ACCME Updates Disclosure Policy For Commercial Support
*CME Providers may now use hyperlinks to link to disclosure information
*Also, starting May 1: All commercial logos must be removed from educational materials and disclosures in accordance with last year's decision
The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) now allows for accredited CME providers to use tabs and hyperlinks to transmit disclosure information to learners at educational activities. ACCME notes that this revised policy does not affect the actual disclosure requirements under the Standards for Commercial Support, just the method for disclosure. Furthermore, one year ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 5, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
UpToDate® Forced To Admit Google Used as Their Main Source of Information.
Waltham, MA - On the heals of an imminent 60 Minutes documentary exposing the inner workings of UpToDate®, the popular subscription-only, physician-authored clinical decision support resource, officials were forced to admit most of their authors use Google as their goto resource. In a prepared statement to reporters, Wolters Kluwer Health, which owns UpToDate, confirmed that Google is hands down the most popular resource used by their 6,000 physician authors to regurgitate medical information into neatly repackaged articles for the $500 per year professional service."I don't even know why this is n...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - May 2, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
UpToDate ® Forced To Admit Google Used as Their Main Source of Information.
< div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on" > < b > Waltham, MA - < /b > & nbsp; On the heals of an imminent 60 Minutes documentary exposing the inner workings of UpToDate ®, the popular subscription-only, physician-authored clinical decision support resource, & nbsp;officials were forced to admit & nbsp;most of their authors use Google as their goto resource. < br / > < br / > In a prepared statement to reporters, Wolters Kluwer Health, which owns UpToDate, confirmed & nbsp;that Google is hands down the most popular resource used by their 6,000 physician authors to regurgitate medical information into neatly re...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - May 2, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
“Encouraging Continuing Medical Education For Physicians” Incorporated Into Newly Updated 21st Century Cures Discussion Draft
Notable updates to January's Draft include bipartisan concessions: New provisions to increase NIH funding; removal of provisions for increased exclusivity periods.
Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released an updated discussion draft of 21st Century Cures legislation (view the legislative text, whittled from 400 pages to 199 pages since January); a section-by-section explainer; and a 1-page summary). “The yearlong 21st Century Cures listening session explored the complete cycle of cures – from the discovery of clues in basic science, to the development of new treatme...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 29, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
ACP’s Centennial Meeting – #IM15 – starting Thursday
We are looking forward to ACP’s huge meeting #IM15 that officially starts this coming Thursday. This week I will finish my term as Chair of ACP Board of Regents.
Serving ACP and our internal medicine community has been an incredible honor. Each day we (the non-staff leadership of ACP) have talked to internists and worked to represent their interests.
Many internists disagree with some decisions that we make, because we make many decisions. We develop policies and always work to find consensus. Consensus is the right way to make policy decisions, but we then always receive critiques that we have “gone to far...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - April 25, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
MOC Controversy Continues, As Newsweek Unveils ABIM’s Troubled Financials
Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald last month wrote an op-ed entitled “The Ugly Civil War in American Medicine,” in which the author derided the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) certification process for doctors. The author accused the ABIM of requiring unnecessary testing requirements “to fatten the board’s bloated coffers.” The ABIM quickly fired back that the Newsweek article contained "numerous and serious misstatements, selective omissions, inaccurate information and erroneous reporting.” They also accused Eichenwald of being biased because his wife was an internist, and condemned Ne...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 17, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Drawing Lines
Who is a Family Physician?
Who is a PCP? (And does that second “P” stand for “physician” or “provider”?)
Who gets to say? Does it matter?
Perhaps we should start with some basic qualifications: the degree of MD or DO, the satisfactory completion of an accredited residency in Family Medicine, and successfully passing the written examination of the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFP, an organization distinct and independent of the AAFP). Hard to argue with those.
How about going by what we do: Primary Care medicine consists of caring for patients as their first contact with the health...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - April 13, 2015 Category: Primary Care Authors: notdeaddinosaur Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs
CME: Online Medical Education Could Revolutionize Training in Emerging Markets
A recent article published in Forbes argues that online medical education has the opportunity to revolutionize training for doctors and nurses in emerging markets. Internet-based learning tools “will increase the number of health workers globally and train them to provide high-quality care in places that desperately need it,” writes Will Greene, who runs TigerMine Ventures, an advisory firm that helps companies and organizations in Southeast Asia.
Greene argues that medical education in emerging markets “typically suffers from two problems.” He writes:
First, medical universities and residency programs rarely...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 10, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
My experience with an emergency airway management CME
Physicians need to complete about 50 hours of some kind of continuing medical education (CME) every year. The ideal kind of class is one that we actually attend in person, with teachers who are expert in the field being taught and are somewhere near the cutting edge. CME classes are especially nice when they include something hands-on rather than just a lecture format because much of medicine is hands on and because that wakes us up and keeps us focused.
There are other ways to get education, such as studying written materials or attending classes taught via video presentation, and they are an important way for physicians ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 4, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Janice Boughton, MD Tags: Physician Emergency Source Type: blogs
International CME: MedTech Europe Calls For Phasing Out Direct Sponsorship Of Conference Attendees; Will Introduce Stricter Rules For Indirect CME Sponsorship
On October 15, 2014, MedTech Europe, an alliance between the European Diagnostics Manufacturers Association (EDMA) and the Board of the European Medical Technology Industry Association (Eucomed), recommended that their member companies phase out “direct sponsorship” of healthcare professionals to third party organized conferences. The European equivalent to AdvaMed also called for “stricter rules for indirect sponsorship” of conferences.
Importantly, the European industry groups remain “fully committed” to supporting CME for healthcare professionals. Serge Bernasconi, CEO of EDMA, Eucomed and MedTech Eur...
Source: Policy and Medicine - March 11, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Open Payments: Early Impact And The Next Wave Of Reform
Editor’s note: This post is part of a series stemming from the Third Annual Health Law Year in P/Review event held at Harvard Law School on Friday, January 30, 2015. The conference brought together leading experts to review major developments in health law over the previous year, and preview what is to come. A full agenda and links to video recordings of the panels are here.
The Physician Payments Sunshine Act, a provision in the Affordable Care Act, seeks to increase the transparency of the financial relationships between medical device and drug manufacturers, physicians, and teaching hospitals. Launched on Septembe...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 3, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Tony Caldwell and Christopher Robertson Tags: All Categories Big Data Business of Health Care Health Reform Hospitals Payment Pharma Physicians Policy Source Type: blogs
Is Internal Medicine MOC necessary?
Maintenance of certification is, in my opinion, a good idea. While I had significant concerns about the structure that the ABIM was using, the idea that we have an obligation to maintain our knowledge.
I believe that the only legitimate argument is in the definition of how one documents maintenance.
The ABIM had two major problems to address. The first issue that they are working vigorously to improve is the criteria for MOC. I have written often about how I would document maintenance. I hope the performance improvement concept is taken out of MOC because we are subject to too many performance report cards already. ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - March 2, 2015 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Market Research and the Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Has Physician Participation Declined Due To Open Payments?
This article describes a number of those reporting challenges and also looks at a recent survey that sought to measure physicians’ current awareness of Open Payments and to assess the impact the release of the data was having on physician participation in manufacturer sponsored market research.
Market Research and Sunshine – Indirect Payments and the Indirect Payment Exclusion
One of the most difficult aspects of compliance with the Sunshine Act is accounting for "indirect payments" that pharmaceutical and device manufacturers make to third parties—such as market research firms—that end up going to physicians (cove...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 23, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
CMS Issues Final Rule on Managing Conflicts of Interests in Medicare Prescription Drug Decisions
The objective party should be someone not on the P & T committee, and may include a representative from the PBM that is not on the P & T committee.
Comment: A commenter pointed out that while the proposed recusal process is logical, it is duplicative and the current P&T policy is sufficient for dealing with conflicts of interest.
Response: We disagree with the commenter and concurred with the OIG report's recommendation (as discussed in the January 2014 proposed rule) that P&T committees should have clearly articulated and objective processes to determine conflicts of interest and manage any recusals. We are implem...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 12, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Maintenance of Certification: ABIM Announces Immediate Changes to MOC Program
In a surprise move, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) suspended aspects of its maintenance-of-certification program and apologized after many internists and medical specialty societies raised concerns that it was a waste of time and money.
ABIM President and CEO Richard J. Baron, MD, reached out to open a conversation on how to improve MOC. He stated:
A year ago, ABIM changed its once-every-10-years Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program to a more continuous one. This change generated legitimate criticism among internists and medical specialty societies. Some believe ABIM has turned a deaf ear to practicin...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 9, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
