March 2007

(03/30/2007)  --  Earlier today, FDA officials issued a public health advisory announcing that Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. has complied with an FDA request to immediately cease all U.S. sales and marketing of its prescription drug tegaserod maleate, sold as Zelnorm. More

(03/30/2007)  --  The Academy has held up its end of a bargain made last year with TRICARE, the U.S. military health plan, and AAFP leaders now are asking TRICARE to do the same. Some background: In November, at the request of Maj. Gen. Elder Granger, deputy director of TRICARE management activity, AAFP Board Chair Larry Fields, M.D., of Flatwoods, Ky., asked all AAFP members who hadn't yet done so to consider participating as TRICARE physicians. More

(03/30/2007)  --  The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, is making it easier for you to safeguard your patients' health. New resources -- for you and your patients -- are available for downloading from the AHRQ Web site.You also can order a hard copy version of a widely used clinical resource from the agency. More

(03/29/2007)  --  Results from a national survey designed to gauge physician support for pay-for-performance programs and public reporting of quality scores found that general internists support the use of financial incentives to improve patient care, but they oppose public reporting and are concerned about unintended consequences. More

(03/28/2007)  --  Data in a new report from PERQ/HCI Corp. indicate that the Web sites for the Academy's journals American Family Physician and Family Practice Management rank among the top 10 Web sites for medical journals. More

(03/28/2007)  --  Radio listeners tuned to National Public Radio's popular Morning Edition program March 26 had a chance to hear what it's like to practice family medicine these days from FP Rebecca Jaffe, M.D., of Wilmington, Del. More

(03/27/2007)  --  Some family physicians are running into unanticipated software upgrade costs as they scramble to ensure their practice management computer systems will accept National Provider Identifier, or NPI, numbers. More

(03/26/2007)  --  Family physicians concerned about the explosion of retail health clinics and the effect such clinics may have on their practices now can explore a collection of online materials compiled by Family Practice Management. More

(03/26/2007)  --  The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, or CCHIT, recently announced unanimous approval of new criteria for office-based electronic health records, or EHRs. The criteria will go into effect on May 1. More

(03/26/2007)  --  Men who take acetaminophen, aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, known as NSAIDs, six to seven days a week have an increased risk of developing hypertension, according to the abstract of a study in the Feb. 26 Archives of Internal Medicine. More

(03/23/2007)  --  Jacob Guernsey's future lay inside the white envelope. Within it were the names of the medical specialty and residency program that would dictate where he would live for at least the next three years. Young Jacob fumbled with the envelope; handed it to his father, David Guernsey, for a quick assist; retrieved it; and then slipped the contents out and gave them to his dad. Smiling, David leaned into the microphone. "The Guernseys are going to Smoky Hill in Salina, Kansas," he intoned. More

(03/23/2007)  --  A recent study of 392 videotaped office visits found that primary care physicians cover an average of 6.5 topics in routine encounters with elderly patients, significantly more topics than some earlier studies found. The research, which was published online Jan. 24 and which is expected to appear in the April or June issue of Health Services Research, may have implications for coding and reimbursement, say the authors and others. More

(03/22/2007)  --  AAFP's tobacco cessation program, Ask and Act, recently received a $91,250 grant from Pfizer Inc., which the program will use to expand its so-called roadshow visits, in which the program presents and exhibits at Academy chapters' annual meetings. More

(03/22/2007)  --  The shortage of primary care physicians has left millions of Americans without primary health care services, creating a population of medically disenfranchised individuals who lack access to medical homes, according to a study conducted jointly by the National Association of Community Health Centers, or NACHC and the AAFP's Robert Graham Center. More

(03/21/2007)  --  Family physicians whose practices include physician office labs, or POLs, may be interested in two new quality improvement tools now available through the AAFP's Office Lab Proficiency Testing program, or AAFP-PT. More

(03/21/2007)  --  Congress has vowed to fix a budgetary deficit that has left 14 states without enough money to cover shortfalls in their respective State Children's Health Insurance Programs, or SCHIPs, but it may not act in time to prevent some of those states from making cuts in the programs that could leave thousands of children and adults without health insurance. More

(03/21/2007)  --  Not sure what to do with those last few vials of seasonal influenza vaccine still sitting in the refrigerator at your office practice or clinic? In many cases, there's still time -- and ample reason -- to immunize patients who've not yet received the vaccine this season. More

(03/21/2007)  --  Political pressure to reform the health care system may be building as more Americans look on the issue as the "top priority for the president and Congress," according to a recent Gallup Poll. The Feb. 22-25 poll found that, when asked to name the "top priority for the president and Congress to deal with," 27 percent of Americans spontaneously cited health care. More

(03/21/2007)  --  Vincent Keenan, C.A.E., EVP of the Illinois AFP, adheres to the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words; in the past few years, he has put that maxim to good use by relying on a series of physician withdrawal maps to show state legislators the dramatic impact of family medicine on health care access and outcomes. The maps are produced by the AAFP's Robert Graham Center in Washington, D.C. More

(03/20/2007)  --  Physicians soon will be receiving letters from manufacturers of certain prescription sleep aids about new label warnings the FDA has asked those manufacturers to include with the medications. Recent cases of anaphylaxis, angioedema and complex sleep-related behaviors have prompted the FDA to request all manufacturers of sedative-hypnotic drugs to add stronger language regarding possible risks to their current product labeling. More

(03/20/2007)  --  Individuals with an average risk for colorectal cancer should not take aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, known as NSAIDs, to prevent the disease, says a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, or USPSTF. The recommendation and supporting materials are available online. More

(03/16/2007)  --  As part of the Academy's ongoing commitment to help family physicians provide comprehensive care to patients with chronic disease, AAFP is participating in an Institute for Healthcare Improvement initiative dubbed New Health Partnerships, or NHP. More

(03/15/2007)  --  The 2007 National Resident Matching Program, known as the Match, had sobering news for Americans. At a time when research has documented a current shortage and growing need for family physicians across the nation, the number of U.S. medical school graduates opting for the specialty remains low. More

(03/15/2007)  --  Inadequate national health policy has slowed the rebuilding of the New Orleans health care system in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to economic, health care and patient advocacy experts speaking at a recent Capitol Hill round-table discussion. More

(03/14/2007)  --  The CDC and HHS recently announced two efforts designed to help state and local decision makers optimize their pandemic influenza preparedness activities. More

(03/14/2007)  --  NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, or NIAAA, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, are teaming with HBO to present the Addiction Project, an HBO documentary campaign aimed at educating viewers about advances in understanding and treating drug and alcohol addiction. More

(03/14/2007)  --  Whatever health care reform system becomes reality in California, it must be built on a primary care system that provides personal medical homes. That's the message the California AFP and its primary care peers took to staff from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office and the leadership of the state legislature during a March 9 meeting. More

(03/14/2007)  --  CMS has postponed its April 1 deadline requiring care providers and suppliers -- including family physicians -- to begin using the new CMS-1500 claim form to submit paper claims to public or private payers. More

(03/14/2007)  --  The AAFP has played a major role in strengthening key provisions of a health information and technology bill that would use financial incentives to create qualifying personal health records, or QPHRs, for Medicare patients and their physicians. More

(03/13/2007)  --  A top federal health care agency has joined forces with a leading private, nonprofit advertising organization to encourage patients to take a more proactive role in their health care. HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, has partnered with the Ad Council to launch "Questions Are the Answer: Get More Involved With Your Health Care." More

(03/13/2007)  --  Want to upgrade your medical office to reflect today's business environment? A new AAFP practice management course, to be held June 21-23 in San Antonio, can help family physicians, practice managers and front-office staff members get the skills they need. More

(03/13/2007)  --  Want to document an unfair payer practice or express frustration with a health plan's slow response to a particular problem? Family physicians have the opportunity to do just that with AAFP's Health Plan Grievance Registry (formerly known as the Health Plan Complaint Form). The registry is accessible through the Private Sector Advocacy section of the AAFP Web site. More

(03/12/2007)  --  Although most physicians consider themselves obligated to disclose information about legal but morally controversial medical procedures to patients or to refer them to another physician willing to accommodate their needs, a significant portion do not profess that same obligation, say the authors of a study published in the Feb. 8 New England Journal of Medicine. View the study abstract online for free. More

(03/12/2007)  --  The Idaho AFP announces the candidacy of Ted Epperly, M.D., of Boise for AAFP president-elect. More

(03/12/2007)  --  The Ohio AFP announces the candidacy of Kenneth Bertka, M.D., of Holland for AAFP director. More

(03/09/2007)  --  Alabama and Missouri health officials don't focus much on recruiting family physicians to the rural areas in their states. Instead, they grow them locally. The greenhouse in each state is a rural medical scholars program that reaches out to undergraduates, proceeds through medical school and ends with completion of residency training. Both programs have yielded impressive results. More

(03/08/2007)  --  CMS has moved one step closer to implementing a Medicare quality improvement program that will use physician performance data from public and private payers to drive quality improvements in the Medicare program. More

(03/07/2007)  --  Mindi McKenna, M.B.A., Ph.D., is joining the Academy as director of the Continuing Medical Education Division. More

(03/07/2007)  --  Family physicians concerned about UnitedHealthcare's new protocol on the use of nonparticipating laboratories can breathe a little easier. After clarification of some key points of the protocol, Academy leaders are convinced that the policy is not as onerous as it first appeared. More

(03/07/2007)  --  The overall quality of health care in the United States continues to improve, but health care disparities persist among racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. These findings appear in the 2006 National Healthcare Quality Report and the 2006 National Healthcare Disparities Report, both recently issued by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ. More

(03/06/2007)  --  North Carolina’s Medicaid care management program shows how medical homes and physician-led networks can improve care, enhance access and decrease overall costs. And now, many other state Medicaid programs are studying the North Carolina model in an effort to replicate some of the program’s most successful features, said the director of the program’s quality improvement efforts at a Feb. 23 forum in Washington. The forum was part of an ongoing dialogue on the future of primary care sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. More

(03/06/2007)  --  Become a stronger chapter leader and advocate. Brainstorm and network with those who share your concerns. Both activities can happen in May in Kansas City, Mo., at the Annual Leadership Forum, or ALF, and the National Conference of Special Constituencies, or NCSC. More

(03/06/2007)  --  In the ever-changing world of medical care, it’s hard to blame patients, politicians or even medical students for not grasping the role of family physicians. But a resource recently compiled by the Academy may help clear up that confusion. More (Members Only)

(03/06/2007)  --  The AAFP and three other primary care organizations on March 5 released a definition of the personal medical home that forms the foundation on which health system reform can be built. More

(03/05/2007)  --  The Texas AFP announces the candidacy of Leah Raye Mabry, M.D., of San Antonio for AAFP vice speaker. More

(03/05/2007)  --  The Washington AFP announces the candidacy of Glen Stream, M.D., of Spokane for AAFP director. More

(03/02/2007)  --  The AAFP, in response to a congressionally mandated report on physician payment rates under Medicare, has urged Congress to replace the current payment structure with a system that compensates physicians for care coordination services and creates incentives for the establishment of patient-centered medical homes. More

(03/01/2007)  --  Review the treatment and diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and earn free CME with the latest AAFP CME Bulletin. The peer-reviewed bulletin aims to inform clinicians about common signs and symptoms of Parkinson's, help them rule out other potential causes of similar symptoms, and select the appropriate treatment for their patients. More

(03/01/2007)  --  Changing social conditions so all Americans were able to complete at least a year of college could save almost eight times more lives than would various medical advances, according to a new study scheduled to be published in the April print issue of the American Journal of Public Health, but made available online Feb. 28. More