News
Overheard at ACME
The largest meeting in the country on CME is the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education meeting. One of this year's keynotes described the current environment of CME as the "Perfect Storm." He referred to excessive government oversight, pullback in industry support, and increased demand for CME in all specialties.While you've read of the pull back of industry funding in this newsletter, ACMEC's 26% reduction is paltry compared to figures tossed around by some of the 700+ accredited providers that cited 50-70% reductions of industry support. One provider indicated they had re-written a grant request letter to industry 22 times before being accepted. ACMEC's experience has been five re-writes maximum.
I have never had the experience at a professional meeting of a riot but the fire marshals were called in to disperse the overflow crowd of 500 providers trying to get into a room built for 200 to discuss industry support. The Marriott probably won't ask ACME back.
There were discussions on finding new revenue streams, most of which ACMEC already does; networking with associations, government, and medical schools. A hospital association representative basically said hospitals are tapped out, don't look to us.
I am sure this scenario of unfunded mandates in face of reduced revenue sounds all too familiar to those taking Medicaid and Medicare patients.
The good news is that ACMEC has never used industry dollars to support administrative overhead. ACMEC is not out of sync with the rest of the country. We are all struggling with the same compliance issues from Johns Hopkins to the University of Washington. The next few years will be best described as a challenging transition but will present opportunities to re-design how CME will be delivered for the 21st century.
Perhaps someone would like to have the entire program re-named in honor of their multi-million dollar endowment. Let us know.
REMINDER: Most Wednesday/Friday grand rounds are videotaped and are available for credit. Contact our office at your convenience or visit our website for a listing.
Anderson Center - Wednesday, 8:00 a.m.
Mercy Medical Center - Wednesday, 12:30 p.m. - Winter Room
Centennial Room - Friday, 8:00 a.m.
CHEERS (Children's Hospital Education Enrichment Review)
The following physicians were elected as ACMS Provisional Members:
Upcoming Events:
April 2005
May 2005
Physicians are all too familiar with the adverse effects of alcohol and that's why we continue to be cautious in recommending even moderate alcohol intake in spite of studies showing that it does have a positive cardiovascular effect. We also know what excessive intake does for cognition. The loss of cognitive function in elderly people has become a serious public health problem and will only increase with the aging of our population. A recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine by Stampfer, et al. surveyed 11,000 US nurses regarding their alcohol consumption. Those who consumed 1-14.0gms of alcohol per day or about one drink a day were shown to have a reduced risk of cognitive impairment. The subjects were 70 to 81 years old. The authors suggest that in women up to one drink a day may actually decrease the risk of cognitive decline over time. (NEJM 2005 Jan 20; 352:245-53)
Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) especially two prevalent high-risk types HPV-16 & 18 are thought to cause a large proportion of cervical malignancies. The virus is ubiquitous in the population. Bivalent HPV-16/18 vaccine against new and persistent infection has now been studied. Researchers randomized 1113 women, ages 15-25 without a history of HPV infection or abnormal cytology to receive three doses of the vaccine or its placebo during a six month period. The women were followed for as long as 27 months. The women who received the vaccine were significantly less likely than the placebo recipients to develop incident HPV infection (0.6% vs 6.5%). It has not been shown that the vaccine can prevent cervical cancer but such a conclusion cannot be avoided. This vaccine is likely to become the first licensed vaccine to prevent this common sexually transmitted disease. ( Lancet 2004 Nov 13; 364:1757-65)
Avian influenza first appeared in 1997 and is a highly pathogenic form of influenza A (H5N1) virus. It is endemic and pathogenic in birds, especially in Asia. In 2004 it caused 44 human cases of influenza of which 32 were fatal. The striking features being the overwhelming concentration in previously healthy children and young adults and its very high mortality. Until now it was thought that person-to-person transmission had not occurred. A recent report in the New England Journal of a family investigated in Thailand suggests otherwise. The 1918 influenza pandemic has been hypothesized to have originated from an animal influenza adapted to human transmission. This pandemic killed more people in a single year than the epidemic of Black Death in the middle ages. This report of a person-to-person transmission should signal an urgent need to develop a vaccine against this highly lethal strain. (NEJM 2005 Jan 27; 352:333-40)
John J. Mohr, M.D.
St. Luke's Regional Medical Center - Wednesday 8am, Anderson Center
Mercy Medical Center - Wednesday 12:30pm
VA Medical Center - Thursday 8am, AW Horsley Learning Ctr.
St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center - Friday 8am, Centennial Room
16 Marc J. Kozinn, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York.
18 Nicola Longo, MD, Professor of Medical Genetics/Pediatrics; Director, Metabolic Services, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
16 Marc J. Kozinn, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York.
18 Nicola Longo, MD, Professor of Medical Genetics/Pediatrics; Director, Metabolic Services, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
4 Michael Mulligan, MD, Thoracic Surgeon, University of Washington Medical Center.
25 Robert Harrington, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Disease, University of Washington School of Medicine.
Tumor Boards
Mercy Medical Center - Tuesday, 12:00 noon
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center - Thursday, 12:00 noon
Breast Care Panel-Saint Alphonsus RMC - Tuesday, 7:00 a.m.
St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center - Tuesday, 12:00 noon
Breast Tumor Board-St. Luke’s RMC - Thursday, 7:00 a.m.
MSTI Pediatric Tumor Board - 2nd & 4th Wednesday, 12:00 noon
Meridian Tumor Board - 1st & 3rd Thursday, 12:00 noon
1st, 2nd, 4th, Thursday, 8 a.m., Anderson Center - Ada -2
Ann Agnew, M.D.; William Palmer, M.D.; Wendi Norris, M.D.; Kristen Schmitz-Fiorentino, M.D.; Lisa Rendon, M.D.
Membership Quarterly Meeting, March 16, Red Lion Downtowner. The evening topic is "Surviving the Stress of Being Sued and Minimizing the Risk That It Will Happen Again". Seating is limited. RSVP by calling the ACMS office at 336-2930.
1 Technological Updates in Pap Smears, Jack Chaffin, MD, Mickey Myhre, MD
6 Borderline Personality Disorders, H. George Nurnberg, MD
8 Sexual Side Effects of Antidepressants, H. George Nurnberg, MD
13 Prostate Cancer Update, Joseph Williams, MD
20 USDA New Dietary Guidelines, Nancy Weaver, MD
20 BPH (Mercy Medical Center), Wilfred Watkins, MD
22 IGE and Allergens, Miles Mirhosseini, MD
27 Update on Gallbladder and Biliary Disease, Stephen Schutz, MD
29 Topic TBA, Sunday Henry, MD
4 Topic TBA, Elizabeth Gailis, MD
6 Sports Enhancing Drugs, Scot Scheffel, MD
11 Update on Kidney Disease, Jean Bender, MD
18 Osteoporosis Update, Michael McLung, MD
27 Topic TBA, Jill Kalcich, MD
2 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Flu Season, Christine Hahn, MD
9 Patient Satisfaction, L. Tad Cowley, MD
16 Hypertension Update, Marc Kozinn, MD
23 Topic TBA, Michelle Rothoff, MD
30 Update in Plastics: Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Mark Wigod, MD
2 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Flu Season, Christine Hahn, MD
9 Patient Satisfaction, L. Tad Cowley, MD
16 Hypertension Update, Marc Kozinn, MD
23 Syphillis Epidemics, Charles Reed, MD
30 Update in Plastics: Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Mark Wigod, MD
3 Group Streptococcal Infections, Dennis Stevens, MD
10 Who Will Do My Knee Surgery?, Anne Palma, MD
17 Human Prion Disease, Itamar Abrass, MD
24 HIV Update, Robert Harrington, MD
31 COPD, Veena Antony, MD
4 Lung Transplant, Michael Mulligan, MD
11 Mengiococcal Diseases, Tom Rand, MD
18 Fabry Disease, Nicola Longo, MD
25 HIV Update, Robert Harrington, MD
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