January 2009

(01/29/2009)  --  Physicians know the importance of completing the medical history section of each patient's health record. They also know that compiling that historical data consumes a considerable amount of time. But what if patients could create their family health histories on their own time and then simply hand that electronic file or paper document over to their physicians? More

(01/28/2009)  --  A key deadline is rapidly approaching for some physicians who hold contracts with UnitedHealthcare, or UHC. Jan. 27 is the cutoff for requests that UHC re-examine the accuracy of certain physician performance data the insurer has gathered before going public with it in early March. More

(01/28/2009)  --  Medical students interested in matching to family medicine residency slots this year should be aware that the results of their Medical Student Performance Evaluation, or MSPE; grades in their clerkships; letters of recommendation; and standardized test scores are among the most important factors in getting interviewed and ranked by the residency programs to which they have applied. That heads-up comes from the preliminary results of a recent National Resident Matching Program, or NRMP, survey of program directors who participated in the 2008 residency Match. More

(01/28/2009)  --  Two new guidelines on depression and medications for depression have found that as many as 65 percent of patients experience symptoms of depression after a heart attack, and there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of second-generation antidepressants versus first-generation antidepressants for the treatment of major depression disorders. More

(01/28/2009)  --  Last fall, the AAFP Congress of Delegates overwhelmingly adopted measures to safeguard the representation of special constituencies within the AAFP, which is more significant than many members may know. Delegates voted to continue the National Conference of Special Constituencies, or NCSC, and they also decided to extend until 2015 six delegate and six alternate delegate seats in the Congress that are reserved for representatives from four of the AAFP's special constituency groups -- women; minorities; international medical graduates, or IMGs; and members interested in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. More (Members Only)

(01/28/2009)  --  A nationwide shortage of Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, vaccine and the refusal by some parents to vaccinate their children may have sparked a re-emergence of invasive Hib disease in Minnesota. More

(01/28/2009)  --  Community health centers, or CHCs, may play a key role in reducing emergency department, or ED, visits among the uninsured. That's the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers at the National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and published in the Winter 2009 issue of The Journal of Rural Health. More

(01/22/2009)  --  The AAFP has adopted CDC interim guidance for physicians on the use of influenza antiviral medications during the 2008-09 influenza season. The agency issued the recommendations because a high proportion of influenza A (H1N1) viruses have been found to be resistant to the antiviral medication oseltamivir. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More

(01/21/2009)  --  In response to concerns raised by the AAFP and other physician organizations during a December meeting, CMS has modified its analytical process for the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, or PQRI, for 2007. It now plans to rerun data for the 2007 reporting period based on the revised analytical process to more accurately determine who successfully submitted a quality code and should be paid a bonus under the terms of the program. More

(01/21/2009)  --  With daily news reports on the state of the weakening economy, some physicians may have missed a glimmer of good news that came with CMS' publication of the 2009 Medicare physician fee schedule. According to Kent Moore, the AAFP's manager of health care financing and delivery systems, family physicians should see a total increase of about 2 percent for allowed Medicare charges based on changes in the 2009 fee schedule. More

(01/21/2009)  --  Congress should invest in health information technology, or HIT, as part of an economic stimulus package by providing loans and grants to further the adoption of HIT systems, according to witnesses who testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee on Jan. 15. But the stimulus also should be used as a first step in incorporating HIT into the broader framework of health care reform, those experts added. More

(01/21/2009)  --  With the stroke of a pen, HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt gave the U.S. health care industry two additional years to comply with a rule that many experts said would be far more difficult to implement than the government had acknowledged. More

(01/20/2009)  --  The high costs of childhood vaccinations have led a sizable percentage of doctors to strongly consider whether to stop providing the vaccines to privately insured patients, says a newly released study. And some family physicians already have stopped, AAFP News Now has discovered. (Discuss this story on the AAFP News Now bulletin board.) More

(01/19/2009)  --  The Arkansas AFP announces the candidacy of Steven Strode, M.D., of Sherwood, for AAFP director. More

(01/19/2009)  --  The Texas AFP announces the candidacy of Roland Goertz, M.D., M.B.A., of Waco, for AAFP president-elect. More

(01/19/2009)  --  Family physicians who practice in Arizona and Utah should be aware that their Medicare fee-for-service patients will be receiving information about the Medicare PHR Choice Pilot directly from outgoing HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt during the next few weeks. As a result, some of those patients may have questions about personal health records, or PHRs, that they bring to their next office visit. More

(01/16/2009)  --  The U.S. House of Representatives is considering an $825 billion economic stimulus package that contains several provisions to support and strengthen the nation's primary care infrastructure, clearly showing that Congress and the incoming Obama administration view primary care as a critical health care component in the nation's overall economic recovery plan. The draft legislation reflects many of the issues and concerns raised by the AAFP in communications sent to the president-elect last month. More

(01/14/2009)  --  Two studies published late last year by the CDC indicate that vaccination rates for children and teenagers are rising. But although most younger children are getting vaccinated, many teenagers still are not receiving all their recommended immunizations. More

(01/14/2009)  --  The AAFP has issued an Action Alert asking Academy members to contact their U.S. senators and urge them to support legislation reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. Without congressional reauthorization, SCHIP will expire at the end of March. More

(01/14/2009)  --  Two health care experts provided starkly different perspectives on whether prevention measures actually save costs during a Jan. 6 forum in Washington sponsored by the journal Health Affairs. Louise Russell, Ph.D., a professor of health economics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., said most prevention efforts do not result in cost savings. Her viewpoint was countered by Ron Goetzel, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Health and Productivity Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, who argued that prevention "offers a very good return on investment." More

(01/14/2009)  --  During a Jan. 8 Senate hearing in Washington, HHS Secretary-designate Tom Daschle called on Congress to shift the nation's health care paradigm from an illness-based model to a wellness and prevention-based model by providing more resources and support for primary care health professionals and services. More

(01/13/2009)  --  The United States needs to transform its health care system by using the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, as a key building block in a system built around primary care. And that transformation needs to include payment reform, which, in turn, would lead to workforce reform in a system that does not have enough primary care physicians to support universal health care. That is according to AAFP President Ted Epperly, M.D., a practicing family physician and CEO and program director of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho in Boise, who recently sat down to talk to AAFP News Now. More

(01/12/2009)  --  Smokers and people with asthma should be vaccinated against pneumococcal disease, according to the 2009 adult immunization schedule released Jan. 9. The new schedule was developed by the AAFP in conjunction with the American College of Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. More

(01/09/2009)  --  The results of a recently released NIH survey reinforce the need for family physicians to talk to their patients -- both adults and children -- about their use of complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM, therapies. More

(01/09/2009)  --  As the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, concept gathers steam and grabs the interest of public and private payers, family medicine finds itself in the spotlight. As a service to members, the AAFP has produced a guide to help FPs who are interested in achieving PCMH recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance, or NCQA. More

(01/08/2009)  --  The AAFP has asked President-elect Barack Obama to offer an economic stimulus package that would strengthen the nation's health care system and, in turn, its economy by recognizing and rewarding the provision of primary care services. More

(01/07/2009)  --  The ability of insurers and payers to promote and sustain the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, model depends on four core elements that can make or break the medical home process, according to a new report issued jointly by the Center for Studying Health System Change and Mathematica Policy Research Inc., or MPR. More

(01/07/2009)  --  2008 could well have been called the year of the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH. As increasing numbers of organizations, government agencies and officials, and private entities acknowledged the burgeoning U.S. health care crisis, the PCMH gained increasing prominence. From the halls of Congress, to privately funded think-tanks, to insurers, the cry became, "Turn the focus back to primary care," prompting the Academy and its primary care partners to push the PCMH, along with one of its key components -- payment for managing the medical home -- as the solution. More

(01/07/2009)  --  No doubt about it: 2008 was a year we all couldn't wait to be over. But before we leave 2008 in the dust, I'd like to revisit it for a minute. In the midst of this last year's chaos and uncertainty, the AAFP stuck to its plan to be your bold champion. The Academy focused its advocacy efforts on the issues most critical to our specialty's survival -- especially health system reform based on primary care -- because as family physicians, we simply cannot thrive and take good care of our patients unless the health care system is transformed to respect and value what we do and to pay us appropriately for doing it. More (Members Only)

(01/06/2009)  --  The AAFP has adopted recommendations from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, for the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, or PPSV23. The provisional recommendations added smoking and asthma as indications for routine administration of PPSV23 in adults ages 19-64. More

(01/06/2009)  --  The 2009 immunization schedules for children and adolescents increase the number of children recommended to receive annual influenza vaccination by about 30 million. That's according to the CDC, which released the schedules Jan. 6 in conjunction with the AAFP and the American Academy of Pediatrics. More

(01/05/2009)  --  A key resource for family physicians and their patients recently got an extreme makeover -- just in time for 2009. Thanks to a collaboration between the AAFP and multi-platform video distributor AnswersMedia Inc., the Academy's award-winning consumer Web site, FamilyDoctor.org, has a whole new look and a whole new sound. More