Seventy-Seven Percent of Physicians say AMA No Longer Represents Their Views

Almost 18 months after President Obama signed healthcare reform into law, America’s physicians have not forgiven the American Medical Association for supporting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a new survey released by Jackson & Coker, a division of Jackson Healthcare.

According to the nationwide survey conducted Aug. 1-29, only 13 percent of physicians agree with the AMA’s stance on health reform. It supported the bill and now supports the new law. It has not called for any legal challenges or repeal measures, despite $500 billion in planned cuts to Medicare and no measures to protect physicians from frivolous lawsuits.

Meanwhile, of the 1,611 physicians who responded to the survey, 70 percent disagreed with the AMA’s position on health reform. The survey, distributed to more than 111,000 physicians, had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.59 percent.

As a result, 77 percent of doctors now say the AMA no longer represents their views and another voice is needed. Only 15 percent of those surveyed said the AMA was a strong advocate for physicians’ issues. Forty-seven percent of those who dropped their AMA membership said it was specifically due to AMA’s support of the PPACA.

The top three reasons physicians listed as dropping their AMA membership:

•  The AMA does not speak for practicing physicians – 72 percent

• The CPT code business is a conflict of interest  - 53 percent

• AMA’s support for PPACA – 47 percent

Among other highlights of the survey:

• Seventy-two percent of doctors surveyed say the AMA is not doing a good job in lobbying for tort reform – considered a key issue among most specialty physicians who say they encounter too many frivolous lawsuits.

• Seventy-eight percent of physicians said the AMA is not doing a good job in preventing government intrusion into the practice of medicine.

• Seventy-five percent said the AMA does not protect doctors from insurance company abuses.

To view Jackson & Coker’s survey go to: http://www.jacksoncoker.com/news/News.aspx?sc_cid=AMA.

Two Physicians Join St. Bernards Medical Center’s Intensivist Program

Drs. Katie DeFore and Kal Khasawneh have joined the medical staff at St. Bernards as intensivists.

Both come to Jonesboro from private practice in Norton, Va.

DeFore earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. After serving an internal medicine internship at Palmetto Health at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, she completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She then completed a pulmonary disease fellowship at UAMS.

She was in private practice in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine at Community Physicians Norton.

DeFore is board certified in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Khasawneh earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from Jordan University of Science and Technology and served an internal medicine residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He completed a pulmonary and critical care medicine fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

He was in private practice in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Norton, Va., Community Hospital before moving to Jonesboro.

Khasawneh is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease and critical care medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

CME & Premium Discounts Available for Live Seminar in Arkansas

LAMMICO continues its “live lecture” Risk Management series in Arkansas with a newly announced seminar in Mountain Home, as the medical professional liability company continues to expand in the Natural State.

This is the third consecutive year LAMMICO is offering Risk Management credit for a live event in Arkansas, according to Thomas H. Grimstad, M.D., LAMMICO’s president and CEO. Their team of experts is offering the service to help reduce risks and mitigate claims.

“Patient Safety & Claims” will be presented by Kenneth Rhea, MD, FASHRM at the Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home on Thursday, October 6, 2011. The seminar will review the predictors for an adverse event becoming a claim and inform the effort to reduce risk and improve patient safety.

The event will be held Thursday, October 6, at 5:30 pm at Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home. There will be a complimentary meal and the evening is at no cost. Pre – Registration is required; to register please contact the Risk Management Department at LAMMICO: 800/452.2120.

AFMC announces new associate medical director

David A. Nelsen Jr., MD, MS, an expert in health information technology, bioinformatics and the use of data in making health care decisions, will be working with the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC), the state’s Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, as a consultant in the capacity of associate medical director.

Dr. Nelsen, who will continue to be the associate chief medical officer for clinical informatics and an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), will contribute to a number of AFMC’s core quality improvement projects, including health information technology, health care-associated infections and conditions, care transitions and care management. He will work to build and sustain relationships with AFMC’s key partners and physicians across the state, and will also work with health care providers associated with HITArkansas, the federally designated health information technology regional extension center for the state of Arkansas.

Dr. Nelsen is a graduate of Hendrix College and UAMS, where he completed a residency in family medicine. He also completed a fellowship and earned a Master of Science degree at the University of Minnesota. He practiced in rural Arkansas for five years, and joined the faculty at UAMS in 1995. He was named to the 2005 “Best Doctors in America” list compiled by Best Doctors, Inc. He is an active clinician as well.

UAMS Aging Institute Receives $5.5 Million to Establish Research Center

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging has received $5.5 million for a new research center whose work will improve standards of care for the elderly.

The five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging establishes the Arkansas Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) at UAMS, one of 12 such centers in the United States.

Led by Jeanne Y. Wei, M.D., Ph.D., executive director of the UAMS Reynolds Institute on Aging, the new center will be housed in part of the additional laboratory, training and administrative space in four new floors under construction at the institute.

Wei’s major research includes the effects of aging on the cardiovascular system, the biology of aging, and mechanisms of cardiac dysfunction. The Reynolds Institute on Aging is recruiting several nationally known researchers in aging whose work will be partially supported by the grant.

Under terms of the grant, researchers at UAMS will also collaborate with colleagues at the Reynolds Department of Geriatrics and Center on Aging at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.

NARMC EMS is awarded the Arkansas Paramedic Service of the Year Award

North Arkansas Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Medical Services team was awarded the Arkansas Paramedic Service of the Year award and came in 2nd place in the skills competition at the Arkansas EMT Association’s annual EMS Conference held in August in Hot Springs.

The conference gave emergency medical services employees across the state an opportunity to test their knowledge and skills and learn more about their field.

NARMC EMS was awarded the honor of Arkansas Paramedic Service of the Year, by an independent panel who judged packets from ambulance services across the state.  A few of the areas that the EMS Services were judged on were their quality, progressive nature, and community involvement.  This is the third time NARMC EMS has received this awarded and were highly praised for their community involvement and promotion of their High School Rapid Response Team Program.

In addition to the Service of the Year award, NARMC EMS paramedics Brian Coffman and Jason King  received 2nd place honors in the state paramedic skills completion. There were twelve teams from across the state competing at the paramedic level.

 The competition was scenario based and judged on each team’s skill level and ability to perform efficiently within their scope of practice.  Judges awarded points for appropriate care and assessment of the injured, scene control, safety, and the utilization of available resources. Along with the scenario judging, participants were required to test on a written assessment.

 The NARMC EMS team serves residences in Boone, Newton, Searcy, Marion, and Carroll counties with more than 7600 calls/transports per year.

 The team consists of 41 EMT’s, 33 Paramedics, and five support services staff members and began in 1969 at the hospital.

 The service has nine Paramedic level ambulances and two basic level ambulances.

St. Edward Mercy Announces Plans to Spend More than $192 Million in Capital Projects

St. Edward Mercy announced plans to spend more than $192 million in capital projects and equipment in the Fort Smith area over the next seven years.  The announcement came at the latest in a series of community roundtable meetings held by Mercy. The meeting was a follow-up to last year’s community roundtable, where area leaders discussed community health needs.

Some of the capital expansion plans include:

• A new Mercy Clinic Primary Care clinic to be built on Dallas Street just east of Mercy Fitness Center.  Construction on the 12,977 square foot clinic is set to be complete in late 2012. The 12,977 sq. ft. facility will house up to 10 primary care physicians and include 28 exam rooms as well as onsite lab and x-ray services.

 • An expanded patient treatment area on the first floor of the Hembree Cancer Center on the St. Edward Mercy campus. This also includes room for the addition of a new linear accelerator. This cancer fighting tool will enable radiation oncologists to better target radiation treatment to the affected cells, while sparing damage to tissue near the tumor.

 • Initial planning and design work to begin this fiscal year for the construction of a new orthopedic hospital at the Mercy Clinic River Valley Musculoskeletal Center site

 • In Waldron, the expansion of Mercy Clinic primary care offices to accommodate three more clinical providers in 2012.

• At Mercy Fitness Center, renovations to the swimming pool area as well as refinishing the surface of the pool and upgrading of the overall member environment.

 Dr. Cole Goodman, St. Edward Mercy Clinic president said that even though the economy has slowed, the need for health care continues to grow, and the only way to keep up with the challenge is to expand and grow along with the need.

Dr. Veryl Hodges Elected President Of Arkansas Osteopathic Medical Association

Dr. Veryl Hodges, an internal medicine specialist at Clopton Clinic in Jonesboro, has been elected president of the Arkansas Osteopathic Medical Association.

Hodges, who has served a trustee of that organization’ since 2006, will serve a one-year term as president.

He earned his D.O. degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Mo., and served both an internship and a residency in internal medicine at Tulsa Regional Medical Center, Oklahoma State University in Tulsa. He is board certified in internal medicine by the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine.

The physician holds fellow status in the American College of Osteopathic Internists.

He has been with Clopton Clinic and on the medical staff at St. Bernards Medical Center since 2002. Prior to that he was in private practice in

Pueblo, Colo., and worked in emergency medicine at Craig General Hospital in Vinita, Okla.

His professional memberships include the Arkansas Osteopathic Medical Association, the American College of Osteopathic Internists and the American Osteopathic Association.

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