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President's Page
| | Call for "Parsimonious Care": Good Stewardship of Medical Resources or a Step Towards Rationing of Care?
By: Michael R. Mills, MD, MPH
Just a few of the many challenges facing physicians today have been expressed in my previous editorials, including the need for unity and solidarity in the defense of our profession, evolving employment models and business relationships (ACO's), profiteering by others in the medical
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Michael R. Mills, MD, MPH
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industrial complex, and remaining questions about the impact and legality of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). In spite of these ongoing concerns and distractions that often envelop our daily thoughts and conversations, last month's editorial suggested that the largest imminent threat to our noble profession is the inevitable diminution of medicine from a trusted and revered profession - a position intimately linked to our ongoing fulfillment of ancient prescribed ethical expectations - towards a commodifiable occupation unless, that is individual physicians continue to place our first and primary duty to our patients beyond reproach. With the publication of the sixth edition of the American College of Physicians Ethics Manual earlier this year, in addition to our well-known established obligations to our patient, physicians are now also charged "to practice effective and efficient healthcare and to use healthcare resources responsibly", rendering "parsimonious care". As we are immersed in the era of mounting healthcare costs prompting changes to our delivery system, is it possible to remain committed to our professional duty towards the affairs of our patient, and at the same time, be good stewards of limited medical resources? Read more...
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FindersWeepers -Physician Liability for Retention of Overpayments
Featured in the Legal Update Section of April's Round-up Magazine
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By: Robert J. Milligan, JD & Ken Briggs, JD Under a statute that went into effect in March 2010, physicians and other providers are required to return and report overpayments received from federal healthcare programs within 60 days after the overpayment has been identified. Recently proposed rules published by the government provide guidance as to how this statutory obligation will be interpreted and enforced. Any failure to return and report the overpayments within the 60-day deadline could result in criminal and civil sanctions. Physicians and their organizations will need to familiarize themselves with these rules, and will need to update their policies and procedures to ensure timely identification of overpayments and  rigorous adherence to the "report and repay" obligation. Read the entire article in the April issue of Round-up. Look for it in your mailbox between April 4-7, 2012. |
Arizona Digestive Health, CDC, ADHS and CCA offered
50 Free Colon Cancer Screenings in Observation of Colon Cancer Awareness Month |
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As part of its education and prevention efforts for March 2012 Colon Cancer Awareness Month, Arizona Digestive Health joined with the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), Arizona Chapter of Colon Cancer Alliance, and Mountain Park Health Center providing over 50 free colon cancer screenings to low-income, underinsured or uninsured members of the community in three days.
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, but is preventable when caught early. According to recent studies and an editorial in the March 21, 2012 issue of The Arizona Republic, colonoscopy alone can reduce a patient's risk of dying from colon cancer by more than 50 percent. "One of our main priorities as gastroenterologists is the prevention of colon cancer, and this program is a valuable part of that effort, said Dr. Paul Berggreen, president of Arizona Digestive Health."We are happy to donate our services and resources to ensure this effort is a success now and in future years."
Beginning in 2009, the Colorectal Cancer Control Program works to increase colon cancer screening rates among men and women age 50 to 64. Through non-profit organizations, corporate sponsorship and volunteers, many of the CRCCP's initiatives are at no cost to the patient. More information about CRCCP is available online at, www.cdc.gov/cancer/crccp/.
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Med Schools Shift Focus to Team-based Care
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| In their first year of medical school, students at the Medical University of South Carolina join with students from all of the university's degree programs, including nursing, pharmacy and health administration.
During a semester, the students work in teams to solve a hypothetical patient sentinel event. They must determine what went wrong and come up with multiple recommendations for the patient's care.
The exercise is part of a required course implemented in 2009 to give students their first exposure to interprofessional care.
"The idea is that they learn, for all healthcare providers, what the scope of practice is and what the responsibilities are, so that they can really reach out and use other professionals to the best of their ability," said Amy Blue, PhD, family medicine professor and director of the university's Creating Collaborative Care program.
As the nation shifts toward more team-based care and the medical home model, medical schools are working to provide their graduates with the skills needed to use these approaches in a changing healthcare system. Interprofessional training is offered or being developed at several schools, including East Tennessee State University, the University of California San Diego, Loyola University Chicago, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and the University of Kentucky. Read more... |
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Successful Match Day for UA College of Medicine Class of 2012
| | Like the Oscars, the sound of opening envelopes and shouts of joy could be heard in Tucson and Phoenix on March 23 as 149 students in the University of Arizona College of Medicine Class of 2012 learned where they will spend the next several years as resident-physicians, a major step in building a medical career.
And this year's "winner" is primary care, the most critical shortage the state faces: 69 graduates will pursue residencies in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. Nearly half of Arizona medical school graduates practice in-state, while nationally, fewer than 39 percent of physicians practice in the state where they went to medical school, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Read more...
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More Doctors Work Part Time, Flexible Schedules
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| Two of the fastest-growing demographics of physicians are driving the demand for options beyond full time.
Wilfred Watkins, MD, and Jennifer Shu, MD, are at very different points in their careers, but they share the same desire, as do many of their peers - they don't wish to work full time.
Dr. Watkins, 77, has chosen to work part time rather than retire. Dr. Shu, who is in her early 40s, doesn't want a full-time position so she can have the freedom to spend more time with her two young children and write books.
"I worked part time long before children. For me it was quality of life," said Dr. Shu, who works three-quarters time with a 14-physician pediatrics practice in Atlanta. "There are things I want to do outside of medicine." Read more...
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P4P Project Yields No Long-term Gains on Mortality: Study
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A large-scale pay-for-performance initiative, run jointly by the CMS and Charlotte, N.C.-based Premier, has led to no long-term improvements in mortality, according to a new study.
The CMS/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration, which launched in 2003 and includes more than 250 participating hospitals, provides performance-based incentive payments to hospitals based on quality across six areas, including heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia. The program served as the building block for the CMS' value-based purchasing program, which will roll out nationally beginning in fiscal year 2013. Read more...
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Profiles in Happiness: Which Physicians Enjoy Life Most?
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How happy are physicians with their lives outside of work? And are some specialists happier than others? What are physicians' political leanings, and are they religious? Are physicians fat and do they exercise as often as they advise their patients to? These are some of the questions asked in Medscape's Physician Lifestyle Report: 2012, which is based on a member survey that garnered responses from nearly 30,000 US physicians representing 25 specialties.
The medical literature includes hundreds of studies on work satisfaction, but almost none involve physician life outside the hospital or the office. Currently many physicians express unhappiness with their life in practice. According to a 2010 Merritt Hawkins survey sponsored by the Physicians Foundation, 40% of physicians said that they planned to drop out of patient care in the next 1-3 years. This Medscape report attempts to discover how physicians view their lives outside of practice and whether they are any different from the rest of America and from each other in the way they live, love, and play. Read more...
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