HHS Proposes Rule to Ensure Better Care Coordination for Patients With SUD
In an effort to enhance care coordination for patients with substance use disorder (SUD), HHS, acting through its Office for Civil Rights and in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, proposed changes to “Part 2” rules to better align privacy measures with those of HIPAA on Monday. If implemented, the proposed […]
Primary Care Visits Prior to Cancer Diagnosis Tied to Lower Mortality
Regularly visiting a primary care physician (PCP) before cancer diagnosis was associated with better disease outcomes among a cohort of patients from the Veterans Affairs health system. Compared with no prior visits, annual PCP use among over 200,000 veterans with 12 different tumor types was linked with lower odds of being diagnosed with metastatic disease […]
Electronic health record tool can help children achieve healthy weight
An electronic health record (EHR) program to help primary care doctors address child obesity is an effective tool to promote positive body mass index (BMI) trends, especially among young children with obesity, according to a new University of Missouri School of Medicine study that examined the effectiveness of the FitTastic tool over an average follow-up […]
Opinion | Does Healthcare Produce Health?
Medical care can diagnose illness and injury, but a lack of medical care is not the cause of illness or injury. Medicine is more an art than a science. State-of-the-art care changes over time. When I was in medical school in 1972, a professor of medicine began his lecture by informing us that, “In 10 […]
Primary Care Docs Need Better Community Data to Improve Public Health, Expert Says
Primary care doctors need to play a major role in improving the public health system, and to do that they need better data on the community they’re serving, said Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH, at a briefing sponsored by the Alliance for Health Policy Friday. “I need to understand what the ‘community vital signs’ are for […]
ACOs Fight Looming Cuts, Privatization Rhetoric
WASHINGTON — CMS officials responded to concerns from accountable care organization (ACO) leaders about growth, a substantial pending payment cut, and ideological opposition, speaking at the meeting of the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) here last week. During a question-and-answer session with CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, NAACOS CEO Clif Gaus, ScD, said the administration’s goal […]
Opinion | We Need a Direct Pediatric Care Physician Network
The direct care subscription delivery model is rapidly growing. Hint Health, a national leader in the direct care space, identified an increase of patients receiving direct primary care by 241% and an increase of direct primary care clinicians by 159% over the past 4 years. Direct care (DC) reestablishes the primary relationship between doctors and […]
Amazon Ends Virtual Health Care Service Over Fear It’d Fail In The Long Term
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is shutting down the hybrid virtual, in-home care service it’s spent years developing, a surprising move that underscores the challenges it faces as it moves into health care. The service, called Amazon Care, will end by Dec. 31, according to an email sent to staff by Neil Lindsay, senior vice […]
Primary Care Docs Need 27 Hours a Day to Do Their Best Work
There literally aren’t enough hours in a single day for primary care physicians (PCPs) to provide the full gamut of basic, guideline-based care, according to a simulation study. PCPs would need an “infeasible” 26.7 hours each day to provide preventive, chronic disease, and acute care for a typical panel of U.S. adult patients, Justin Porter, […]
Federal Court Judge Mulls Challenge to ACA Preventive Care Mandates
The fate of preventive care services covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) now lies in the hands of a conservative Texas federal court judge who once tried to strike down the entire ACA. Judge Reed O’Connor, who once declared the ACA to be unconstitutional — a ruling that was later invalidated by the Supreme […]