Mission Moments: Remembering Why We Chose Medicine
Dr. Chandra Jennings shares a personal story of a moment that fulfilled the mission of medicine.
Study Shows Family Medicine Residents Are Unprepared to Treat Patients with Obesity
Novo Nordisk, Inc., shares the results of a study on what primary care physicians know about addressing obesity, plus resources to help.
What Happens When the Doctor Gets Sick, Part 2
ACOFP Governor Greg D. Cohen, DO, FACOFP dist., shares lessons learned from his personal experience with a health issue in the second installment of a two-part series that addresses what to do when the doctor can’t work.
What Happens When the Doctor Gets Sick, Part 1
ACOFP Governor Greg D. Cohen, DO, FACOFP dist., shares his personal experience with a health issue in part one of a two-part series that addresses what to do when the doctor can’t work.
What Surprise Billing Requirements Mean for Family Physicians
With the No Surprises Act now in effect, ACOFP shares highlights and requirements that may apply to family physicians.
Improving Clinical Quality Measures in the Osteopathic Family Practice: A Practical Approach
ACOFP Practice Management Committee Member Linda Delo, DO, FACOFP, shares actionable tips for setting and improving quality goals.
ACOFP Submits Comments to Annual Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule
As part of the annual review of the Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program Proposed Rule, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requested comments on the regulatory proposals. This post highlights some of ACOFP’s responses to the request.
CMS Proposes New Graduate Medical Education Changes: Meaningful Transformations on the Horizon
Since enacting the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed new rules that could have significant impacts on the future of the primary care physician workforce, particularly in rural and underserved areas. This post highlights some of the implications.
Growing the Primary Care Physician Workforce: Legislative Changes to GME
Enacted on December 27, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) is one of the largest bills ever passed by Congress—both in terms of funding and policy changes. Many provisions impacted family medicine, but this post highlights changes to one of the most important federal physician training programs—graduate medical education (GME)—and ACOFP’s work to further grow the primary care physician workforce.
What New E/M Reimbursement Adjustments Mean for Family Physicians
Enacted on December 27, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) is one of the largest bills ever passed by Congress—both in terms of funding and policy changes. While there are numerous modifications impacting family medicine physicians, we are focusing on those impacting the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS).
Lessons Learned in 2020
Tumultuous. Chaotic. Stressful. Unprecedented. No matter what word you use, 2020 was a year like no other, and family physicians were thrust into the middle of it, forced to adapt to support their communities—and each other. As 2020 comes to a close and we embark on a new year, ACOFP members share the biggest, hardest and most meaningful lessons they learned in 2020.
Notorious RBG
I look forward to the day when the number of female leaders at our medical schools and in our professional organizations will be too numerous to count and will no longer be a statistic to track—when our communities are represented by women equally in the legislature, when C-suites are filled with women and when all people, regardless of gender or race, are treated equitably based on skills and ability to contribute.
Telehealth Across State Lines During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Patients are adapting to the new care delivery paradigm, and studies show very high telehealth satisfaction rates. Telehealth quickly has become a key feature in our health care delivery system, but current health care requirements are struggling to keep pace, particularly as they relate to state licensure.
Improving Your Coding for Value-Based Plans with HCC
Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) is the risk-adjustment methodology for Medicare used by all Medicare Advantage plans. HCCs stratify patient risk and predict the costs for capitated payments. This is because patients with only minor health conditions are expected to have averaged medical costs in the near future. Those who have multiple chronic complex conditions are expected to have higher costs due to increased utilization.
Proud DO
I am a proud DO physician! I chose to go to an osteopathic school because of the tenets of osteopathy and the additional skills that I could provide my patients with OMT. As an osteopathic family physician, I will continue to serve my patients with the highest quality of care that I can without hesitation. I will continue to serve alongside both DO and MD physicians in ALL specialties and know that they will be providing excellent patient care because that’s just what we do!
Changing the Dialogue on the DO Profession
I have only heard about the history of DOs fighting to maintain independent licensing in the state of California or being able to gain rounding privileges at traditional allopathic hospitals. I have never been denied the ability to provide holistic care to a patient because I have DO after my name instead of MD. That is why seeing such misinformation about our profession being spread through Twitter, Facebook and mainstream media seems both surreal and archaic at the same time.