AAFP News Now

Match Results: 2010 Fill Rate for Family Medicine Highest Ever
After a downturn in 2009, more U.S. medical students chose family medicine as their specialty this year, resulting in a fill rate of 91.4 percent, the highest percentage for family medicine ever, according to the results of the 2010 National Resident Matching Program, or NRMP, also known as the Match. Match results show that 2,404 family medicine positions were filled out of 2,630 positions offered.
3/18/2010

House Action Moves Congress Closer to Approving Payment Patch
The House has passed a bill that would provide another one-month extension of the current Medicare physician payment rate and avert a payment reduction scheduled to take effect under the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula on April 1.
3/17/2010

FDA Adds Boxed Warning to Clopidogrel
The FDA has added a boxed warning to the label for clopidogrel, the anti-blood clotting medication marketed as Plavix, because some patients do not effectively metabolize the drug and may not receive its full benefit.
3/17/2010

Graham Center Study Documents Effect of Socioeconomic Factors on Health and Avertable Death Rates
The combination of higher income and education levels has a direct bearing on preventable deaths. Thus, consideration of these and other socioeconomic factors are necessary when setting strategy to improve the overall health and wellbeing of the population, according to a new study in the Feb. 18 American Journal of Public Health that was co-authored by staff members at the AAFP's Robert Graham Center.
3/17/2010

News Briefs: Week of March 15-19
This roundup includes the following news briefs: AMA Releases Physician Resource on Older Drivers; New Law Requires Physician Practices to Disclose Prices; NIAID Seeks Input on Food Allergy Guidelines; America's Middle Class Hit Hard by Insurance Trends, Study Says.
3/17/2010

AAFP Urges Members to Phone Congressional Representatives as Deadline for Health Care Reform Nears
As part of a final push to enact health care reform legislation, AAFP President Lori Heim, M.D., of Vass, N.C. has issued a Speak Out alert to AAFP members asking them to phone their congressional representative to rally support for the health care reform bill pending in the House of Representatives.
3/16/2010

AAFP is 'Pawn' in Health Care Reform; Academy Responds 'Not So'
As someone who has been involved with advocacy for many years, I'm writing to express my brutal disappointment in the Academy's positioning and effectiveness in the recent health care debate.
3/16/2010

NIH Panel Calls for Broader Access to TOL, VBAC
An NIH consensus panel has issued recommendations for vaginal birth after cesarean delivery, or VBAC, that contain elements similar to those in recommendations made by the AAFP five years ago. The panel said in its draft statement that trial of labor, or TOL, is a reasonable option for many women with a previous low transverse uterine incision. The panel also said that when TOL and elective, repeat cesarean delivery, or ERCD, are medically equivalent options, "a shared decision-making process should be adopted and, whenever possible, the women's preference should be honored."
3/16/2010

Study Finds Physicians' Efforts to Reduce Disparities 'Modest and Uneven'
Although many U.S. physicians identify language or cultural barriers as obstacles to providing high-quality care to minorities, their adoption of practices to reduce these barriers is "modest and uneven," according to an issue brief based on the 2008 HSC Health Tracking Physician Survey from the Center for Studying Health System Change, or HSC.
3/16/2010

Have America's Physicians Embraced e-Prescribing?
Electronic prescribing is catching on with America's physicians. According to a new report released by Surescripts, operator of the country's largest electronic prescribing network, the number of e-prescribers was close to 156,000 at the end of 2009, up from around 74,000 at the end of 2008. Surescripts' 2009 National Progress Report on e-Prescribing, is the third in as many years. It tracks the status of e-prescribing adoption and use in the United States.
3/15/2010

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