To honor the tremendous contributions of the Black healthcare heroes in the Commonwealth, join Freedom Virginia’s celebration on February 25 at 4 PM at the Hope Center in Roanoke, Virginia.
The event will honor Burrell Memorial Hospital, Henrietta Lacks, Dr. Finn Victor, Miriam Smith, RN, Dr. Walter Claytor, and many more. Speakers include Shmura Glenn and a representative from the Harrison Museum.
Under President Biden’s prescription drug law, drug companies will pay rebates to the federal government for raising prescription drug prices faster than the rate of inflation. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the initial guidance detailing the requirements and procedures for the new program.
Read full details and fact sheets here.
As part of the initial guidance, CMS is seeking comment from the public on key topics, including:
Comments must be received by March 11, 2023. More information here.
You know the American Heart Association (AHA) added a new factor to its cardiovascular health checklist in 2022, expanding its Life’s Simple 7TM to Life’s Essential 8TM guidelines.
But do your patients know about the new factor?
With so much competition for your patients’ time and attention from news and social media — in addition to the demands of work and life — it’s more than likely they aren’t aware. Right now during February’s American Heart Month it’s a perfect time to make sure your patients know about the new factor as well as remind them about what they can focus on to help keep their heart healthy all year round.
Here’s a highlight-reel breakdown of the AHA’s Life’s Essential 8TM you can use as a guide to talk to your patients — starting with that 8th new factor: sleep.
Healthy sleep is critical for optimal cardiovascular health! Adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. Depending on their age, children may need more. Sleep helps patients better manage weight, blood pressure, and risk for Type 2 diabetes. Encourage your patients to monitor their sleep with an app or wearable device to discover any concerns they can then bring to your attention.
Most people understand the diet-health connection these days, but it’s never a bad idea to remind your patients that how and what they choose to eat affects more than just their waistline. In fact, for patients with hypertension, diet may have the biggest impact on reducing their heart attack risk. The AHA recommends assessing diet based on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension eating pattern, also known as DASH, which includes: high intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, whole grains, and low-fat dairy, and low intake of sodium, red and processed meats, and sweetened drinks. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has a helpful DASH diet chart you can refer your patients to for an overview.
The AHA’s blood pressure guidelines have not changed since 2017. Remind patients that their levels should be less than 120/80 mm Hg for optimal heart health, and that adherence to the other 7 factors of these Life’s Essential 8TM guidelines can help reduce blood pressure, including the DASH diet, sleep, and physical activity, plus strategies like stress management and weight loss.
If they aren’t already, your patients need to get moving! For adults, that means at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity like a brisk walk per week — or at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity like running per week. Children likely need more, based on their age. The ultimate goal during activity is to raise their heart rate and break a sweat! Remind your patients they don’t have to go to the gym, because everyday activities like dancing and pushing a lawn mower count!
Though experts acknowledge body mass index (BMI) is an imperfect metric for a variety of reasons, the fact that it’s easily calculated and widely available still makes it a reasonable gauge to assess weight concerns that may lead to health problems. Generally speaking, your adult patients should strive for a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 for the best cardiovascular health. You will know best how to inform them the impact of their race, ethnicity, or ancestry on BMI ranges. You can also recommend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s BMI calculators for your patients — there’s one for adults and one for children.
The Life’s Essential 8TM guidelines have been updated to include restricting inhaled nicotine-delivery systems, including e-cigarettes and vaping devices, as well as traditional cigarettes. However your patients are getting it, nicotine remains a no-no for heart health.
The metric for blood lipids has been updated in the Life’s Essential 8TM guidelines to use non-HDL cholesterol as the preferred number to monitor instead of total cholesterol. The reason for the change is the fact that non-HDL cholesterol can be measured without required fasting, which increases its availability to be reliably calculated. This is good news for you and for your patients.
This metric was also updated in the Life’s Essential 8TM guidelines and expanded to include the option of hemoglobin A1c readings or blood glucose levels for people with or without Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, because hemoglobin A1c can better reflect long-term glycemic control.
One of every three patients (32%) hospitalized with COVID-19 show heart muscle damage from release of the heart muscle protein troponin . And 25% develop the heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation. Covid-19 can cause an inflammatory response and trigger a system wide clotting reaction triggering lung and heart clots. Influenza can also trigger a system wide inflammatory response that can trigger heart attacks Protect your heart health by keeping your COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations up to date!
In addition to collaborating with you to understand and improve their heart health and reduce risks, your patients can do a self-assessment using the Life’s Essential 8TM guidelines online with the AHA’s My Life Check® Tool, although they will need their metrics for blood pressure, blood lipids, and blood glucose to complete the assessment.
The information contained in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not constitute health care advice.
Excess Mortality Among Physicians During The COVID-19 Pandemic
This newly published JAMA Internal Medicine research letter, co-authored by AMA Research and Policy Manager Lindsey Carlasare with a team from Stanford University School of Medicine, seeks to better understand the effects of the pandemic on physician mortality rates.
Listening Campaign: Engage Physicians to Uncover Sources of Burnout
A new AMA STEPS Forward® toolkit outlines the 7 STEPS needed to successfully carry out a Listening Campaign, including 9 practical tools to help uncover and address sources of physician burnout.
Private Practice Simple Solutions: Support Staff Recruitment
Release Date: Feb. 14, 2023
This new eight-week session featuring Dr. Justin Holtzman, Medical Director of Holtzman Medical Group, focuses on recruiting and retaining support staff for your private practice. Register Here.
To access the complete collection of previously released Simple Solutions sessions, click here.
Supporting Private Practices: AMA & Medline University
Tuesday, March 7 | 10:15 am CT
Learn how to use the AMA STEPS Forward® Private Practice Playbook to your advantage in this open access webinar designed to help physicians streamline employee training in their private practices. Following the webinar, AMA members will have access to a curated Medline University course list that can be assigned to their care teams. Register Now.
AMA STEPS Forward® Podcast Episode 43
How a Telephone Consultation Model Eased Call Burden for Frontline Specialists
Dr. Alfred Atanda, Director of Clinician Well-Being at Nemours Children’s Health, shares his experience piloting a telephone consultation model aimed at reducing call burden for infectious disease specialists.
LISTEN NOW: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
AMA STEPS Forward® Podcast Episode 44
The Importance of Screening for Social Determinants of Health
Margaret Bavis, DNP and Assistant Professor, Rush University College of Nursing, discusses how CommunityHealth, one of the largest volunteer-based health centers in the nation, assesses and optimizes social determinants of health to improve patient care.
LISTEN NOW: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Debunking Regulatory Myths: Protected Health Information (PHI) Disclosures
Does HIPAA require that health care providers obtain patient authorization to disclose PHI for treatment purposes?
The American Conference on Physician Health (ACPH): Call for Abstracts
Oct. 11-13, 2023 | Palm Desert, CA
The ACPH theme this year is “Building the workplace of the future.” Contribute to the conversation by showcasing your work! Hurry – abstracts are only accepted until March 15.
AAP President Sandy Chung, MD, FAAP, attended an event at the White House to mark the upcoming anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). For the last 30 years, the law has helped many Americans take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, without the risk of losing their job, to care for a new child or sick family member or when they are seriously ill. The AAP continues to advocate for comprehensive paid family and medical leave policy.
From the AMA:
A statewide initiative has been launched in Virginia that seeks to cut burnout levels among physicians and other health professionals, and it includes a call to remove a major barrier to their well-being—the stigmatizing of those who seek the help of mental health professionals.
As part of the “ALL IN: Caring for Virginia’s Caregivers” initiative, hospitals and health systems that remove overly broad or invasive mental health questions on credentialing applications will be recognized as well-being champions by the coalition supporting the effort.
The coalition includes the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV), the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association and the Virginia Nurses Association. It is being supported by ALL IN: WellBeing First for Healthcare—an organization co-founded by the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation and #FirstRespondersFirst.
The effort builds on the medical society’s previous success in advocating with the state’s lawmakers. In 2020, the legislature unanimously approved creation of SafeHaven, an MSV-administered program in which physicians can seek confidential help 24/7 to address career fatigue or mental health issues. The law also guarantees that information originating in SafeHaven is privileged…
From the AMA: In a major advance for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) and efforts to end the epidemic of drug overdose and death, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 eliminated the requirement for physicians to obtain a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe buprenorphine for OUD treatment.
A coalition of healthcare organizations in Virginia has launched a new initiative that hopes to cut burnout among physicians and encourage more healthcare workers to receive care from mental health professionals, according to a Jan. 23 report from the American Medical Association.
The initiative, “All In: Caring for Virginia’s Caregivers,” will recognize hospitals and health systems that remove invasive mental health questions on credentialing applications as “well-being champions.”
The initiative is spearheaded by the Medical Society of Virginia, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association and the Virginia Nurses Association and builds on previous efforts to improve providers’ well-being…
Every 2 seconds in this country someone needs blood. As a physician, you understand the critical importance of blood donation to help ensure all patients can get the care they need when they need it most. But do your patients understand how crucial it is for them to donate blood, to help keep the whole system running efficiently and effectively?
Physicians can and should encourage patients to give blood. Blood saves lives. It could save the life of your patient, or the life of someone they love and care about. Without donors, there is no blood.
Considering only 3 percent of the U.S. population gives blood, there’s a lot of room for improvement. To help educate your patients about blood donation, we’ve created an FAQ of top questions about donating blood for you to share and discuss in hopes they’ll plan to make giving blood a priority in 2023 — if they haven’t already.
Donated blood is used for patients of all ages — infants to seniors — and in a wide variety of medical situations. You probably think of car accidents and surgery as times when someone would need blood. And that’s right, they do. But there are so many more reasons. Burn victims, women giving birth, trauma patients, and patients with cancer, sickle cell disease, blood disorders, or other chronic diseases also need blood.
If you’re interested in donating blood, don’t worry about your blood type — blood is always needed! That said, yes, there are blood types that are in high demand. So if you have a high-demand blood type, that’s all the more reason to consider giving blood, or even consider giving blood more often. Blood type O is usually in high demand and short supply. Why? O positive is the most common blood type, and O negative is considered the “universal” type for emergencies. Only 7 percent of the U.S. population has O negative blood. If you know you have a rare blood type, that makes giving blood even more important for you, so you can help contribute to the blood supply.
There are some requirements for giving blood, for the safety of donors as well as patients. In Virginia, donors must be 17 years old — or 16 with parental consent. Donors should also weigh more than 110 pounds. In addition to being in good general health, you should also feel good, meaning you should not give blood when you’re feeling sick like with a cold or the flu. Donors can give blood every 56 days up to 6 times a year. There are additional considerations around your health, your medications, your immunizations, and international travel, all of which can be discussed with your doctor or when you are being screened prior to giving blood.
Yes! It’s a common myth that you can’t give blood if you have a tattoo or piercing. In Virginia, if you have a tattoo from a state-regulated or facility using sterile single-use equipment, you’re good to go as soon as the site has healed. With ear or body piercing, you also need to have received your piercing in a professional setting using sterile single-use equipment.
There is a 3-month wait if you got your tattoo outside the U.S. or, in some cases, outside of Virginia. In fact, our neighbor Washington D.C. is one of the areas that will trigger the 3-month waiting period. If you’re interested in donating blood, your tattoos and piercings can be discussed with your doctor or when you are being screened prior to giving blood.
The best place to find a blood drive near you is visit the American Red Cross website at www.redcrossblood.org and search by your zip code. Many schools, businesses, neighborhoods, civic organizations, and other groups host the American Red Cross for blood donation on a regular basis.
With more education as well as more encouragement from you, hopefully more of your patients will choose to give blood and help save lives in 2023 — and will make giving blood a priority for years to come.
Michele A. Nedelka, MD
Radiation Oncologist
The information contained in this blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute healthcare advice.
From the AMA:
As you may know, the Federal Trade Commission published today a proposed rule that would ban most noncompete clauses.
Some of you have been asking if the American Medical Association (AMA) will be submitting comments to the FTC and, if so, what approach the AMA expects to take.
The AMA has existing policy specifically addressing noncompetes, including a Code of Medical Ethics opinion. This ethics opinion recognizes that physicians often have diverse opinions about noncompetes. AMA policy opposes unreasonable noncompetes. The AMA will be submitting comments by the March 20 deadline, and our comments will be guided by this policy.
In the meantime, the AMA has been responding to media inquiries as they come in with the following statement:
The AMA appreciates the Federal Trade Commission’s examination of noncompete agreements in the workplace. While the AMA’s membership has diverse perspectives on noncompetes—with some members in an employer/practice ownership role and some in an employee role—AMA ethics policy opposes unreasonable noncompetes. Many states have enacted negotiated health care-specific noncompete statutes that take into account their unique health care markets and that balance the competing stakeholder interests. The balanced approach of these states must be considered against a proposed universal federal ban on all noncompete agreements.
The AMA welcomes our Federation members to share your views on the proposed rule. Also, we will be happy to share with you our draft comments prior to the deadline if doing so would help you develop your own comments. Please send any comments to [email protected].
