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November 2009
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Volume 3, Issue 21
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InforMed Society
Offical E-Newsletter of the Medical Society
Keeping you InforMed about the latest health care news!
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An update from Dr. Bob England...
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November 13,
2009
Dear Colleagues,
This will be a much shorter but
important update on the H1N1 flu vaccine supply. For all the past 5 updates as
well as where your outpatient health care workers can go to get vaccine, go to:
http://www.maricopa.gov/Public_Health.
Please note that we hope to get Walgreens online very soon to also offer vaccine
to health care workers.
The Current Epidemic and Vaccine
Strategy
It appears that we're on the
downside of the 2nd wave of the
epidemic. Although I say this with the caveat that we continue to see severe
cases and deaths reported everyday, which means we still need to keep our guard
up and be vigilant in treatment of high risk patients. How fast it will continue
to decrease, and whether we'll have pockets of resurgence here and there during
that decrease is obviously unknown. What history tells us to expect, however,
is that there will likely be a 3rd wave yet to
come.
Read complete letter here
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"The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side."
Margaret Carty
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Visit us on Facebook and Twitter!
Search for "Maricopa County Medical Society" on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter at:
twitter.com/medicalsociety
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2010 Seminars/Conferences
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Attention Members!!
We need your help! The Society would love to be a part of seminar or conference for 2010. We would like to represent the
Society and attempt to garner more members. All we need from you is the
conference name, dates and any other information you can provide us regarding
those seminars or conferences. We would like to compile a list of them as soon
as possible and even ones that you get solicited for but do not attend, please
let us know.
You can email Claudia Bair at cbair@mcmsonline.com, fax the
info (602-256-2749) or send us the information/flyer or brochure by mail (to Claudia's attention) that you receive regarding a potential
opportunity for us.
Thanks in advance!
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RX for Business Seminar
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Saturday, January 23, 2010 9:00 - 2:00 PM 320 N. 44th St. in Phoenix (Doubletree Guest Suites Phoenix) Presenters: Ann Couch, CPA & Sara Eversden, CPA $175 per person (breakfast/lunch will be served) Register here or for more information, call 602-955-5952
The Institute
for Healthcare Business Education was formed in 2009 to provide quality
business instruction to physicians and other health care providers in
Arizona. Rx for Business, its first
course, is a 5-hour class designed to educate physician residents who will soon
be establishing their own small business - a private medical practice. The
course is intended to teach physicians the essential knowledge they must have
to make wise business choices and informed decisions as they build their
medical practice. The course is led by
two local certified public accountants with 40+ years combined experience
serving physician practices and other health care organizations.
The course topics will include:
- Choice of business entity
- Financing options for starting a
physician practice
- Filing and registration mechanics of
getting a medical practice started
- Debt, leases and financial statement
metrics
- Accounting topics
- Requirements of operating a business and more!!
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Spread the WORD about WIC!
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In
early August, the Arizona WIC program sent information to doctor's offices
throughout Arizona regarding changes to the WIC program. To augment the state's
efforts, the Maricopa County WIC program is doing several mailings to doctor's
offices within Maricopa County. This outreach effort will address the following
issues:
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Communicate the
benefits of partnering with WIC and provide contact information for the nearest
WIC clinic
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Build awareness
about the Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Program, a peer-to-peer program
available in Maricopa County that helps new moms to know the benefits of
breastfeeding, understand the challenges and receive support to successfully
breastfeed.
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Introduce the
changes in the new federal Food Package available to WIC clients beginning Oct.
1.
- Reinforce the need for physicians to completely fill out
the new medical documentation forms when referring a patient to WIC.
Please review this attachment for more information regarding this great County program!
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Some specialists will see extra cuts in Medicare pay
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Some specialty groups are loudly protesting new Medicare
payment policies that will boost some primary care rates starting next
year at the expense of rates for certain specialty services.
In the 2010 physician fee schedule, the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services adopted several major changes to the practice-expense
portion of the relative value unit system that determines pay for
individual services -- along with more minor changes to the work and
liability insurance RVUs. Because any changes must be budget-neutral,
the expected results are modest increases in average Medicare pay for
physicians traditionally considered to be in primary care, but larger
reductions in average pay for some other specialists.
Complete Article...
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Adult Primary Care Visit Frequency, Quality, and Duration Increasing
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Adult primary care visit frequency, quality, and duration increased
between 1997 and 2005, with modest relationships noted between visit
duration and quality of care, according to the results of a
retrospective analysis reported in the November 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"Two of the most pressing goals for the US health care system are to
deliver higher-quality care and to lower costs," write Lena M. Chen,
MD, MS, who was with the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System,
Massachusetts, at the time of the study and is now with the University
of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, and colleagues. "It is unclear if
increasing pressure on primary care physicians to be more efficient has
affected visit duration or quality of care. We sought to describe
changes in the duration of adult primary care visits and in the quality
of care provided during these visits and to determine whether quality
of care is associated with visit duration."
Complete Article...
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Pulmonary Embolism and Drug Reactions Top List of Diagnostic Errors
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Pulmonary embolism and drug reactions or overdose are the most
common diagnostic errors committed or observed by physicians, according
to a survey of general practitioners and specialists, the results of
which are published in the November 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
This sample of diagnostic errors represents "the largest reported
case series of diagnostic errors to date and affords valuable insights
into the types of errors that physicians are committing and
witnessing," write Gordon D. Schiff, MD, from the Division of General
Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston,
Massachusetts, and colleagues.
The goals of the study were to identify commonly missed diagnoses,
to delineate recognizable patterns and themes, and to apply the new
Diagnostic Error Evaluation and Research taxonomy tool for analyzing
cases. Researchers asked physicians to recall 3 clinically significant
diagnostic errors that they had seen or committed, to estimate how
often they had seen those errors, and to rate the clinical impact or
outcome of each error. A diagnostic error was defined as any mistake or
failure in the diagnostic process leading to a misdiagnosis, missed
diagnosis, or delayed diagnosis.
Complete Article...
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Liability reform demos must have patient safety element
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The competition will begin in December for states and
health systems seeking federal grant money designed to improve patient
safety and reduce medical liability pressures on physicians through
innovative approaches. While considering recommendations from a recent advisory committee
meeting, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality officials made it
clear that patient safety will be an essential element of any liability
proposal they will consider for grant dollars.
States and health systems "will have to collect data to show the
innovation worked and had an impact on liability claims and the cost of
malpractice insurance, as well as on patient safety. So we are looking
at both sides of the equation," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy,
MD. "Ultimately, to get a grant under this program, applicants have to
evaluate the impact on patient safety. That is the overarching
objective."
In September, President Obama authorized the Dept. of Health and
Human Services to set aside $25 million for the pilot projects.
Demonstration grants of up to three years and $3 million each will be
awarded on a competitive basis to states and health systems whose
programs are primed for implementation and evaluation. Applicants also
may qualify for up to $300,000 for a one-year planning grant for an
innovation that is still being developed.
Complete Article...
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Health care fraud a challenge to system reform
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Widespread health care fraud continues as lawmakers work
to overhaul the health system and tackle long-term financing issues. As
scrutiny over fraud intensifies, so must physicians' attention to their
own billing and business activities, experts say.
An annual audit of the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program,
a joint effort of the Depts. of Health and Human Services and Justice,
showed federal enforcement activities yielding $1 billion in fraud
settlements and judgments in 2008, mostly from Medicare and Medicaid
false claims. Other big cases targeted illegal referrals and kickbacks
by physicians and hospitals, improper off-label promotion by
pharmaceutical companies, and medically unnecessary services.
Complete Article...
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Serving medicine, serving the community
since
1892...
InforMed
Society is published by the Maricopa County
Medical Society.
Copyright
© 2009
Questions
or Comments, please email us at: InforMed@mcmsonline.com |
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