April 28, 2008

IN THIS ISSUE

Editor's Column: The Good Doctor
Three WSUSOM Faculty Honored
Blues Say One-Third Of NPI Claims Wouldn't Be Paid
Cover The Uninsured Week Kicks Off
Med Student Motivated By Mom's Illness
Cruise To Benefit Mentally Ill
Health IT Symposium Looks At 'Paperless Pitfalls'
Study: Smoking Ban Would Not Hurt Bars, Restaurants

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The Good Doctor

By JOSEPH WEISS, MD
Yet another consortium comes forward to rate doctors, to tell patients and employers who are the “Good Doctors.” According to the April 2 Wall Street Journal, these efforts have the financial backing of Aetna, United Health, Cigna, General Electric, etc. These corporate giants have agreed that the way to measure the Good Doctor is:

• The percentage of women patients older than 65 years in the physician’s practice who have received a bone density test;
• The percentage of diabetic patients who received a foot examination during the past year;
• The percentage of patients aged 50-64 who received an influenza vaccine during the last flu season; and
• The percentage of patients 65 and older who have ever received a pneumococcal vaccination.

Few would argue that such efforts by doctors are worthy, but does reaching the consortium’s percentage make one a good doctor?

Likely, each reader has his own list of what defines the Good Doctor. Mine includes the following:

• The ability to relieve a patient’s distress;
• The ability to diagnose what the physician has never seen before;
• Then there is response to this difficulty: Cases that occur for which can’t diagnose the problem despite our best efforts, yet acknowledge that we can’t leave until we’ve done something about it.

A physician who handles that situation well earns the designation, the Good Doctor.

No analysis of claims data will pick up the physician who has these attributes. Instead, we face ever increasing performance measures, with more waiting in the wings. What such efforts are likely to gauge is the stolid physician or the compliant one. These performance standards will also bring out the clever physician who can program computers to outwit the surveillance of the health care insurers.

Health insurers cannot beat, coerce, trick or bribe physicians to be Good Doctors. Most physicians can and will apply what they know. The most outsiders can call for is re-certification, possibly making it every five years, rather than the 10-year cycle now in effect.

Medicine remains an art. Practitioners need room to provide purposeful treatment as they see fit.

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Three WSUSOM Faculty Honored

The designation is the highest honor the university can bestow on a faculty member. The university has appointed only 31 faculty members as distinguished professors since it began the program in 1959. Important criterion for the honor is a reputation on the national and international level, and long-time standing on the university faculty. The distinguished professor receives an annual grant.

Barry P. Rosen, PhD, professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Jack Sobel, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases; and Linda Hazlett, PhD, Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, are among nine university faculty to be given the title of 2007 Distinguished Professor.

Dr. Sobel received the Distinguished Faculty Award, Department of Internal Medicine, from WSU in 1986. Named a “Best Doctor in America” 10 years, he was also presented with the School of Medicine’s Teaching Award in 2004. He has served as a consultant for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s special committee for recommending guidelines for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

In 1989, Dr. Hazlett was awarded the Charles Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellowship by the university. She was the recipient of the university’s first Interdisciplinary Program Development Award in 1991, and in 2002 she was named to the WSU Academy of Scholars.

Dr. Rosen is a world-renowned scientist at the School of Medicine whose research has been continuously funded for 35 years. He holds three major grants from the National Institutes of Health, with nearly $1 million per year in funding. His research in the area of arsenic detoxification is at the forefront of his field, and he is one of the leading experts in this subject.

Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Dr. Rosen was named a  Fellow by the university in 1997. He received the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award in 1999. In 2005, he received the National Institutes of Health’s Method to Extend Research in Time Award. He has served on the advisory board of the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics since 2004, and is president of the Wayne State University Academy of Scholars.

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Blues Say One-Third Of NPI Claims Wouldn't Be Paid

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Cover The Uninsured Week Kicks Off

The annual week spotlighting the problem of people who lack health insurance through health fairs, enrollment outreach programs, educational events and speeches from policy wonks and public officials got underway today with a press event in Detroit.

The program’s website, http://covertheuninsured.org/ , lists scores of events, statistics, volunteer opportunities and educational resources for those seeking coverage.

Of particular interest from a policy perspective is a discussion of possible solutions to the problem in Ann Arbor Friday, May 2. Details appear below.

Covering the Uninsured

Who Has the Will and Who Has the Way

Experts will examine best practices, approaches and solutions to the problem of the uninsured. Catherine McLaughlan, U-M School of Public Health; Kevin Seitz, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan; Ellen Rabinowitz, Washtenaw Health Plan; Marianne Udow-Phillips, Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation.

Sponsored by the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation and University of Michigan Health Centers.

Friday, May 02
12 noon to 2 p.m.
Danto Auditorium
University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center

Info: 734-998-7555

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Med Student Motivated By Mom's Illness

The experience of watching doctors successfully battle his mother’s breast cancer is leading a Wayne State University School of Medicine student to a career in radiation oncology.

Brandon Mancini, 22, said he felt strongly about a career in medicine while in high school. He was attracted to radiation oncology when his mother developed breast cancer in 2002. She is now in her sixth year of remission.

“The amazing team effort that I witnessed between my mother and the doctors and nurses who treated her has forever allied my heart with the field of medicine, and more specifically radiation oncology,” he said. “I have such a respect and enthusiasm for the field, and I am looking forward to providing my patients with the same care that was given to my mother.”The first-year medical student who now lives on campus is originally from Canton. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Michigan.

The Class of 2011 president also serves as a student representative on the Medical Alumni Association Board. He is one of only nine first-year medical school students elected into the Aesculapians Honor Society this year. The honorary service organization is devoted to the city of Detroit and the School of Medicine. In addition, he tutors children ages 5 to 12 at the Wayne County Family Center as part of Project H. He was recently elected a clinic co-coordinator for Project H, with the responsibility of managing the health clinic operations at the center.  He also participates in Code Blue, a group that delivers lessons about various topics, including health, fitness, career planning and goal setting, to children at a Highland Park elementary school.

Mr. Mancini said the diversity of the School of Medicine student body was a pleasant surprise. “There are students of all ages, backgrounds and cultures, and it has been such an amazing experience to interact and form friendships with such a great group of people,” he said.

He explained that he chose to pursue his medical education at the Wayne State University School of Medicine because he found the opportunities the school offers to assist and treat an urban population appealing.

“Even with my limited clinical exposure thus far in my medical school career, I have found it very rewarding to interact with patients and understand the difficulties associated with providing healthcare to an urban population,” he said.

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Cruise To Benefit Mentally Ill

Detroit Central City Community Mental Health (DCC) will be presenting a unique fundraiser, “Cruise For A Cause” on Thursday, June 12, 2008. As part of their ongoing program to raise public awareness of their services, this fundraising, all-inclusive cruise on the Detroit River will be held aboard the luxury yacht Ovation.

In a showing of continued support for DCC, Waltraud E. “Wally”

Prechter, Founder of the Heinz C. Prechter Bi-Polar Research Fund has joined Honorary Co-Chairs Eileen M. Ashley, Senior Vice President, Wealth and Institutional Management, Comerica Bank; Michael E. Duggan, President and CEO of the Detroit Medical Center and Herbert J. Strather, Chairman of Strather & Associates to assist the community mental health agency as it continues to provide treatment to those most in need in Detroit.

The event is open to the public and tickets may be purchased by calling

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Health IT Symposium Looks At Paperless Pitfalls

The 3^rd annual MSMS Health Information Technology Symposium – Wednesday, June 11, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the Birmingham Conference Center in Beverly Hills – will take a close look at the benefits and pitfalls of electronic health records (EHR) and offer attendees the opportunity to earn up to five hours of AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Fees: $150 for MSMS & MMGMA members; $190 for non-members; and $50 for medical students and residents. To register, visit www.msms.org/eo, or contact the MSMS Registrar at 517-336-5784 or abatten@msms.org. For more information, contact Melinda Sandford at 517-336-7575 or msandford@msms.org.

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Study: Smoking Ban Would Not Hurt Bars, Restaurants

Opponents of HB 4163 have long argued that passing a 100-percent smoking ban in the state would have a negative fiscal impact on restaurants because smoking clientele would stop spending money at their establishments. However, a new study conducted by Public Sector Consultants found that 100-percent anti-smoking legislation does NOT have a negative economic impact. The study was commissioned by the Campaign for Smoke-free Air, which includes MSMS.

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