Physician, NP Roles Still Not Interchangeable
This week, The Wall Street Journal devoted an entire section of its print edition to six big issues related to health care. The Journal posed questions and then asked advocates on either side of the issues to weigh in. Thus, readers benefit from point-counter-point discussions on subjects such as circumcision, expanding residency programs, organic diets and pay-for-performance programs. The Academy was invited to "square off" (that's The Journal's phrasing) with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) on the subject of scope-of-practice issues. First, I would encourage all of us to be cautious with using con...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - June 18, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Hospice Experience Can Be Rewarding
It used to be that when I had a patient whose health was declining and he or she was nearing the end of life, I would direct the patient to hospice care. Hospice would take responsibility for the patient's care, and I would receive updates by phone. I might go by and see the patient once or twice. Ultimately, I would be notified that the patient had died, and I would call the family to offer my condolences. That was my standard procedure for more than 20 years. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - June 12, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
New AAFP Website Brings Mobile Optimization With It
(Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - June 12, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Family Medicine Wins ... or Loses?
On the day before graduation at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, where I am chairman of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, the school recognizes students who have performed well during an awards ceremony. The ceremony also offers an opportunity for students from both our Reno and Las Vegas campuses to recognize the faculty mentors who were important to them during their training through individual and departmental awards. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - June 3, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Family Medicine Wins … or Loses?
On the day before graduation at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, where I am chairman of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, the school recognizes students who have performed well during an awards ceremony. The ceremony also offers an opportunity for students from both our Reno and Las Vegas campuses to recognize the faculty mentors who were important to them during their training through individual and departmental awards. (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - June 3, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Volunteering Benefits Patients, Communities and the Docs Who Do It
Are you safe? Have you eaten today? Did you take your medication? Those questions can be heard every day in any primary care clinic in the country, but they stopped me in my tracks when I heard them recently on a sidewalk in Washington, D.C. In town to lobby Congress about physician payment and in the shadows of the U.S. Capitol building, I heard those words spoken by a primary care physician tending directly to a homeless man on the city streets. For Catherine Crossland, M.D., medical director for homeless outreach services at Unity Health Care, working the streets of Washington with a backpack full of medical supplies is...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 31, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Take Two Apps and Text Me in the Morning
My patient was prediabetic, and the usual steps to stop the progression toward type 2 diabetes were not working. He had tried diet programs and failed. He had tried group visits for weight loss and failed. And then, without medications, surgery or any other interventions, the pounds started coming off. In 12 months, he lost 60 pounds. His hemoglobin A1c and lipid levels normalized, and he has kept the weight off for 18 months. For this patient, the life-changing -- and potentially life-saving -- answer to his health care problem was not found in medical literature, an exam room, an operating room or a self-help book. He fo...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 31, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
We All Play a Role in Mending Our Broken Health Care System
The role of an AAFP officer can be challenging. We have intense travel schedules; deal with myriad government agencies, health care organizations and committees, along with the accompanying alphabet soup of abbreviations and acronyms to memorize; represent diverse opinions within our own membership; and challenge our elected officials at every level to make changes in our dysfunctional health care system. That system is broken, and our country seems unable to move forward in addressing this critical failure despite great need. Whenever I get frustrated, however, I can count on reminders of why family physicians are so impo...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 24, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
AAFP Joins CDC Campaign Urging Smokers to 'Talk With Your Doctor'
During a busy day in the office, have you ever stopped to ask yourself which of the myriad of services we provide are the most effective in improving our patients' health? Perhaps it is when we screen for cholesterol, perform a Pap smear, or recommend a mammogram. All of these are important and proven to be effective in improving our patients' health. But you might be surprised to know that, according to The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 22, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
HHS Attempt to Provide Pricing Transparency Falls Short
Depending on whom you ask, the hospital pricing data recently released by HHS represents either a remarkable move toward health care transparency or a giant waste of printer toner. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between. On May 8, the agency released prices from more than 3,000 U.S. hospitals for the 100 most common inpatient treatment services provided in 2011. More than four times longer than Atlas Shrugged, (Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP)
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 22, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
The Bargaining Chip We've Been Looking For
There is a David-versus-Goliath perception that makes many primary care physicians dealing with giant hospitals and health care systems feel disadvantaged during payment negotiations, but the truth is that every health system needs a strong primary care base. Now, more than ever, we can prove it. Merritt Hawkins, the national physician search firm, periodically surveys hospital chief financial officers about how much revenue physicians in 18 different specialties generate for their affiliated hospitals each year. For the first time since the survey started in 2002, the CFOs indicated in a report released this month that pr...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 17, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Relationships Are a Critical Part of Building Medical Homes
The small Nebraska town where I practice family medicine has a population of about 2,000. Although my practice is only 30 minutes west of Lincoln -- the state's capital and second-largest city -- solo and small family practices are common in the rural areas to my north, south and west. As my colleagues in these small practices ponder the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), I know that it can seem overwhelming to implement. The bodies that recognize or certify PCMH practices have numerous confusing requirements that have more to do with processes than patient care. So when I talk to family physicians who have concerns abo...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 15, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Nurses Play Vital Role
Trenton is a tiny town in the northwest corner of Georgia. If you could pick it up and move it on the state map, you could just about squeeze it into nearby Cloudland Canyon State Park. Travelers who aren't headed to the park might not notice Trenton unless they need a place to stop on Interstate 59 on a drive from Birmingham, Ala., to Chattanooga, Tenn. It was there, in rural Georgia, that I started my first job out of residency 25 years ago on a National Health Service Corps assignment. I had studied medicine in Atlanta and moved on to residency in Augusta. Now I was a big-city outsider in a small town. I knew no one. Ve...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 10, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Teamwork Key to Improving Quality of Care
I've been interested in the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) since the Future of Family Medicine report recommended that every American should have a medical home back in 2004. I was on the AAFP's Commission on Practice Enhancement (now the Commission on Quality and Practice) from 2006-2010, and the concept was a hot topic for our commission. When my multispecialty medical group in New Mexico decided to implement the PCMH in our own clinics, I served on an advisory committee that helped make it happen. When it was time to implement electronic health records (EHRs), my clinic was the guinea pig. We got our EHR up and ru...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - May 8, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
Lessons for Boston: FPs Can Help Amputees Move Forward
In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon, the media has put a focus on a topic that has been part of my life for nearly two decades -- amputation. More than a dozen people have had amputations since two bombs went off near the finish line of the April 15 race. On a day that started with celebration, lives were changed forever. In that instant, young and healthy athletes on the road to celebration (and spectators who were cheering them on) were shocked to now face the long and challenging road to recovery. I can relate. Just one week before the airplane accident that eventually claimed both my legs, I...
Source: As We See It: Voices From the AAFP - April 29, 2013 Category: Practice Management Source Type: news
