Staff News Writer

AMA Affiliated Groups

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Written by members of the AMA Physician Communications team.

Sustainability

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3 Min Read

Medical liability climate stable for now, but future uncertain

Although the medical liability environment for physicians is stabilizing, premiums vary greatly by geographic location and expenses to resolve liability claims are at some of the highest levels ever, according to two new AMA reports that examine medical professional liability insurance trends.

Public Health Advocacy

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1 Min Read

New toolkit targets preventable admissions for sensitive conditions

The American Hospital Association (AHA) recently released a toolkit to help hospitals and health systems reduce preventable inpatient admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions. These conditions could be avoided with adequate primary care, such as asthma, low back pain and uncomplicated pneumonia.

Ethics

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2 Min Read

How telemedicine challenges the medical profession

Skeptics worry that the benefits of telemedicine may be outweighed by diminished privacy and security of medical information and loss of the therapeutic value tied to hands-on encounters between patients and their physicians. The December issue of Virtual Mentor, the AMA’s online ethics journal, considers this issue from a variety of angles.

USMLE® Step 1 & 2

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2 Min Read

Studying for USMLE Step 1? Watch out for these 4 mistakes

Avoid making one of the 4 common mistakes while studying for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1. An expert gives advice for studying smartly.

Prevention & Wellness

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2 Min Read

Science moves toward anticipating hypertension before it presents

Genomic-based diagnosis and treatment of hypertension is still in its infancy, but there are cues physicians can use today to improve outcomes around hypertension.

Medicare & Medicaid

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3 Min Read

Payment recovery audit program needs overhaul: Doctors to CMS

A “bounty-hunter” Medicare program that takes back payments from physicians must be overhauled, physicians told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in a letter, pointing to a two-year backlog of appeals and prohibitive expenses that result from excessive audits. ...

Physician Health

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2 Min Read

How physician families can prepare for the holidays

A recent article in the AMA Alliance magazine Physician Family suggests these ways to prepare your family for the holiday season. Here are a few tips to help you merge clinical and call schedules with the extra seasonal tasks that need attention.

Medicare & Medicaid

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2 Min Read

CME cleared from reporting under Sunshine Act

With the release of the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule Oct. 31, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made it official: funding for independent continuing medical education (CME) will not be subject to reporting under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act as initially proposed by the agency earlier this summer.