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March 31, 2008 |
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IN THIS ISSUE
Editor's Column: This Time Shoot The Messenger
AMA
Predicts 41 Percent Medicare Cut
Dr. Flack To
Chair Internal Medicine At WSUSOM
GDAHC Earns National Honor
Meet Pols At April 10 Meeting
Sinai-Grace Doc To Speak On 'Sudden Cardiac
Death' |
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Editor's Column: This Time Shoot The Messenger
By JOSEPH
WEISS, MD
On March
11 in an article in the New York Times, Dr. Sandeep Jauhar describes
a patient he took care of, who was seen by 17 specialists. The
specialists separately or together instigated 12 procedures
including a cardiac catheterization, pacemaker, implant and a bone
marrow biopsy.
Dr. Jauhar
characterizes the consultations as: “with little rhyme, reason, or
coordination,” and illustrating that: “if you have a slew of
physicians and a willing patient, almost any sort of terrible excess
can occur.” He continues his rant with: “The culture in [medical]
practice is to grab patients and generate income.”
In the article,
Dr. Jauhar describes a purported conversation with a cardiologist
friend. The friend states: “…I get an average of $850 per nuclear
stress test, I have to do at least 10 stress tests a month to cover
my costs so I do more than 10 a month whether my patients need it or
not.”
Dr. Jauhar
concludes his fable with: “Doctors do too much testing and too many
procedures for the sake of business.”
None of us are so
naïve as to believe no doctor acts from such motivation. But none of
us has a right to be so cynical to believe all doctors or the
standard of the profession condones acting in this ruthless way.
We have reason to
feel angry with Dr. Jauhar. The stories he makes up and then puts
forth as truth impugn our tradition and training. However, we still
have the last word -- the judgments of our patients. It is their
experience with us that ultimately defines and defends our
integrity.
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AMA Predicts 41 Percent Medicare Cut
Once again, Medicare’s Trustees have rung the alarm bell that the
long-term fiscal solvency of the program is in serious trouble. It
is critical that lawmakers ensure that Medicare will be a viable
safety net for future generations of seniors. Seniors who rely on
Medicare now also need Congress to take immediate short-term action
to preserve their access to physician care this year.
Findings from the latest Medicare Trustees report point to the
critical need to reform the broken physician payment system. Cutting
Medicare physician payments 41 percent over nine years while
practice costs increase is penny-wise and pound foolish. Trying to
save Medicare money by slashing physician payments will ruin the
physician foundation of Medicare for current and future generations
of seniors. A startling sixty percent of physicians say this year’s
cut alone will force them to limit the number of new Medicare
patients they can treat. Couple this fact with a physician shortage
and the huge influx of baby boomers soon to enter Medicare, and the
outlook for Medicare patients’ access to care is grim.
Congress must take immediate action to preserve seniors’ access to
care as the first cut begins this July – and will total more than 15
percent by the end of 2009. The AMA supports the Save Medicare Act
of 2008 (S.2785), which will replace 18 months of cuts with payment
updates that better reflect medical practice cost increases. To
demonstrate physicians’ support for the legislation, nearly 1,000
physicians from across the nation will make a ‘House Call’ on
Congress this week to call for action.
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Dr. Flack To Chair Internal Medicine At WSUSOM
John M. Flack, MD, MPH, was appointed Chair of the Department of
Internal Medicine for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
“Dr. John Flack is well qualified to serve as a leader in such a key
department,” said Robert M. Mentzer Jr., MD, dean of the School of
Medicine and senior advisor to the President for Medical Affairs.
Dr. Mentzer announced Flack’s appointment March 14. “Those who have
worked with and for Dr. Flack know of his dedication to medicine,
his love for the city of Detroit and his strong commitment to the
School of Medicine’s missions of education, research and clinical
care, especially for the uninsured and underinsured of the Detroit
region. Dr. Flack’s vision for the Department is one that is
expansive and involves reaching out to the metropolitan community
and engaging health care partners who are committed to
revitalization of our city and region. He is truly a visionary who
wishes to make a difference; he thinks of the future, not the past.”
“I am honored to have been appointed the permanent chair of the
Wayne State University Department of Medicine,” said Dr. Flack, 51,
who has been serving as interim chair. “This appointment comes with
significant challenges as well as opportunities that I am excited to
undertake. The greatest opportunities have a habit of arising from
the most challenging situations. I am very optimistic about our
future because of the ingenuity, creativity and perseverance of our
faculty and staff in their pursuit of our major mission areas.”
Dr. Flack is a widely recognized specialist in clinical hypertension
and principal investigator of the Center for Urban and African
American Health at Wayne State University.
Repeatedly named one of the “Best Doctors in America,” Dr. Flack has
received the Pillar of Excellence Award from the Michigan Peer
Review Organization and the Health Care Hero Award from Crain’s
Detroit Business in 2005 for health disparities-related research.
Dr. Flack received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Langston
University in 1978 and his medical degree from the University of
Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 1982. He served as chief medicine
resident at OUHSC from 1982 to 1986. He received his master’s of
public health degree in epidemiology and completed a National
Institutes of Health fellowship in cardiovascular epidemiology at
the University of Minnesota in 1990. He joined the Wayne State
University School of Medicine as associate chair of the Department
of Medicine in 1997.
“I have several priorities that I wish to accomplish with a sense of
urgency,” Dr. Flack said. “One is to upgrade every aspect of our
ambulatory clinic operations. Accordingly, a priority is to
implement strategies to ensure high-quality, patient-friendly
services for patients cared for in our clinics. An important step
toward strengthening the Department of Medicine will be to
successfully recruit outstanding leaders for several of our clinical
divisions, including cardiology, hematology-oncology and
rheumatology. And, finally, we will continue our pursuit of
outstanding faculty to lead new and innovative trans-disciplinary
clinical and research programs within the department.”
The School of Medicine, said Dr. Flack, is home to a collection of
outstanding physicians who provide irreplaceable, accessible,
high-quality medical care to the residents of Detroit, the
metropolitan area and beyond. “The expertise amongst faculty in the
various specialties is highly impressive,” he said. “Many faculty
are regional, national and internationally recognized leaders in
their respective fields. These highly accomplished faculty provide
tremendous visibility and recognition to our medical center while
providing excellent medical care to our patients as well as
exemplary teaching and role modeling for WSU trainees at all
levels.”
Dr. Flack and his wife live in Orchard Lake. They have five
daughters.
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GDAHC Earns National Honor
The Greater
Detroit Area Health Council (GDAHC) has been designated as a Charter
Value Exchange (CVE), a special federal distinction from the U.S.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Department for its strong commitment
to improving quality and value in health care.
After an
extensive peer-review process of 38 applications, GDAHC is one of 14
communities across the nation to receive the designation from
Michael Leavitt, Secretary, U.S. Health and Human Services
Department. The Secretary designated these partnerships of
providers, employers, insurers, and consumers as the country’s first
Chartered Value Exchanges (CVE) for their work to implement
cutting-edge, collaborative methods to transform health care at the
local level.
“These pioneers are at the forefront of a nationwide
movement to transform our current health care sector into a
patient-focused marketplace,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Together we
are building the foundation of a transparent system that empowers
consumers to seek high-quality health care at competitive prices.”
As a Chartered
Value Exchange, GDAHC will have access to information from Medicare
that gauges the quality of care physicians provide to patients.
These performance measurement results can be combined with similar
private-sector data to produce a comprehensive consumer guide on the
quality of care available. GDAHC’s Save Lives Save Dollars (SLSD)
initiative which focuses on improving health care quality and cost,
has already developed an online public report on hospital
performance in 2006 (www.savelivessavedollars.org)
and will unveil a public report on physician group performance this
year.
“This
designation is very significant for southeastern Michigan and the
Greater Detroit Area Health Council,” said Vernice Davis Anthony,
president and CEO, Greater Detroit Area Health Council. “Including
Medicare quality data expands our resources and provides additional
leverage for change as we continue to drive needed health care
reform through public reporting and collaboration.”
As a result of
this designation, GDAHC will join a nationwide Learning Network
sponsored by HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This
network will provide peer-to-peer learning experiences through
facilitated meetings, both face-to-face and on the Web. Access to
HHS experts and new tools, including an ongoing private Web-based
knowledge management system, are added benefits of CVE status.
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Meet Pols At April 10 Meet-n-Greet
MSMS will hold
the 11th annual Greater Detroit Meet-n-Greet on Thursday, April 10,
6:30-9 pm, at Fishbone’s Rhythm Kitchen in Detroit’s Greektown. This
event is designed to foster a connection between the medical
community in the greater Detroit metropolitan area and their state
lawmakers. Also, participants will have the opportunity to discuss
health care legislation and state budget issues. (View the
2008 MSMS
Legislative Agenda online at
www.msms.org/legagenda.) Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be
provided during the event,co-sponsored by MSMS, the Detroit Medical
Society, Wayne County Medical Society, and Wayne County Osteopathic
Society. To RSVP, contact Anne Lavender at MSMS at 517-336-5736
oralavender@msms.org. For more information about legislative
advocacy,contact Colin Ford at MSMS at
517-336-5737
or cford@msms.org. Or visit
www.msms.org/advocacy.
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Sinai-Grace Doc To Speak On 'Sudden Cardiac Death'
WAYNE COUNTY OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
Cordially invites you to attend the WCOMA Membership Meeting
being held on
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Andiamo’s
21400 Michigan Avenue
Dearborn, MI 48124 (313) 359-3300
Please
join us for the educational session entitled,
"Primary Prophylaxis Against Sudden Cardiac Death."
Presented by
Mukarram
Siddiqui, M.D., Director of Electrophysiology, Sinai Grace Hospital.
Short
WCOMA business meeting to follow.
Refreshment
service will begin at 6:30 P.M. with dinner to follow.
Program will start promptly at 6:45 P.M. with our guest speaker.
Please RSVP by March 21, 2008 by faxing this completed form to
734-692-5061
OR
by
e-mail to
cearles@mi-osteopathic.org
OR
Phone (734) 692-5004
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