|
The MCMS Preferred Partner Program - We've Got You Covered!
| |
|
|
Beers with Peers Was a Huge Success!
|
2016 is starting off with a bang! On February 4th the Society hosted "Beers with Peers." As you will see from all the smiling faces in our Facebook photo album, a great time was had by all! Congratulations to the door prize winners Dr. Mark Kartub and Carolina Espindola!View the album >> |
You're Invited to Attend AOMA's 94th Annual Convention
| |
April 13-17, 2016
Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association 94th Annual Convention -"We Are Family"
Hilton Scottsdale Resort & Villas
Scottsdale, Arizona
35.0 hours of AOA Category 1-A CME anticipated
|
Treating addiction as a chronic disease
|
With the opioid epidemic reaching into every corner of the U.S., more people are talking about addiction as a chronic disease rather than a moral failing.
For researcher A. Thomas McLellan, who has spent his entire career studying substance abuse, the shift is a welcome one, though it has come frustratingly late. McLellan is co-founder of the Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia and former deputy director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. His work has focused on understanding addiction as a disease and improving the ways it is treated, a mission that took a personal turn midway through his career when he lost a son to overdose. NPR's Audie Cornish spoke with McLellan about how addiction is viewed and how that view has shaped the treatment system we have today. He also has suggestions on how to make it better.
|
Texas hospitals announce first quick test for Zika that could help identify when the virus reaches U.S.
|
Researchers in Houston have announced that they have developed the first hospital-based, rapid diagnostic test for Zika, an advance that they said should help public health officials identify if -- or, more likely, when -- infected mosquitoes reach the United States this summer.
Using a sample of a patient's blood, urine, spinal fluid or amniotic fluid for pregnant women, the test can identify whether the DNA of the virus is present in as quickly as one day. Previously, physicians have had to ship blood or other samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and wait for a response.
"Until now it's been a complicated, fairly lengthy process to get a diagnosis. You would have to go to your physician, fill out a bunch of forms, get a specimen and then send it out. It could take 10 days or even two weeks," James Musser, director of pathology and genomic medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital and who was part of the team working on the diagnostic, said in an interview.
While a number of hospitals around the world are able to test for the presence of certain families of tropical viruses, this is the first quick test that appears to be able to distinguish between Zika and dengue fever.
Read more >>
|
HHS makes it tougher to sign up for ACA coverage outside of enrollment season
|
Federal health officials are cracking down on consumers' ability to buy health plans through HealthCare.gov outside formal enrollment seasons, responding to complaints from insurers that some people have waited to get coverage until they were sick.
Under rules announced Wednesady, Febraury 24, by the Department of Health and Human Services, people who want coverage under five main reasons for a "special enrollment period" will need to supply documents proving that they deserve an exception from the regular sign-up times. The new requirement will be for people in the 38 states that rely on the federal insurance exchange who need to begin or change coverage because they have moved, had a baby, adopted a child, gotten married or lost other health coverage. Until now, people have been able to sign up outside regular enrollment periods for these reasons, plus others, simply by checking a box. The Affordable Care Act, the law that created the insurance marketplaces, allows for consumers to get health plans throughout the year under limited circumstances. The question of how easy it should be to do so has emerged as a tug of war between consumer advocates, who argue for flexibility, and the insurance industry, which contends that some people are abusing the system by avoiding coverage until they need medical care. Under the ACA, the federal HealthCare.gov website and separate marketplaces run by some states offer health plans for people who cannot get affordable coverage through an employer. By restricting when most people can enroll - the most recent period ran from November through January - the idea is to make it difficult for consumers to buy insurance only when they need care, behavior that raises insurers' costs and the prices they charge.
Read more >>
|
|
|
|
DON'T MISS OUT ON INFORMED, ROUND-UP, AND OUR SOCIAL & EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN 2016!
Please Remit Your 2016 Dues
| |
Please take the time to renew your Maricopa County Medical Society membership. You may do so by calling the MCMS membership office at 602-252-2015 and select option zero ("0") or by clicking here >> |
|
Why hasn't telemedicine taken off in Arizona? Experts say most doctors don't get paid
| | |
Modern medicine is constantly evolving - but sometimes, it develops too fast. Experts said state laws have hindered telemedicine, a technology that could be utilized to provide health care throughout Arizona.
But because the state law only requires private health insurers to cover services provided through telemedicine in rural areas - excluding Phoenix and Tucson - doctors haven't fully embraced the practice, experts said.
"Doctors want to be reimbursed. They are small businessmen," said Roger Downey, manager of communications at Scottsdale-based GlobalMed, which provides telemedicine equipment and support.
Telemedicine, or the ability to diagnose patients remotely through interactive audio, video or other electronic media, has been around for years. But experts said it has yet to become common practice here.
Sen. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, introduced Senate Bill 1363 to loosen restrictions on payments for telemedicine services. If it became law, health insurers would have to cover services received through telemedicine statewide as though they were "in-person" consultations. The law would take effect Jan. 1, 2018, and apply to trauma, burn, cardiology, infectious diseases, mental-health disorders, neurologic diseases, dermatology and pulmonology, according to a Senate fact sheet.
More than two dozen states have laws requiring private insurance coverage of telemedicine, according to the American Telemedicine Association.
Doctors like dermatologist and MCMS member Richard Averitte said if the bill becomes law, it would have a dynamic impact in the medical field.
|
17th Annual Southwest Nephrology Conference
| | |
The Southwest Nephrology Conference planning committee invites and encourages all medical providers to attend this year's conference in early March. The program agenda includes a track of courses specifically designed to engage primary care providers with colleagues that represent other medical specialties such as nephrology, transplant medicine, cardiology, and endocrinology. This unique opportunity promotes cross-specialty collaboration by means of professional education that is presented by a panel of experts and open discussion with the audience. For example, with increasing kidney transplant recipients and living donors being managed by primary care providers, we have incorporated a case-based presentation on some of the issues primary care providers might encounter.
Chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes constitute a "triple threat" of interrelated risk multipliers. Our conference invites a more holistic vision of disease prevention, care, and treatment. That vision includes building bridges between physicians, providing medical education for scientists and healthcare providers, scientific and medical research projects, and population-level community health education.
Please join us on March 11-12, 2016 at the beautiful We-Ko-Pa Resort & Conference Center on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Reservation near Fountain Hills, Arizona. For more information, go to the conference website at www.swnc.org or call (602) 840-1644.
|
|
| Global healthcare leader joins UA Health Science | |
Jorge Gomez, MD, PhD, who worked with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a part of the National Institutes of Health, joined the University of Arizona Health Sciences.
With more than 20 years at NCI, Gomez brings an exceptional depth of programmatic knowledge in health professions training program diversity, community-based research, border health and health disparities. At the UA Health Sciences, Gomez will serve as associate director of the Center for Elimination of Border Health Disparities and the assistant director for cancer outreach at the University of Arizona Cancer Center. In addition, he is an assistant professor in the Department of Community, Environment and Policy at the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Public Health Policy and Management Program. In these roles he will support the acceleration of translational research initiatives in special populations, including Hispanic and Native American communities, toward addressing the burdens of health disparities.
|
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY:
Medical Students Need Your Supervision Performing Physicals at Upcoming TOPS Events.
| | |
TOPS, or a Team of Physicians for Students, was founded in the 1970s by MCMS member and sports medicine specialist and family physician, Paul Steingard, DO. From his many years in private practice, he identified a tremendous need for young athletes to be screened and provided free physicals, including cardiac tests and consultations. Since its inception, over 40,000 youths from 8th grade to community college have received the FREE screenings. Other notable sponsors are Midwestern University, which joined the cause in 1998, and the Arizona Heart Institute, which provides the ECGs and Echo cardiograms, around 2006.
Physician volunteers to supervise medical students are needed at the following upcoming events:
April 2, 2016
7:30 am - 4:30 pm
Sunnyslope High School
All shifts are available.
Breakfast, snacks, and lunch will be provided for volunteers.
Parking is at the western part of the campus. Look for the signs leading you to the TOPS volunteer entrance from the parking lot.
April 30, 2016
7:30 am - 1 pm
Youngker High School, Buckeye
Any hours you can volunteer are greatly appreciated.
Breakfast, snacks, and lunch will be provided for volunteers.
Parking is at the westernmost part of the campus. Look for the sings leading you to the TOPS entrance.
The event covers general liability for the facility, but not for the physicians. However, there is legislation that helps protect physicians who volunteer for events such as this health fair.
Read the statue >>
To volunteer, please contact Ross J. Kosinski, PhD, Dean of Students, Midwestern University by calling 623-764-0511 or email him to rkosin@midwestern.edu. |
|
Dignity Health opens comprehensive cancer clinics in Chandler, Gilbert
|
|
Dignity Health is taking a team-based approach to assist patients with cancer by opening two of its Comprehensive Cancer Clinics in Chandler and Gilbert. The clinics are under a joint partnership between Dignity Health and Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers.
Both clinics are near the campuses at Chandler Regional and Mercy Gilbert medical centers. The locations assist patients with coordinated treatment decisions and navigation of care options, according to a press release. Clinics will offer an array of physicians who will meet with patients and develop a "comprehensive treatment plan" in an efficient and convenient manner. "Dignity Health quickly realized that in the East Valley they needed to boost oncology services," said Erin Bond, nurse practitioner. The main goal of the Comprehensive Cancer Clinics is patient-center care. "Often when a patient is newly diagnosed with cancer they have to go back and forth to various providers ... with these clinics, we are looking to minimize the time it takes for a patient to see different providers," Bond said. "In doing that, we hope to decrease the patient's anxiety and increase their overall quality of life."
|
ASU evolutionary medicine featured on national stage at world's largest general scientific meeting
|
|
Coinciding with Charles Darwin's birthday weekend, ASU's evolutionary medicine leadership was prominently showcased at the world's largest general scientific meeting, the 2016 American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) annual gathering, held Feb. 11-15 in Washington, D.C.
"Evolution can explain not only things in the body that work well, but also things that leave it vulnerable for disease," said Randolph Nesse, MD, director of ASU's Center for Evolution & Medicine. Nesse gave a general overview of evolutionary medicine and has been a principle advocate of incorporating evolutionary biology into the medical school curriculum. He introduced a new website ( EvMedEd.org) developed at ASU with comprehensive access to educational resources for the field. "It's time for medicine to embrace the 20th century and catch up with evolutionary biology," said Nesse. "There is nothing radical or alternative about evolutionary medicine; it is nothing more or less than the basic science of evolutionary biology applied to the practical science of medicine. And progress is coming fast." Nesse and conference co-chair, Case Western University professor Cynthia Beall, held a wide-spanning, interdisciplinary session that demonstrated the far-reaching impacts of evolutionary biology in solving intractable problems in medicine and public health.
|
|
UA College of Medicine - Phoenix granted provisional accreditation
|
|
The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix has been granted provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, or LCME. The approval is the next step in the process for full accreditation.
"I am very pleased that the LCME has approved provisional accreditation for the UA College of Medicine - Phoenix," said UA President Ann Weaver Hart. "This is an important step toward full accreditation and we were confident that the measures the college and University took to address the questions from the LCME were more than sufficient. I am extremely proud that the UA remains on track to be the only land-grant university with two fully accredited medical schools."
The LCME met Feb. 9 and 10 to review the status report submitted by the UA on Dec. 1. The decision to grant provisional accreditation puts the college on pace for full accreditation in early 2018.
The LCME is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to M.D. degrees in the United States and Canada. It is sponsored by the American Association of Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association.
|
The Behavioral Health Information Network of Arizona breaks new ground
|
|
Major strides forward are being made at the Behavioral Health Information Network of Arizona (BHINAZ), a behavioral health information network (HIE) owned by community providers in Arizona. BHINAZ specializes in the exchange of data, both medical/surgical and behavioral health data.
"We've been focused on a pretty robust consent model and the exchange of data, and making sure that our providers can get the data they need for the services they provide," says Laura Young, BHINA's executive director. Recently, says Young, "We've been really focused on our crisis project, which entails getting providers who are involved in caring for seriously mentally ill (SMI) individuals through clinic-based care, involved, and providing information to crisis hotlines, first responders, mobile teams." The HIE is stakeholder-owned, comprised of seven nonprofit organizations, at the community level, driven by behavioral and community health providers. Young participated recently on a panel discussion entitled "Interoperability & HIE: Strategies for an Evolving Health System," at the Health IT Summit in San Diego, sponsored by the Institute for Health Technology Transformation-a sister organization to Behavioral Healthcare and Healthcare Informatics (under the Vendome Group corporate umbrella). She spoke recently with Healthcare Informatics Editor-in-Chief Mark Hagland regarding the current initiatives taking place at BHINAZ.
|
|
|
|
|
