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Happy Thanksgiving to all our loyal readers:
There is a study that came out this week that can be a win-win for both clinicians and patients pointing to the value of Shared Medical Appointments. As we all have heard, unless Congress does something soon, primary care physicians and others will be faced with a 23% pay cut from Medicare in the new year. This means less time with each patient and more problems down the road. However a new study published in the Annals of Family Medicine shows the value of getting patients involved in decision making in their therapy and care choices. (See this week's Item #11.)
Finding time to provide this type of care is difficult: it is hard to involve patients when you only have 8-10 minutes with each one. The solution is Shared Medical Appointments and the use of ancillary personnel. Can you imagine having 10 patients in a room with a diabetes educator or pharmacist, talking about diabetes, lifestyles and medications and asking the patients for feedback and to share their own stories? During the 1.5 hours they are together the patients discuss their problems, challenges and possible solutions with the educator and each other. You come into the group at the end and quickly discuss with the patients what they want to do and then make the appropriate changes -- changes that the patient has participated in selecting and has ownership in.
This solution also falls right in line with NCQA's Draft 2011 ACO (Accountable Care Organizations) criteria and the opportunity to earn more for better care of patients. (For detailed information on setting up an SMA system, see our recent Special Edition on Shared Medical Appointments.)
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While you are reading this newsletter I hopefully will be ziplining with some friends and family in an eco-forest in Georgia. It is supposed to be a great adventure and I look forward to taking some great pictures. Although they say that anyone can do it one of my friends told me that it is not as easy as it looks. I asked our resident fitness guru, Sheri Colberg, Ph.D., FACSM, what our group could do to treat and reduce the possibility of injuries or muscle soreness and she referred me back to an article she wrote in May of 2007.
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Many of you have helped patients avert diabetes disasters and we can all learn from them. If you have a "disaster averted" then send it in and if we use it in our new Diabetes Clinical Mastery Series you will receive a Visa Gift Card worth $50.00. Thank you again and congratulations to our readers who have been sent gift cards for their contributions! Click here to let us know the details. (You can use your name or remain anonymous if you prefer.)
Announcements:
dLife.com: November 21, 7PM ET on CNBC
Topics: dLife blows apart diabetes myths and misunderstandings. Also, a look at how the online social network Facebook may actually help you improve your health and Jim Turner on "diabetes panic." Special Guest: Janis Roszler. Sundays on CNBC at 7 PM ET, 6 PM CT, and 4 PM PT. Catch up on dLife.com.
Please answer this week's poll (in the right-hand column): Would you consider Shared Office Visits if you had the training and the opportunity was available?
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We can make a difference!
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Check out this week's "Test Your Diabetes Knowledge" question!
Dave Joffe, Editor-in-chief |
