September 2008

(09/26/2008)  --  The buzz about e-prescribing just keeps getting louder, and that's prompting some serious physician educational outreach by the AAFP and CMS. As a reminder to those who haven't been tuned in to the chatter, the federal government recently rolled out a Medicare e-prescribing incentive program for physicians and other eligible providers that begins Jan. 1. More

(09/26/2008)  --  Members of the Reference Committee on Health of the Public and Science heard impassioned testimony during the 2008 Congress of Delegates about a public health issue that's near and dear to AAFP members: tobacco cessation. The testimony came in response to a recommendation in a report from the AAFP Board of Directors to the Congress on the Board's work with the AAFP Foundation Board of Trustees to secure long-term financial support for the Academy's Tar Wars program, as well as its efforts in the areas of tobacco cessation, education and research. More

(09/24/2008)  --  This year's AAFP Congress of Delegates made women's contraceptive options a focus of discussion, adopting a number of resolutions aimed at safeguarding payment for those options. The delegates also adopted measures supporting ongoing representation by members of the Academy's special constituencies. More

(09/24/2008)  --  One of us is a Republican, the other a Democrat. But we both agree that history was made during this year's political conventions -- and not just by the Democratic and Republican parties. Family medicine broke new ground as well. For the first time, the specialty had access to the conventions and was able to co-sponsor and participate in convention-related events, all because of FamMedPAC, the political action committee AAFP wisely established in 2005. More (Members Only)

(09/24/2008)  --  The Republican and Democratic health care plans offered up by the presidential candidates differ sharply in their approach to health care reform, revealing a deep philosophical divide that has made health care one of the most contentious issues in this year's presidential campaign. More

(09/24/2008)  --  Each year at the AAFP Assembly, the Academy recognizes members and others for their outstanding contributions to family medicine. Several people were honored during this year's Assembly. More

(09/24/2008)  --  Although the respective health care plans proposed by presidential candidates Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., each provide a different direction and focus for health care reform, both plans recognize the importance of primary care in any major reform effort. More

(09/24/2008)  --  Tiny Rhode Island played a big role at the 2008 AAFP Congress of Delegates in San Diego, when the testimony of one of that constituent chapter's delegates gave his colleagues an inside look at a state-based system that's working to ensure adults get needed immunizations and physicians avoid the hassles that can snarl the vaccine acquisition and administration process. More

(09/22/2008)  --  Congress needs to reform the Medicare physician payment system by taking steps to promote primary care services, according to witnesses who testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health on Sept. 11. More

(09/19/2008)  --  Primary care training grants from the federal government, which have received less funding in recent years, strengthen the educational pipeline, helping produce primary care physicians who work in underserved areas of the United States. That was the main finding of researchers in a study published in the September/October Annals of Family Medicine. More

(09/19/2008)  --  Call it what you like -- physician profiling, ranking or tiering -- family physicians are leery of health insurers' increasingly prevalent practice of measuring and sometimes publicly reporting on physicians' performance. Judging from some of the testimony offered during a hearing of the Reference Committee on Practice Enhancement, which considered this topic at the 2008 Congress of Delegates on Sept. 15, they have reason to be. More

(09/18/2008)  --  As the number of retail health clinics swells to more than 1,000 nationwide, new research suggests that the clinics may be emerging as safety net providers for patients who don't have a usual source of health care. More

(09/18/2008)  --  The AAFP's Scientific Assembly opened in San Diego with a couple of keynote speakers that packed -- and rocked -- the house. Democrat Terry McAuliffe faced off against Republican John Kasich. With the country poised to elect a new president, the audience found itself privy to some spicy exchanges about political views between the two. More

(09/18/2008)  --  Incoming AAFP President Ted Epperly, M.D., of Boise, Idaho, pledged to give "every ounce" of his energy during his presidential term to help restore America's health care system. He promised to help make primary care -- and especially family medicine -- the foundation of a system that supports the patient-centered medical home. More

(09/17/2008)  --  At a time when retail health clinics are expanding, the AAFP Congress of Delegates has asked the Board of Directors to study a detailed policy on retail health clinics that entails almost a dozen different guidelines. More

(09/17/2008)  --  Family physicians are getting tired of the status quo when it comes to CMS' continuing failure to appropriately value the evaluation and management, or E/M, services FPs and other primary care specialists provide. That fact was very much in evidence during the 2008 Congress of Delegates, when on Sept. 16, delegates referred two strongly worded resolutions on this issue to the AAFP Board of Directors -- adding more fuel to a long-smoldering fire. More

(09/17/2008)  --  The AAFP Congress of Delegates today elected Lori Heim, M.D., of Vass, N.C., to be the Academy's next president-elect. More

(09/16/2008)  --  Establishing a national database on financial relationships between physicians and drug and device manufacturers could discourage inappropriate arrangements, but it also could curtail beneficial arrangements. That was one of the messages delivered by Ariel Winter, M.P.P., a senior analyst with the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, who spoke during the commission's last meeting here in early September. More

(09/15/2008)  --  Congress has failed to reauthorize a number of primary-care related training programs during the past few years, leaving each without a renewed sense of direction or focus and making it much more difficult to obtain adequate funding for the initiatives, according to analysts interviewed by AAFP News Now. More

(09/15/2008)  --  Physician practices across the country have expressed their satisfaction and their displeasure with CMS' Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, or PQRI, in a new report released by the Medical Group Management Association, or MGMA. More

(09/12/2008)  --  In May, AAFP News Now reported on a series of measles outbreaks that had racked up a total of 64 cases between Jan. 1 and April 25 -- the most cases seen in the United States since 2001. According to CDC officials, that tally had reached 131 by the end of July -- the highest year-to-date number since 1996. As of the end of April, nine states had reported cases of the disease; now, 15 states and the District of Columbia have reported measles cases. But those figures only begin to scratch the surface of the problem. More

(09/10/2008)  --  The AAFP recently updated its 2008 presidential campaign Web page to include a revamped comparison of the health care platforms for the Democratic and Republican candidates. The comparison draws from the candidates' Web sites and other sources and presents a synopsis of each candidate's health care platform, as well as the candidate's health care-related legislative history; key points of his platform; and where he stands on health insurance reform, covering the uninsured, health care costs, and health information technology. More

(09/10/2008)  --  The AAFP has again asked Congress to ease federal rules and regulations that govern physician contract negotiations with third-party payers, saying in a recent letter that current restrictions are "particularly onerous for primary care physicians." In his Aug. 21 letter to congressional leaders, AAFP Board Chair Rick Kellerman, M.D., of Wichita, Kan., says, "the number of practicing primary care physicians nationwide is shrinking in the face of inadequate third party payments. Physicians remain at a critical disadvantage when negotiating for better pricing and payments without risking sanctions under current federal antitrust enforcement policies." More

(09/10/2008)  --  The Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality, or AHRQ, has released an online resource that allows health care professionals to share information and insights on ways to enhance delivery of patient care services. The Health Care Innovations Exchange provides a forum for health care professionals to exchange innovative ideas related to patient care. The comprehensive AHRQ program also is intended to encourage and accelerate adoption of these innovations. More

(09/09/2008)  --  New York Gov. David Paterson recently signed into law a bill that freezes medical malpractice rates in the state until July 1, 2009, giving state officials and policy-makers more time to reach an agreement on how to reduce those rates. More

(09/09/2008)  --  A recently issued position statement on the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, from the American College of Emergency Physicians, or ACEP, has elicited a firm response from the AAFP. The statement demonstrates ACEP's lack of understanding about the intent of the medical home and its true impact on the nation's health care system, says AAFP President Jim King, M.D., of Selmer, Tenn. More

(09/08/2008)  --  The ability of some people to remain HIV-negative despite repeated exposure to the virus may be tied to the presence of specific versions of two genes that interact to produce an immune response that prevents infection, according to a study by investigators at the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre in Montreal. The study's findings could eventually influence future HIV/AIDS treatments and the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. More

(09/04/2008)  --  Despite the proven effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening in reducing the incidence of this disease -- regular colorectal cancer screening is recommended by the AAFP, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society -- about half of all Americans still don't undergo appropriate screening. That's one of the findings from a study published in the July issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. More

(09/03/2008)  --  According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, osteoporosis affects older individuals of both genders but is more common in postmenopausal women. About 1.5 million people each year in the United States suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture. Of those who experience hip fractures, one in five dies, and the same number ends up in a nursing home within one year of the fracture. Now, a new publication from AHRQ offers clinicians guidance on the effectiveness and safety of various treatments for preventing fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. More

(09/03/2008)  --  Colorado recently became the first state to enact legislation requiring insurance companies to disclose the data and methodology they use to determine physician "designations," or ratings. Supporters have heralded the move as bringing a degree of transparency and openness to the physician profiling process that did not previously exist. More

(09/03/2008)  --  The Bush administration has delayed enforcement of a directive that would have limited the ability of states to expand their health insurance programs for children. The move allows states to keep current eligibility standards for their respective programs intact for the time being. More

(09/03/2008)  --  Although the alleged link between childhood autism and the vaccine preservative thimerosal still sparks occasional controversy, the good news is that by and large, parents don't seem to be buying into the hype. According to the latest reports available from the CDC, overall childhood immunization rates in the United States continue to steadily increase. More

(09/02/2008)  --  AAFP member Harold Williamson Jr., M.D., has been named interim vice chancellor for health sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He will begin his new duties Sept. 8 and will serve while a national search is conducted for a permanent vice chancellor. Williamson currently is professor and Jack and Winifred Colwill Endowed Chair of Family and Community Medicine at the university. More