Today’s Top Story
Study: Increased spending by physicians linked to reduced risk of medical liability claims.
According to a study published online in the journal The BMJ, increased resource use by physicians may be associated with fewer medical liability claims. The authors reviewed data on 24,637 physicians, 154,725 physician years, and 18,352,391 hospital admissions in Florida during 2000 to 2009. They found that 4,342 medical liability claims were made against physicians (2.8 percent per physician year). Across the seven specialties, increased average spending by physicians was associated with reduced risk of a medical liability claim. In six of seven specialties reviewed, greater use of resources was associated with statistically significantly lower subsequent rates of alleged malpractice incidents. The authors note that information on illness severity was lacking in the data, and that it cannot be conclusively determined that higher spending was defensively motivated. Read more…
Read the abstract…
Other News
Study: Nonsurgical treatment may be viable alternative to surgery for meniscal lesions.
Findings from a study published in the journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt International suggest that nonsurgical treatment may offer similar outcomes to surgical treatment for some patients with meniscal lesions. The researchers conducted a systematic review of six randomized controlled trials that compared partial meniscectomy against nonsurgical treatment. They found that five trials noted no significant difference in clinical outcomes between partial meniscectomy and a control treatment such as arthroscopic lavage, physiotherapy, or glucocorticoids. However, the researchers point out that three trials found that symptoms improved in 21 percent to 30 percent of patients in the physiotherapy group only after they underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. Read more…
Read the complete study (PDF)…
Study: Increase in antibiotic resistance would likely decrease safety and efficacy of surgical procedures.
Data published online in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases suggest that an increase in antibiotic resistance may negatively affect the safety and efficacy of surgical procedures. The authors reviewed information from trials and meta-analyses to estimate the estimate the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in preventing infections and infection-related deaths after surgical procedures and immunosuppressing cancer chemotherapy. They estimated the additional number of infections and infection-related deaths per year in the United States for various scenarios (10 percent, 30 percent, 70 percent, and 100 percent reductions in efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis). The authors estimated that overall, between 38.7 percent and 50.9 percent of pathogens causing surgical site infections and 26.8 percent of pathogens causing infections after chemotherapy are resistant to standard prophylactic antibiotics. They calculate that a 30 percent reduction in efficacy of prophylaxis would be associated with 120,000 additional surgical site infections and infections after chemotherapy and 6,300 infection-related deaths in the United States per year. Read more…
Read the abstract…
CMS extends deadline for providers to preview their information on Physician Compare website.
According to the California Medical Association, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended the time for physicians to preview their data for the Physician Compare website to Nov. 16, 2015. Data are based on 2014 quality measures and will be reported on the website later this year. Physician Compare was created under the Affordable Care Act to enable consumers to compare physicians and other healthcare professionals who provide Medicare services. In 2014, the website began phasing in physician quality data from various CMS initiatives. Read more…
Learn more about the public reporting plan for Physician Compare…
PHA: Physician-owned hospitals among top performers in CMS VBP program.
CMS has announced the release of the Percentage Payment Summary Reports to hospitals for the FY 2016 Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program. The report provides hospitals with their Total Performance Score and value-based incentive payment percentage for each Medicare patient. A press release from the non-profit Physician Hospitals of America (PHA) notes that physician-owned hospitals accounted for seven of the top 10 performers in the program. Read the PHA statement…
Learn more about the VBP program…
FDA panel recommends stronger labeling for fluoroquinolones.
Medscape reports that a joint panel convened by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee and the FDA Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee has recommended that fluoroquinolone antibiotics be labeled with stronger warnings regarding risk for serious adverse events, including tendinitis and tendon rupture, prolongation of the QT interval, and peripheral neuropathy. The family of drugs currently carries warnings about risks for tendonitis, tendon rupture, central nervous system effects, peripheral neuropathy, myasthenia gravis exacerbation, QT prolongation and Torsades de Pointes, phototoxicity, and hypersensitivity. However, panel members called for stronger wording. The panel also voted that the benefits and risks for systemic fluoroquinolone antibacterial drugs do not support labeled indications for the treatment of acute bacterial sinusitis, acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or uncomplicated urinary tract infection. Read more…
Read the FDA briefing document (PDF)…
Study: Bariatric surgery may help reduce joint paint for some patients.
According to data presented at the ObesityWeek 2015 meeting, bariatric surgery may be associated with a reduction in hip and knee pain. The research team tracked outcomes for 2,221 patients with median body mass index of 46 kg/m2 who underwent bariatric surgery in the United States. At 3-year follow-up, 57 percent of patients with significant mobility issues before surgery no longer had them, and about 70 percent of those with severe knee and hip pain or disability experienced improvement in joint specific pain and function. However, the research team noted that approximately 17 percent of patients reported continued narcotic pain medication use; 26 percent still had a mobility deficit; and a large variation in several measures of pain, disability and physical function remained. Read more…
Call for volunteers: FDA Network of Experts program.
AAOS seeks to nominate multiple candidates to participate in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Network of Experts program. The agency is currently seeking input from those who have experience with or choose not to use cemented total metatarsophalangeal joint implants. Applicants for this position must be active fellows, candidate members, candidate members osteopathic, candidate member applicants for fellowship, or candidate member applicants for fellowship osteopathic. In addition, all applicants must provide the following: an online AAOS CAP application, a current curriculum vitae, a statement of interest, and a completed AAOS Conflict of Interest form. All supporting materials must be submitted by Nov. 23, 2015, to Kyle Shah at: shah@aaos.org
Learn more and submit your application…(member login required)
