Hepatitis disease burden continues to rise
Although the disease burden of most other prevalent communicable diseases has gone down considerably over the last 25 years, viral hepatitis continues to be a challenge for health care professionals... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 13, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Flumazenil effective in refractory hypersomnolence
DENVER – Transdermal or sublingual flumazenil is well worth considering for treatment of carefully selected patients with hypersomnolence refractory to conventional wake-promoting medications, Lynn... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 12, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

GERD and sleep disorders often go hand in glove
DENVER – Gastroesophageal reflux disease is fertile soil for medical and psychiatric comorbid conditions, with sleep disorders leading the way, Maurice M. Ohayon, MD, reported at the annual meeting... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 12, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

How practice changes us
I have learned a few things in my almost half-century of hurtling through space with all of you on this fragile blue-green rock. My most recent enlightenment is that the universe has a way of... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 12, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Retiring Baby Boomers leave fewer workers to pay for Medicare
The influx of aging Baby Boomers into the ranks of the retired will reduce the ratio of workers available to pay for each Medicare part A beneficiary by 40% from 2000 to 2030, according to the 2016... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 12, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Don’t underestimate opioid use in HIV-positive adults
Prescription opioid use in HIV-positive individuals is underestimated, based on data from a 12-week study of medical and nonmedical prescription drug use in HIV patients attending a medical center... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 12, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

HIV patients with elevated ALT at significant risk of chronic liver disease
Patients with HIV infection should be screened routinely for chronic liver disease if their alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels are elevated, according to a study published in AIDS Care. “In... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 11, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Focused-ultrasound device approved to treat essential tremor
A device that uses transcranial focused ultrasound to destroy the MRI-identified pathologic area of the thalamus in essential tremor patients became the first of its kind to receive Food and Drug... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 11, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Endobariatrics: Coming to a clinic near you
SAN DIEGO – Device companies are working hard to bring obesity management to the endoscopy suite. The field is called endobariatrics, and its goal is to fill the gap between surgery and... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 11, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Childhood trauma, cannabis use disorders examined in schizophrenia
New findings suggest childhood trauma and cannabis use disorders have no significant interaction in outcomes for patients with schizophrenia, according to Grégoire Baudin and his associates. <table... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 11, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Conway Regional Adds Ahmed Ali to Med Staff (Movers & Shakers)
Dr. Ahmed A. Ali recently joined the medical staff at Conway Regional Medical Center. Ali is an internal medicine specialist and former director of the hospitalist program at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff. He will serve patients at the Conway medical center as well as at his outpatient clinic. Karyn Johnson has joined the operations team at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison as director of clinic operations. Hilary Cleaver and Rebecca Davidson were also named physician practice manager and rural health clinics coordinator. Johnson began her career in health care at Lake Regional Health Sy...
Source: Arkansas Business - Health Care - July 11, 2016 Category: American Health Source Type: news

Docs to CMS: MACRA is too complex and should be delayed
The proposed federal regulations to implement the MACRA health care reforms are too complex, too onerous on small and solo practices, lack opportunities for many to participate in alternative payment... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 9, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Fee schedule includes expansion of Diabetes Prevention Program
An expansion of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), announced July 7 in the... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 8, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

Ipsilateral arm BP measurements after breast cancer?
A 47-year-old woman with a history of right-sided breast cancer – status after lumpectomy, lymph node dissection, and radiation – comes in to clinic for evaluation. She asks the MA to take... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 8, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news

New data propel headache neuromodulation devices toward approval
WASHINGTON – Encouraging data on an external vagal nerve stimulator and a minimally invasive system that targets the sphenopalatine ganglion are propelling the two neuromodulation devices toward... (Source: Family Practice News)
Source: Family Practice News - July 7, 2016 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news