February 24th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News
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ACP Internist looks at how states are using grants to fix their primary care shortages.
Michigan launched grants for primary care doctors to repay medical school loans and is looking to tap into federal incentives to fill its needs in rural and urban shortage areas. Alaska also needs primary care doctors, so the state senate is pushing through recruiting incentives of its own. (They should show re-runs of Northern Exposure.) Rural Indiana doesn’t have a quirky ’90s hit television program to its credit, but it has nurse practitioners who are finding their niche on physicians-led teams–relieving the backlog and providing patient education. (Detroit Free Press, KTUU-TV, Journal & Courier) Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
February 15th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News
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ACP Internist continues its look at subjects important to internal medicine. Today, we follow the money.
Evidence-based medicine
The U.S. could save one-third of the $15 billion spent on stents annually if all doctors followed COURAGE trial conclusions and used generic drugs first, and stents only if pain persists. William Boden, FACP, headed that trial, and now says that reimbursement drives clinical practice. Dartmouth’s Elliott Fisher, MD, says this “perverse incentive” doesn’t improve health care. (Wall Street Journal, CNN)
Physician reimbursement reform
Following the Food and Drug Administration’s record-breaking budget allocation, seven former agency commissioners and interest groups are still saying it’s not enough to make up for years of underfunding. Even regulated industries want more funding to boost the public perception of product safety. (ACP Internist, Los Angeles Times)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
February 8th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News
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The federal government may be stalled on health care reform legislation, but the executive branch has been expanding its stake in paying for care.
Yesterday, QD reported that federal and state governments will pay for more than half of the health care purchased in the U.S. by 2012, and likely even sooner. Today, Medicare’s actuaries announced that growth in national health expenditures (NHE) outpaced growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year. The recession, H1N1 programs and federal subsidies for COBRA benefits all contributed to the largest one-year increase in history, from 16.2% of GDP in 2008 to 17.3% of GDP last year.
In 2010, NHE growth will decelerate to 3.9% while GDP is anticipated to rebound to 4% growth. But, and this is a big caveat, much of the projected slowdown in NHE growth is attributed to the 21.3% slashing of Medicare physician payment rates called for under current law’s Sustainable Growth Rate provisions. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
February 1st, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News
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Generation Y medical students are supposed to be the tech-savvy ones. As it turns out, they may be more familiar with Facebook than with the electronic health records they’ll likely use in their medical practice. (Modern Physician, free-registration required)
Educators at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine assessed nearly 190 fourth-year medical students on their use of EHRs during a mock encounter simulating a cancer patient hospitalized with complications from chemotherapy.
Students were scored on their ability to find information crucial to the patient’s case within the EHR and their ability to analyze the EHR without alienating the patient. While most couldn’t access the information, they did interact with the patients face-to-face and even explained when they looked away to the computer.
Following more research, the school may incorporate class work on using EHRs.
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
January 25th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News
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California debuted new rules that specify patients in health maintenance organizations (HMO) see a doctor within 10 days of asking for an appointment. Calls must be return within a half-hour, and health professionals must be available 24/7. Urgent care must be seen in 48 hours.
Richard Frankenstein, FACP, former president of the California Medical Association, told the Los Angeles Times that this places pressure on the HMOs to have a big enough network to deliver what they promise. Critics contend this will force doctors to rush patient care even more, or be especially damaging to rural areas already facing a shortage. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
