October 2008

(10/30/2008)  --  According to a new report released by CMS, Medicaid spending will significantly outpace the growth of the U.S. economy during the next 10 years. Medicaid benefit expenditures are projected to reach $339 billion in 2008 and more than $673 billion by 2017. More

(10/29/2008)  --  The NIH is accepting applications for extramural loan repayment programs, or LRPs, for physicians interested in biomedical or behavioral research. More

(10/29/2008)  --  The AAFP came out swinging recently against CMS' proposal for the adoption of the greatly expanded International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification, or ICD-10-CM, for outpatient diagnosis coding. More

(10/29/2008)  --  The nation's inability to build and sustain a primary care infrastructure has led to a disjointed and fragmented health care system that is incapable of addressing the nation's growing health care needs. That's according to former Surgeon General and family physician David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., and other speakers who addressed an Oct. 23 press briefing convened by the National Summit of Clinicians for Healthcare Justice in Washington. More

(10/29/2008)  --  The House is considering a bill that would reform the nation's Medicare system by financially encouraging students to enter primary care while also bolstering payments for current primary care physicians and the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH. More

(10/28/2008)  --  Family physicians and their patients -- along with Americans across the country -- are invited to join an online discussion about health information technology, or health IT. Don't miss a unique opportunity to contribute to the online forum, dubbed A National Dialogue on Health Information Technology and Privacy, that opened Oct. 27 and ends Nov. 3. More

(10/28/2008)  --  A recent meeting between the AAFP and members of the National Board of Medical Examiners, or NBME, resulted in official acknowledgment from the NBME that a new certification examination for candidates for the doctorate of nursing practice, or DNP, degree -- the so-called "Dr. Nurse" -- is in no way equivalent to exams for physician licensure. More

(10/27/2008)  --  Practices are needed for a formal evaluation of the AAFP's METRIC, or Measuring, Evaluating and Translating Research Into Care, and Practice Enhancement Forum, or PEF, programs. More

(10/24/2008)  --  U.S. Census Bureau population growth projections confirm what many people consider common knowledge: that older adults -- defined as those who are age 65 or older -- are the fastest growing age group in the United States. What's not commonly known is that the cost of hospitalizing these individuals for infectious diseases, or IDs, is far outstripping the rate at which this patient population is increasing. That's among the findings of a study published recently in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. More

(10/22/2008)  --  Recently, several states have launched comprehensive health care reform efforts that underscore the importance of primary care and the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, to improve quality and save costs while enhancing patient access. More

(10/22/2008)  --  The FDA recently created a Web page for health care professionals and their patients that provides a single source for postmarket safety information on prescription drugs, according to an Oct. 15 press release from the agency. More

(10/22/2008)  --  The House has taken steps to alleviate the growing shortage of primary care physicians by passing a measure that would establish an interest-free loan program for hospitals to start new osteopathic or allopathic residency training programs. The Physician Workforce Enhancement Act of 2008, H.R. 2583, now under consideration by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, would make interest-free loans available to hospitals to start new osteopathic or allopathic residencies in one of five medical specialties or some combination of the specialties. The five specialties are family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and behavioral or mental health. More

(10/22/2008)  --  CMS is ratcheting up its efforts to ferret out fraud and abuse in the Medicare system with nationwide expansion of a three-year pilot program that the agency reports netted more than $900 million in Medicare overpayments between 2005 and 2008. More

(10/22/2008)  --  The patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, continues to pick up key support on the state and national levels, becoming an integral part of many public and private health care plans. That was one of the messages delivered during the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, or PCPCC, stakeholders' meeting Oct. 17 in Washington. More

(10/22/2008)  --  What will the AAFP endeavor to accomplish in the tumultuous year ahead? I'm excited about the answer to this question and want to share it with every Academy member via this, my first president's column in AAFP News Now. More (Members Only)

(10/17/2008)  --  The AMA and the AAFP have asked the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, to exclude physicians from a regulation that would require them to participate in establishing identity theft prevention programs. The FTC issued final rules last November that require financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act of 2003. According to the FTC, physicians are creditors and, therefore, are required to develop and implement written identity theft protection programs that will identify, detect and respond to identity theft "red flags." More

(10/15/2008)  --  The FDA announced last month that it would require manufacturers of tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, blockers to strengthen their products' package label warnings to highlight potential risks for opportunistic fungal infections that can result in death. More

(10/15/2008)  --  Millions of Americans are expected to benefit from a new mental health and addiction services parity law included as part of a $700 billion economic bailout legislative package enacted in early October. More

(10/15/2008)  --  The AAFP's latest CME Bulletin, "Assessment, Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity," tackles a health issue many practicing family physicians are becoming all too familiar with: managing obesity in their younger patients. According to the bulletin, obesity in children and adolescents has more than doubled in the past 25 years and can have a significant adverse impact on adult health, including the potential for pulmonary, endocrine, gastrointestinal, hepatic, reproductive and cardiovascular disorders. More

(10/15/2008)  --  CMS has reversed an earlier decision to keep billing edits in its Medically Unlikely Edit, or MUE, program, under wraps. After receiving pressure from the AAFP and dozens of other medical organizations, the agency has pledged to make most of those edits public, which means that when family physicians question a Medicare claims denial, they'll have access to the information they need to appeal MUE criteria. More

(10/14/2008)  --  President Bush has signed a continuing resolution, or CR, that will keep the federal government funded until March 6, leaving in place current funding levels for federal agencies, but possibly delaying the processing of new grant money. Bush signed the CR on Sept. 30 after Congress was unable to pass a Labor, HHS and Education bill for the current 2009 fiscal year, or FY '09, which began Oct. 1. More

(10/13/2008)  --  The Kansas AFP announces the candidacy of Robert Moser, M.D., of Tribune, for AAFP director. More

(10/13/2008)  --  The Arizona AFP announces the candidacy of James Dearing, D.O., of Phoenix, for AAFP president-elect. More

(10/13/2008)  --  The North Carolina AFP announces the candidacy of Conrad Flick, M.D., of Cary, for AAFP director. More

(10/13/2008)  --  The Tennessee AFP announces the candidacy of Reid Blackwelder, M.D., of Kingsport, for AAFP director. More

(10/10/2008)  --  A recent conference on electronic prescribing hosted by CMS and supported by a bevy of organizations, including the AAFP, welcomed a sold-out crowd and generated a document that future e-prescribers will no doubt want to get their hands on. More

(10/09/2008)  --  It's no secret that cost continues to be the greatest deterrent to physician adoption of electronic health records, or EHRs. In recent weeks, two separate organizations have released reports that examine the progress of initiatives designed to help physicians pay for the implementation and maintenance of EHR systems. What they show is that there's significant funding available for this purpose, but it's moving more slowly through some vectors than others. More

(10/08/2008)  --  Symptoms associated with cerumen impaction or obstruction are fairly common complaints among patients seeking help from their family physicians. But until now, clinicians have had little or no evidence-based guidance on managing cerumen impaction. A new guideline developed by a multidisciplinary committee selected by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, or AAO-HNS, summarizes the evidence on this common condition and provides guidance to physicians in treating it. More

(10/08/2008)  --  Medical residency programs are not adequately training residents to meet the needs of the nation's changing patient population base, leaving new physicians without the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver high-quality care to specific patient populations. That was one of the messages delivered by Michael Whitcomb, M.D., former senior VP of medical education for the Association of American Medical Colleges, who spoke before the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, on Oct. 2. More

(10/08/2008)  --  Congress has reauthorized two key primary care-related programs, providing each with a renewed sense of direction and focus, while laying out a plan to substantially increase the funding levels for these programs during the next five years. More

(10/08/2008)  --  Are you or your faculty interested in authoring a manuscript for AAFP FP Essentials? Proposals are being accepted now through Nov. 15 by the Academy's Division of Continuing Medical Education. More

(10/08/2008)  --  Averting an impending crisis in the nation's health care system like that now plaguing the financial markets could require the next Congress to consider reforming the Medicare physician payment system to promote the use of primary care services to improve health care quality and save costs. That is according to former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and Kenneth Thorpe, M.D., executive director of the Emory Institute for Advanced Policy Solutions in Atlanta, who spoke during a media telebriefing conducted by the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, or PFCD, on Sept. 30. More

(10/07/2008)  --  The shortening days and cooler temperatures of fall herald the onset of a seasonal charge familiar to most family physicians: administration of annual influenza vaccine. The influenza vaccination recommendations for the 2008-09 influenza season by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, and approved by the AAFP this summer should prove helpful as FPs start receiving their vaccine supplies. More

(10/05/2008)  --  Oppositional defiant disorder, or ODD, is one of the most commonly encountered disorders in children and adolescents, occurring in 1 percent to 16 percent of children, depending on the criteria used, according to Maggie Blackburn, M.D. At the same time, however, ODD is somewhat enigmatic. More

(10/01/2008)  --  The AMA recently went before Congress to ask the federal government to update and modernize its antitrust policies to give physicians the ability to engage in joint contracting when negotiating with insurance companies, something the AAFP has been discussing with congressional leaders for more than a year. More

(10/01/2008)  --  Heeding recent calls by family medicine residents, medical students and other stakeholders, the AAFP is urging the U.S. Department of Education to permanently reinstate the debt-to-income ratio -- known as the "20/220 pathway" -- of the economic hardship loan deferment. More

(10/01/2008)  --  Here's a reminder from CMS to family physicians participating in Medicare: Physicians are responsible for reporting changes in their Medicare enrollment information to their designated Medicare contractors. It's important that physicians comply because, according to CMS, unreported changes can affect claims processing and delay Medicare payments owed to physicians. More

(10/01/2008)  --  Massachusetts led the nation in April 2006, when it passed a law requiring all state residents to have health insurance. But now, the state is playing catch-up on an issue that should have gotten more attention before insurance coverage was mandated: having enough primary care physicians to care for the more than 300,000 residents added to the insurance rolls in the first year (with many more still to be added) as a result of the mandate. More (Members Only)

(10/01/2008)  --  Most Medicare beneficiaries will not see their monthly outpatient care premiums increase in 2009, making this the first time since 2000 that Medicare Part B rates have not gone up from the previous year for the majority of Medicare beneficiaries, according to CMS. More

(10/01/2008)  --  Got a beef with a Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plan? Is it neglecting to fulfill all the terms of the legal settlement agreement reached about 18 months ago? Physicians who have such concerns and who did not opt out of the settlement agreement are encouraged to file compliance disputes under the compliance dispute program set forth in the terms of the agreement. More