007, Indiana officials are working on making primary care services the cornerstone of the state's Medicaid program. The Indiana Check-Up-Plan provides bonuses and increased payments to primary care providers who participate in Indiana's Medicaid program. More

(01/23/2008)  --  Nearly a decade ago, a historic multistate tobacco settlement promised a financial windfall for most U.S. states, and many public health organizations hoped the states would use a majority of the money to fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Now a new report outlines how well states have met that challenge. More

(01/23/2008)  --  Family physicians who provide point-of-care hemoglobin A1c testing using a test kit that CMS defines as a "glycosylated hb home device" will see a drop in Medicare payment -- from about $21 per test to about $13.50 per test -- beginning April 1. More

(01/23/2008)  --  Maryland is confronting a growing, statewide shortage of practicing primary care and subspecialty physicians, a trend that could lead to much longer waiting times in physician offices while increasing emergency room visits for minor afflictions and ailments, according to the executive summary of a recent study released by the Maryland Hospital Association and MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society. More

(01/23/2008)  --  Family physicians looking to boost their diagnostic skills in dermatology have a new online tool to explore. The Academy has teamed up with Logical Images Inc. to offer VisualDx, now available to all active AAFP members at a discounted price. More

(01/22/2008)  --  A new analysis of Medicare Part D drug plans by Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumers Report, indicates that many of the plans in five populous states increased the combined prices for five commonly used prescription drugs by as much as $500 for a one-month supply between December 2007 and January 2008. More

(01/21/2008)  --  I was thrilled to read about the AAFP's new direction and promotional campaign in the November 2007 print issue of AAFP News Now. I truly hope that the AAFP leadership includes an aggressive stance that primary care medicine is best practiced by family physicians and not by nurse practitioners or others who frequently represent themselves as equivalent providers. We need to emphasize the extensive education and training that we have. More (Members Only)

(01/18/2008)  --  If you're like many Americans, you've been glued to your TV set for many an evening this month, watching presidential candidates challenge one another on issues, including our top pick: health system reform. This is a "change" election the likes of which we've never seen, and a Kaiser Family Foundation poll in late December showed that health care is the top domestic issue the American public wants presidential candidates to discuss. More (Members Only)

(01/17/2008)  --  Here's news you'll likely want to pass along to the parents of your youngest patients: FDA officials today issued a public health advisory recommending -- in no uncertain terms -- that over-the-counter, or OTC, cough and cold medicines no longer be used in infants and children younger than 2 years of age. For these young patients, the advisory stated, the possible side effects of such medications can be deadly. More

(01/16/2008)  --  A study in the January 2008 Archives of General Psychiatry does not support the hypothesis that childhood exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines, or TCVs, is linked to autism. Thimerosal is a preservative that contains ethylmercury. Vaccines were the main source of thimerosal exposure among young children in the United States before the preservative's removal from vaccines in recent years. More

(01/16/2008)  --  Congress should provide a 1.1 percent increase in the Medicare physician payment rate in 2009 to stabilize the Medicare payment system and prevent a steep payment reduction that is scheduled to take place under the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula in 2009. That's the gist of a recommendation adopted recently by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC. More

(01/16/2008)  --  Five minutes of time invested in answering a few "yes" or "no" questions could help physicians move their practices closer to the patient-centered medical home model the Academy has embraced. More

(01/16/2008)  --  A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that although hospitalist management of inpatients can reduce hospital lengths-of-stay, treatment costs associated with hospitalist care are only modestly lower than those of inpatients treated by general internists or family physicians. The researchers concluded that hospitalists offer "relatively modest improvements in efficiency as compared with traditional approaches to caring for hospitalized patients," and they urged further research into the best way to utilize these specialists. More

(01/15/2008)  --  The next presidential administration and Congress likely will have little money or time for major health care reform efforts during the next few years because they will be engaged in a prolonged debate about budget and taxes, according to analysts interviewed recently by AAFP News Now. More

(01/11/2008)  --  It's that time again -- the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, in conjunction with the AAFP and the American Academy of Pediatrics, has released the newly revised recommended immunizations schedules for children and adolescents, as well as the 2008 version of the catch-up schedule for these age groups. Although no vaccines have been added to the 2008 schedules, they do include a couple of changes from last year's schedules that are worth noting. More

(01/11/2008)  --  Funding for CMS' 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, or PQRI, was confirmed recently in an e-mail from CMS to AAFP and other medical specialty societies. The e-mail assured physicians that they could qualify for the same 1.5 percent bonus payments in 2008 that were available to them in 2007. More

(01/09/2008)  --  Many large employers are not using their purchasing power with health plans and providers to improve the quality of health care for their employees, suggests the abstract of a study of 609 employers that was published in the Nov. 21 Journal of the American Medical Association. More

(01/09/2008)  --  Employers should fight to prevent the demise of primary care because primary care is associated with reduced costs and better health outcomes, according to the abstract of a commentary in the January/February Health Affairs. More

(01/09/2008)  --  As of Jan. 1, family physicians have two new CPT codes to add to their billing toolboxes: CPT codes 99408 and 99409. The codes were created for physicians to use when billing for alcohol and substance abuse screening and intervention services. More

(01/09/2008)  --  In 2006, most office-based physicians accepted new Medicare patients, according to data recently released by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, which advises Congress on Medicare issues. More

(01/09/2008)  --  Physicians who still are undecided about their Medicare participation status for 2008 now have a little more time to mull over their options, because CMS has extended the participation decision deadline to Feb. 15. More

(01/09/2008)  --  Earlier this week, the FDA issued an alert highlighting the possibility of severe and sometimes incapacitating bone, joint and/or muscle pain in patients taking bisphosphonates. The agency is encouraging health care professionals to assess whether severe musculoskeletal pain in patients taking bisphosphonates, which are frequently prescribed to treat or prevent osteoporosis, could be attributed to their use of these drugs and to consider temporarily or permanently discontinuing their use. More

(01/08/2008)  --  President Bush recently signed an omnibus spending bill that slightly reduces funding for Title VII primary care training programs while providing modest increases for rural health programs and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, in the fiscal year 2008, or FY '08, budget. More

(01/07/2008)  --  The Wisconsin AFP announces the candidacy of Bradley Fedderly, M.D., of Milwaukee for AAFP president-elect. More

(01/07/2008)  --  The North Carolina AFP announces the candidacy of Lori Heim, M.D., of Vass for AAFP president-elect. More

(01/07/2008)  --  The Michigan AFP announces the candidacy of Timothy Tobolic, M.D., of Byron Center for AAFP director. More

(01/04/2008)  --  Advocacy once again was at the forefront of the Academy's activities during 2007. The AAFP took on the federal government, private insurers and regulators to ensure that family physicians' issues were heard and taken into account when decisions were made. More

(01/03/2008)  --  Pay-for-performance programs are "not just about giving physicians financial incentives to do the right thing," said former CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, M.D. Ph.D., at a Dec. 20 press conference here. "If you are a practicing physician, (P4P) is about financial reality under our current payment system." More

(01/03/2008)  --  The Texas AFP, in concert with five other AAFP constituent chapters, has produced a series of online videos that describe the benefits of family medicine and warn about the dangers of Medicare payment cuts to physicians and patients. More

(01/03/2008)  --  The AAFP's political action committee, FamMedPAC, recently received its first donation from a family medicine residency program, and the program's director challenged other family medicine residency programs to follow his residency's example. More

(01/03/2008)  --  The FDA has announced the results of a safety review of the drugs omeprazole, marketed as Prilosec, and esomeprazole, marketed as Nexium, saying that long-term use of these drugs is not likely to be associated with an increased risk of heart problems. Thus, the agency recommends that health care professionals continue to prescribe and patients continue to use these products as described in their package labeling. More

(01/02/2008)  --  Notice anything different about this Web page? That's right, AAFP News Now online is sporting a new logo -- and you can expect more changes in the coming weeks. The print ANN also reflects the new look, as you'll see starting with the January issue. ANN's appearance has been reworked for 2008 to support the Academy's new brand identity -- an identity that telegraphs the AAFP's transformation into a "bold champion" that represents family physicians with more assertive actions and more forceful language than ever before. More (Members Only)