Today’s Top Story
Study: Chronic knee pain associated with increased risk of pain in other joints.
Data from a study published online in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatology suggest that gait changes linked to chronic knee pain be linked to increased risk of pain in other joints. The authors reviewed data on 3,486 patients aged 50 to 79 years at high risk for knee osteoarthritis (OA); 693 patients had knee pain at the index visit and 2,793 did not. At 5-7 year follow-up, 79.6 percent of patients with bilateral and 63.8 percent of those with unilateral knee pain at the index visit had pain in a joint region outside the knee, compared to 49.9 percent of participants without knee pain. The authors note that the increased risk of pain was present in most extremity joint sites without a predilection for specific sites, suggesting that pain adaptation strategies may be highly individualized. Read more…
Read the abstract…

Other News

Study: Type 2 diabetes linked to increased fracture risk in women.
Findings from a study conducted in Canada and reported at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research suggest that women who have type 2 diabetes for longer than 10 years may be at increased risk of hip or other major osteoporotic fracture. The researchers reviewed data on 49,098 women without and 8,840 women with diabetes from the Manitoba Bone Mineral Density cohort. At median 7-year follow-up, there were 814 major osteoporotic fractures and 279 hip fractures. The researchers found increased risks for hip fracture for all diabetes durations, with a hazard ratio of 1.32 for new-onset diabetes and 2.10 after 10 years. In addition, the researchers note that Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) scores significantly underestimated risk; for patients with diabetes duration longer than 10 years, the risk of fracture was 24 percent greater than predicted under FRAX. Read more…(registration may be required)

Study: Many ED patients with violent injuries return within 2 years.
According to a study published in the September issue of The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, many emergency department (ED) patients who have experienced violent injury may return to the ED within 2 years. The research team reviewed data on 53,908 patients who were seen for violent injury in Florida during 2010. They found that 11.1 percent of those patients had a recurrent violent injury through 2012. Among recurrent patients, 58.9 percent went to a different hospital for their second injury. Low income, homelessness, Medicaid or uninsurance, and black race were associated with increased likelihood of recurrence. In addition, patients with visits for mental and behavioral health and unintentional injury were also at increased risk of recurrence. Read more…
Read the abstract…

HHS committee holds meeting on alternative payment models.
MedPage Today reports on a meeting held by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee, which reviews proposals and advises HHS regarding alternative payment models. At the meeting, the committee received stakeholder comments on a revised draft of the Physician-Focused Payment Model (PFPM) Technical Advisory Committee Proposal Review Process. Read more…(registration may be required)
To have a PFPM reviewed, stakeholders must submit a two-page, non-binding “letter of intent” 30 days prior to the actual proposal submission. Learn more about the proposal review process (PDF)…

HHS expands rule requiring public availability of trial data.
HHS has finalized a rule clarifying and expanding what data from clinical trials must be made public. The rule states that most interventional trials involving drug, biologic, and device products must be registered on the National Institutes of Health clinicaltrials.gov website, with summary results submitted within a year of the trial’s completion. The rule also requires applicable trial results to be submitted even if the product is not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The rule will go into effect Jan. 18, 2017. Read more…

Physicians must post nondiscrimination notices by Oct. 19.
A post on the California Medical Association website reminds participating physicians that they have until Oct. 19, 2016, to post a notice of nondiscrimination under a rule finalized by the HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR). Under the rule, individuals are protected from discrimination in health care on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and sex. This rule applies to providers who accept “federal financial assistance,” including Medicare, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicaid, meaningful use payments, HHS grants, U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services gain-sharing demonstration projects, federal premium and cost-sharing subsidies, and more. Affected providers are required to:

  • Post a notice of nondiscrimination and taglines in the top 15 languages spoken by individuals with limited English proficiency
  • Develop and implement a language access plan
  • Designate a compliance coordinator and adopt grievance procedures (applicable to group practices with 15 or more employees)
  • Submit an assurance of compliance form to OCR

Read more…
Read the rule summary (PDF)…

AAOS to host webinar on resident advocacy.
The American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) will host a webinar for both novices and seasoned advocates to discuss topics such as the following:

  • Constructing an action plan to build relationships with members of Congress
  • The importance for sustained federal funding of graduate medical education
  • Proposed changes to physician payment systems
  • The Orthopaedic Political Action Committee (PAC)

The webinar will take place Tuesday, Sept. 20, from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. CT. Register for the webinar…