Friday, June 29, 2012

EE Times: Tablets to drive telemedicine market growth to more than 300% by 2018

Jean-Pierre Joosting -- June 10, 2012

Telemedicine systems provide a way to improve clinical care delivery to patients with chronic disease, decreasing hospitalizations and visits to the emergency room. The ability to accurately access patient condition via a combination of advanced testing and telemonitoring creates the opportunity to intervene when what is called for clinically can make a difference.

A telemedicine market research report from Wintergreen Research explores how telemedicine device and software companies will capitalize on the revenue streams that will come from services delivery. Just as cell phones are paid for in conjunction with the services contracts, so also the telemedicine applications will be paid by insurance. In some cases the insurance companies recognize that their long term costs are lower by delivering clinical intervention to try to impact lifestyle for patients with chronic disease conditions.

Read the rest here.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Supreme Court upholds health-care law, individual mandate





 


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Annals of Internal Medicine: Maintenance of Licensure: Supporting a Physician's Commitment to Lifelong Learning


The new issue of Annals of Internal Medicine includes an update on the FSMB's MOL initiative, "Maintenance of Licensure: Supporting a Physician's Commitment to Lifelong Learning".

Check it out here.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

amednews.com: Med schools start picturing their place in a medical home world

 Medical schools and residency programs seek to teach teamwork, quality imrovement and community-based care to prepare students for practicing in a patient-centered medical home.

Carolyne Krupa, June 25, 2012.

As the health care system shifts toward a more patient-centered and outcomes-based approach, more medical schools and residency programs are exploring how to train the next generation of physicians to practice in the medical home model.

For many programs, the shift is causing them to rethink traditional medical education, including decisions about how, where and with whom they train students. Several schools either are testing new instructional models or are revamping their curricula to educate trainees on the medical home concept.

Read more here.

Monday, June 25, 2012

HealthLeaders Media: Hospitalists ID Unprofessional Physician Behaviors

John Commins, June 15, 2012

Ridiculing coworkers, clumsy and callous patient transfers, texting during meetings, and leaving work early were among a handful of rare, but unprofessional behaviors attributed by some hospitalists to themselves and more so to their peers, a survey published in the in the Journal of Hospital Medicine shows. 

The survey and study asked 77 Illinois hospitalists to identify what they considered unprofessional behavior in themselves and their colleagues. 

Click here to see the survey results.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

KevinMD.com: The frustrating gap of physician leadership skills

By Dike Drummon, MD

One of the big practice challenges most physicians face is a frustrating gap in our leadership skills. We step out of residency and are instantly installed as the leader of a multidisciplinary team charged with delivering the highest quality care to our patients.

This new leadership role can be daunting. We are prepared to diagnose and treat, but what about all the other questions that come our way?  At times It can feel like you don’t “have what it takes” when, in fact, this leadership vacuum is a natural consequence of our medical training and medicine’s unique business model.


Here are three leadership challenges specific to physicians – with suggestions on how to bypass them for a better day at the office for you, your staff and your patients.

Read more here.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

ABMS Member Boards Set Time Limits for Board Certification to Define When Physicians are "Board Eligible"

CHICAGO - June 5, 2012 - The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and its Member Boards have established limits to the number of years that can elapse between a physician's completion of residency training and achievement of Board Certification. Each  Member Board's time limits and transition dates can be viewed here.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Iowa Board of Medicine: Board adopts 4 pilot projects to prepare for system to ensure physician competency

June 11, 2012

DES MOINES, IA – The Iowa Board of Medicine will begin preliminary work in July on a national initiative aimed at strengthening patient care by requiring licensed physicians to participate in programs that enable them to maintain or improve their competence in the scope of their daily medical practice.

The Board on Friday (June 8, 2012) authorized staff to pursue four pilot projects in cooperation with the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) as a prelude to determining what may be required of physicians to demonstrate professional competence when seeking licensure renewal.

Read more here.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Cleveland Jewish News: Doctors returning to practice face challenges

Michael C. Butz

In 1991, after six years of practicing family medicine in St. Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Bob Elson hung up his stethoscope to pursue a career in medical informatics.

For the next 18 years, Elson successfully navigated that growing field – which works to improve doctors’ practices by integrating new technology, like electronic medical records – while occasionally seeing patients as a part-time hospital doctor.


Click here for the rest of the story.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

HRSA: On the Horizon: July Compliance Web Posting

The Data Bank will add the status of Behavioral Health professions to the Reporting Compliance Status Reporting Compliance Status page on July 1. The July posting also will update the compliance status of previously audited professions. On the website, you can view the current results for the Adverse Licensure Action Comparison Project and Never Reported Professions Compliance Effort.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

amednews.com: Medical Boards Get More Tools To Investigate Physicians

New laws and efforts to end over-prescribing play roles in greater activity by boards.

Carolyne Krupa, June 4, 2012.

Political pressure and more attention to the growing problem of prescription drug abuse have contributed to increased scrutiny of medical boards in recent years. That has led some states to pass legislation or make policy changes to bolster how the boards regulate and discipline physicians. States such as Delaware, Florida and Texas have enacted laws to prevent the operation of so-called pill mills by targeting physicians who abuse their prescribing rights, said Lisa Robin, chief advocacy officer at the Federation of State Medical Boards. Other states have increased their medical board staffs or expanded their boards’ abilities to investigate and discipline doctors.

Read the entire article in American Medical News.