"Residency training gives new physicians hands-on experience and provides high-quality care to patients," AMA President Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD, said in a news release. "Limiting the slots available to train physicians as they leave medical school creates a bottleneck in the system and prevents the physician workforce from growing to meet the needs of our nation's patients.

   The AMA's action-oriented campaign website will house in-depth policy analysis as well as grassroots talking points and online calls to action for activists to call/email members of Congress. Learn more at www.SaveGME.org.  

   A Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) is a strategy to manage known or potential serious risks associated with a drug product and is required by the FDA to ensure that the benefits of a drug outweigh its risks.

    Extended-release and Long-acting (ER/LA) opioid analgesics companies have worked with the FDA to develop materials for the REMS program to educate and inform healthcare professionals on the safe prescribing ER/LA opioid analgesics. In addition, CE providers are developing independent CE-accredited educational activities that focus on the safe prescribing of ER/LA opioid analgesics.

   Under the conditions specified in this REMS, prescribers of ER/LA opioid analgesics are strongly encouraged to do all of the following:

• Train (Educate Yourself) - Complete a REMS-compliant education program offered by an accredited provider of continuing education (CE) for your discipline
• Counsel Your Patients - Discuss the safe use, serious risks, storage, and disposal of ER/LA opioid analgesics with patients and/or their caregivers every time you prescribe these medicines. Click here for the Patient Counseling Document (PCD) 
• Emphasize Patient and Caregiver Understanding of the Medication Guide - Stress to patients and their caregivers the importance of reading the Medication Guide that they will receive from their pharmacist every time an ER/LA opioid is dispensed to them
• Consider Using Other Tools - In addition to the PCD, there are other publicly available tools to improve patient, household and community safety, as well as compliance with conditions of treatment, including Patient-Prescriber Agreement (PPA) and risk assessment instruments

• Initial Preventive Physical Exam (IPPE, also known as the "Welcome to Medicare" Preventive Visit)
• Annual Wellness Visit providing Personalized Prevention Plan Services
• Cardiovascular Disease Screening Blood Tests (total cholesterol, high-density lipoproteins, and triglycerides tests)
• Diabetes Screening
• Intensive Behavioral Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease
• Intensive Behavioral Therapy for Obesity
• Tobacco-use Cessation Counseling Services

What Can You Do?

• Help seniors and others with Medicare identify and better understand their risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
• Talk with your patients about lifestyle changes they can make to reduce, eliminate, or control their cardiovascular disease risk factors.
• Encourage the appropriate use of Medicare preventive benefits that can help your patients reach their goals.
• Learn more about, and take advantage of information provided by campaigns like American Heart Month and Million Hearts™, a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017.

Local Physician Chapter Partners with CDC to Launch New Adult Immunization Program 

   The DC Chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP) is pleased to announce its partnership with the national ACP and CDC to launch a new adult immunization education and quality improvement initiative. This free opportunity for physicians and members of their health care team will provide new information about recommended vaccines, strategies for increasing vaccination among your patients, and access to performance measurement tools, other educational and QI tools including ACP's Medical Home Builder®, Maintenance of Certification practice improvement credit, HIPAA compliant professional networking and communications tools, and hands-on support for your practice or program at no cost.

ACP Dinner: March 21, 2013, 6:30 - 9:00 pm (Date Correction)
    The initiative will be launched at a regional dinner program on March 21, 2013 from 6:30 to 9:00 PM at Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave NW. Robert Hopkins, MD, a national expert in adult immunization will lead the presentation, followed by a discussion with local leaders in immunization. There will be ample time for answering your questions along with facilitated discussion during the program.

   To learn more about this initiative and sign up, please contact Yodit Beru at yberu@acponline.org. Space is limited, so interested participants are encouraged to respond as soon as possible.  

GW MFA Adds Carly Fiorina and Others to Board
  The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates (MFA) has restructured its board of directors. The board now is comprised chiefly of highly-regarded technology, banking, government and community leaders, who are independent of the GW campus. This news caps the MFA's 12-year rise from its origin as a relatively small university-run physician group to be the largest and fastest growing independent physician group in the Washington, D.C. area with annual revenues in excess of $350 million.

• Brian Conroy, head of Capital One's $40 billion securities investment portfolio
• Carly Fiorina, former Chairman & CEO of Hewlett-Packard and the first woman to lead a fortune 20 company   
• Leslie V. Norwalk, Strategic Counsel to Epstein Becker Green, EBG Advisors and National Health Advisors
• Edwin Phelps, Founder of ESI International
• Harvey Pitt, Chief Executive Officer of the global business consulting firm, Kalorama Partners, LLC
• Morris Reid, Managing Director of BGR Group
• Gerry Sigal, Founder and CEO of Sigal Construction
• Blair Watters, equity partner at The Madison Group, a bi-partisan government relations and consulting firm 

     Linda Washington Cropp served as a public servant for three decades. After receiving her bachelor's and master's degrees from Howard University, Cropp began her career with D.C. public schools, first as a teacher and then as a guidance counselor. In 1980, she was elected to the D.C. Board of Education, serving as the Board's vice president and president.