• Filter By:
• Specialty
• Source
• Condition
• Cancer
• Infectious Disease
• Drug
• Training
• Management
• Procedure
• Therapy
• Vaccine
• Nutrition
• Country

Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA) Proposed Rule, MIPS, APM’s and Advanced Care Information
Discussion Welcome news is the elimination of the all or nothing criteria of the meaningful use program. The exclusion of most ACO's under Medicare shared shavings is probably the most controversial part of the proposed rule as health systems have invested millions in the current Medicare shared savings program. That CMS is estimating that 87% of solo practitioners will be paying a penalty will also not be well received. Under MIPS CMS is estimating that non MD providers with the exception of nurse practitioners and physician assistants fare the worst including Chiropractors, Podiatrists and Dentists. Overall the propose...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 28, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Quality Measure Core Set Implementation Plan
Discussion on Medicare Part B Drug Payment Model DemonstrationMedPAC Votes for Sweeping Revisions to Medicare Part DMedPAC Meeting on Part B Drug Payment Policy 
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 17, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

2015 Front Line of Healthcare Report – CME and Conferences are a More Frequently Utilized Source of Information
Bain & Company, Inc. has published their Front Line of Healthcare Report 2015, a report that focuses on the shifting United States healthcare landscape by the numbers. Bain & Company took a natural survey of 632 physicians across specialties and 100 hospital procurement administrators in the United States in an attempt to update their 2011 Physician Attitudes Survey. To highlight the idea that the dynamics of change vary substantially across different regions of the country, Bain oversampled two regions with distinct market characteristics (Massachusetts and Mississippi/Alabama). Bain found that in states like Ma...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 4, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

ProPublica: Tying Open Payments Physician Data to Medicare Part D Data
ProPublica is once again trying to make a "correlation equals causation" argument between payments made to physicians and their prescribing patterns. ProPublica is arguing that an analysis they performed showed that "doctors who receive payments from the medical industry do indeed tend to prescribe drugs differently than their colleagues who don't." They are arguing that doctors who received more than $5,000 from companies in 2014 had the highest brand-name prescribing percentages, giving an example that among internists who received no payments, the average brand-name prescribing rate was 20%, compared to about 30% for ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - March 21, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Robert Califf Confirmed as FDA Commissioner 89-4
  Despite months of hand-wringing and opposition, the Senate overwhelmingly voted to confirm Dr. Robert Califf as the next Food and Drug Administration commissioner by a bipartisan vote of 89 - 4. This confirmation follows a cloture vote from earlier this week, despite opposition from some a small group of Senate Democrats, including presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The opposition was because some alleged Califf had huge ties to the pharmaceutical industry. In the end only four Senators voted against his nomination Senators Blumenthal (D-CT), Markey (D-MA), Manchin (D-WV) and Ayotte (R-NH). Most responded to...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 24, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Understanding Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Models (APM’s)
Discussion MACRA enshrines the concept of value vs. volume and a seismic shift from fee for service to value based payments. There will be tremendous need for education for today's clinicians to further understand MACRA and all its ramifications. Big questions need to be answered such as what the rule will look like, what does it mean to bear more than nominal financial risk, what will be included in value, will MIPS Meaningful Use, PQRS and Value Based Modifiers be similar to the current system . Fortunately, there will be opportunities to let your voice be heard on this very important program.    &#...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 18, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

An Update on the Nomination of FDA Commissioner Robert Califf
An increasing number of senators are threatening to block Dr. Robert Califf's nomination to be the next Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The story illustrates an unusual coalition of right and left-leaning members of the Senate, and common refrains about "industry ties" in government and medicine. Ultimately, arcane Senate rules allow the entire process to be stalled by these individual members of the body. The U.S. Senate: Where things go to die (slowly) Members threatening to block Califf's nomination include Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. He cited Califf's ties to the pharmaceutical indu...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 9, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

EDMA and Eucomed Adopt Code of Business Practice Brings Changes to Medical Congresses
Members of both the European Diagnostic Manufacturers Association (EDMA) and the European Medical Technology Industry (Eucomed) approved a new Code of Ethical Business Practice. Both associations are members of MedTech Europe who are working to set high ethical standards for the medical technology industry all throughout Europe. This new Code will replace the EDMA and Eucomed codes of business practice and will be known as the MedTech Europe Code of Business Practice. This decision to adopt a common and wide-reaching code was prompted by the fact that EDMA and Eucomed each had different codes, which created inconsistenci...
Source: Policy and Medicine - January 7, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Doctors: It’s Not What You Say, But How You Say It
Most physicians will be thrust into the role of patient or caregiver at some point during their careers. Unfortunately, it’s not until this occurs that many become fully aware of the finer points of excellent care and communication. Take for example, the simple act of reporting test results to a patient. We do this every day, but may not realize that how we frame the information is as important as the data themselves. I came to realize this on a recent hospital visit when I was in the role of healthcare proxy for a loved one with heart disease. Not only did various physicians present information with different degree...
Source: Better Health - December 28, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: True Stories Cardiac Electrophysiologist CHF Ejection fraction Heart Disease How To Relay Information What Does It Mean? Cardiologist Source Type: blogs

Doctors: It ’ s Not What You Say, But How You Say It
Most physicians will be thrust into the role of patient or caregiver at some point during their careers. Unfortunately, it’s not until this occurs that many become fully aware of the finer points of excellent care and communication. Take for example, the simple act of reporting test results to a patient. We do this every day, but may not realize that how we frame the information is as important as the data themselves. I came to realize this on a recent hospital visit when I was in the role of healthcare proxy for a loved one with heart disease. Not only did various physicians present information with different degree...
Source: Better Health - December 28, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Dr. Val Jones Tags: True Stories Cardiac Electrophysiologist CHF Ejection fraction Heart Disease How To Relay Information What Does It Mean? Cardiologist Source Type: blogs

FDA Agency Update December 2015
As 2015 comes to a close for the FDA, it remains an agency in transition. The agency should soon see a new commissioner and may be the subject of legislative overhauls. We have recently reported on the FDA's new patient engagement advisory committee, anticipated biosimilars naming guidance, PDUFA reauthorization, and continued issuance of warning letters. FDA funding, drug approvals: key concerns RAPS reported FDA Acting Commissioner Ostroff's recent comments, describing the importance of biomarkers in drug development, inspection policies, and patient-centric approaches. With so much talk of FDA reform, his comments on ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - December 3, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Study Looks At How Many Industry Boards of Directors Have Academic Affiliations
Conflict of interest rules for the medical community have been in the spotlight lately, though they typically center around rules that prohibit or restrict physicians from enjoying lunch on behalf of a pharmaceutical company or stocking their office with pens. A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and published in the British Medical Journal recently decided to look at conflicts of interest from a different perspective: they looked at how many for-profit healthcare company positions were occupied by people with academic affiliations. These researchers analyzed public disc...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 7, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Policy and Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Rand Questions Surgeon Scorecard
ProPublica’s attempt to create a searchable database of physician quality for the public, the “Surgeon Scorecard,” has run into some credibility issues. The Surgeon Scorecard was launched in July 2015 and is a database that catalogues and provides the public with individual surgeon’s death and complication rates for eight different medical procedures. ProPublica created this database to help patients determine which surgeons, not necessarily which hospitals, are the best at each particular surgery. This foray into transparency in the medical field has had its fair share of issues and is not currently recommended to...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 1, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Policy and Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Maintenance of Certification: American Board of Anesthesiology Ends 10-Year Exam; ABIM Considers New Continuous Testing Model As Well
Recently, the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) announced it will become the first medical board to restructure its Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. The Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology Program, or MOCA, has required physicians to take a recertification test every 10 years. It will be replaced by a program known as “MOCA 2.0,” which will allow anesthesiologists to continuously assess themselves and identify knowledge gaps through an online portal, including a "MOCA Minute" that allows physicians to answer multiple-choice questions at their own convenience. This shift is noteworthy because ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - September 21, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs

White House Nominates Robert Califf As The Next FDA Commissioner
This article lists a wide range of health policy and cardiology experts who weighed in very positively on Califf’s nomination. For example, MedPage Today quotes Sanjay Kaul, MD, MPH, of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, who wrote: "I can't think of a more qualified person than Dr. Califf to lead the FDA at the present time…He is an accomplished leader in cardiovascular disease research whose work has resulted in therapies that save lives and improve the quality of life for millions of patients." In terms of how much change Califf would bring to the agency, the article quoted Steve Nissen, MD, chair of cardio...
Source: Policy and Medicine - September 18, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs

Pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6