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AMA Agrees to Recharge Advocacy

CHICAGO -- The AMA will bolster their political advocacy efforts, recognize presurgical transgender birth certificates, and support insurance to cover young pregnant women and newborns, their House of Delegates voted here.

Not Your Parent's School Nurse

Schools and health systems are forming partnerships to better integrate their services, and some school health professionals are gaining access to students' electronic health records.

AMA Mulls Gun Violence CME

CHICAGO -- As the AMA's House of Delegates was meeting in a downtown hotel here, 29 local residents were shot and four killed within a 10-mile radius.

Give Me That Old Time AMA

After an absence of a few years, I find myself back in Chicago for the AMA's annual meeting and discover that not much has changed.

Lethal Injections, MOC, and E-Cigs on AMA Agenda

The American Medical Association is being asked to strengthen its ethical stance on physician participation in execution by extending its ban on doctors participating to include all health professionals.

Calif. Docs Among Top Billers for Complex Visits

Three California doctors are among the top five nationally in billing for the most complex office visits, according to data released by Medicare and analyzed by ProPublica and KQED.

Top 5 Reasons Why Internists Are Sued

Not properly diagnosing a condition and nonmedical errors such as equipment failure accounted for more than half of the malpractice lawsuits against internists, a study found.

How To Get Medicare To Cover A Spa Trip

Good news for doctors who think their patients need a trip to the spa: Medicare will reimburse, with only two catches.

How to Replace IV Nitroglycerin in the Shortage

What are the alternatives for IV nitroglycerin in the emergency setting as the shortage saps reserves? Several experts share their thoughts.

Top 5 Reasons Cardiologists Get Sued

Problems with diagnosis -- failing to make one, making the wrong one, or taking too long to get to one -- lead the list of reasons behind cardiology-related lawsuits, revealed closed claims data from a medical malpractice insurer.

What You Need To Know About New .health Domains

Should doctors grab a shiny new .health domain?

ICD-10 Follies: Watch Where You're Walking

Yes, there's a code for that. To mark the forthcoming move to the ICD-10 coding system, 番茄社区 is spotlighting some of those thousands of new codes that might just be getting a bit too granular.

5 Ways Doctors Can Use Data Analytics

Data analytics takes claims data, a providers' electronic health record, and any of piece of information available to help physicians become more aware of the patients they're treating. Here are five ways the technology can help meet payers' demands for higher-quality, higher-value care.

ICD-10 Follies: Struck by an Orca

Yes, there's a code for that. To mark the forthcoming move to the ICD-10 coding system, 番茄社区 is spotlighting some of those thousands of new codes that might just be getting a bit too granular.

ICD-10 Follies: The Birds

Yes, there's a code for that. To mark the forthcoming move to the ICD-10 coding system, 番茄社区 is spotlighting some of those thousands of new codes that might just be getting a bit too granular.

ER Briefs: DIY Laptop to AED Kit -- Good Idea?

Inventors aim to resurrect laptops and tablets as AEDs. We asked Clifton Callaway, MD, PhD, an emergency medicine doctor who heads up EM research at the University of Pittsburgh, to weigh in.

Can You Get Paid For Prescribing Exercise?

How do doctors get reimbursed when they prescribe exercise? We asked Jordan Metzl, MD, author of the new book, "Exercise Cure."

5 Problems With Mobile Health App Security

No federal agency has the power to properly regulate the fast-growing world of mobile health applications and telehealth systems, researchers noted while outlining several security risks and privacy threats.

CardioBuzz: More Money Needed for Heart Research?

The NIH dedicates a lot of money for research into heart disease and stroke, but it still might not be enough, a new study suggested.

Pay and Practice: Are Neurologists Primary Care Docs?

WASHINGTON -- Neurology isn't often mentioned in the same breath as primary care, but the American Academy of Neurology is again lobbying to gain that sobriquet -- this time to take advantage of a recent policy change that benefits primary care providers.

A Brain-Dead Mother, a Million-Dollar Baby

The costs associated with maintaining a pregnant, brain-dead, Texas woman on life support until her fetus is viable are likely to approach $1 million, and long-term costs could easily top $1.5 million.

10 Questions: Rep. Phil Gingrey, MD (R-Ga.)

If you could change one thing about the healthcare system, what would it be? Eliminate Obamacare, says Rep. Phil Gingrey, MD (R-Ga.). That's his answer to just one of the 10 Questions the 番茄社区 staff is asking leading clinicians, researchers, and leaders in their community to get their personal views on their chosen profession. In this series we share their uncensored responses.

AMA President Discusses SGR Repeal Efforts

Shortly after the American Medical Association's interim meeting adjourned, Ardis Hoven, MD, president of the American Medical Association, sat down for a one-on-one interview with 番茄社区 to discuss the AMA's SGR repeal strategy.

Docs Need Info on 'Grace Period,' AMA Says

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- The American Medical Association wants health plans to notify doctors when patients haven't paid their premiums, a situation that could leave physicians on the hook for unpaid services.

SGR Repeal Still Gets AMA Support

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- The AMA's policymaking House of Delegates voted nearly unanimously to continue its support of congressional efforts to repeal Medicare's payment formula despite its opposition to a 10-year pay freeze that's part of a draft proposal.

Fast-Acting AMA Group Hopes to Fix SGR

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- A large coalition of American Medical Association members met in seclusion Sunday morning here at the interim meeting of the House of Delegates and rapidly found consensus on a proposed resolution for the repeal of Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.

Rape Laws Offer Little Protection

BOSTON -- The world over, laws to protect rape victims are paper tigers, often enacted but rarely enforced, a researcher said here.

Studies 'Validate' CDC HCV Testing Advice

WASINGTON -- Thousands of people in the U.S. -- including an estimated 50,000 veterans -- are infected with the hepatitis C virus, and don't know it, researchers reported here.

Few Lupus, IBD Patients Getting HPV Vaccine

SAN DIEGO -- Despite being at greater risk of infection, few children and young adults with autoimmune diseases are being vaccinated against human papillomavirus, according to a study.

Morning Break: Addictive Oreos and Sperm-Slaying Bacon

Health news and commentary from around the Web, gathered by the 番茄社区 staff.

Concierge Medicine Gains Ground

SAN DIEGO -- Concierge doctors are spreading the word that it's possible to operate a direct primary care practice, make a living, and avoid one of the biggest headaches for family medicine physicians -- dealing with health insurance companies.

ACP Hedges in Debate on Scope of Practice

The American College of Physicians took a nuanced position on the role advanced nurse practitioners play in clinical care teams in a position paper published Monday.

Congress Probing VA Bonuses to Doctors

WASHINGTON -- A congressional committee is using a recent report questioning performance bonuses for Department of Veterans Affairs physicians as reason to examine a range of pay-for-performance issues at the VA.

Medicare's DME Bidding Program Criticized

Despite complaints from multiple parties, Medicare's bidding program for durable medical equipment -- including diabetes supplies -- now includes suppliers to half of all program beneficiaries.

FDA Panel Vetoes New Tolvaptan Indication

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- An FDA advisory committee has declined to endorse an expanded indication for tolvaptan (Samsca) to treat autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

FDA Panel Favors Nasacort OTC Switch

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- An FDA advisory committee voted Wednesday to make allergy nasal spray triamcinolone acetonide (Nasacort AQ) available without a prescription -- but some expressed concern about its use in children.

Oncology Clinics Caught in Financial Vise

Community oncology clinics continue to feel the squeeze of a changing reimbursement structure that has forced 288 clinics to close in the past 6 years.

FDA Panel Nixes Humira for Spinal Arthritis

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- An independent panel of FDA advisers overwhelmingly rejected AbbVie's bid to gain approval of Humira (adalimumab) for treatment of spinal arthritis.

Health Insurers Improve Claims Processing

CHICAGO -- The percentage of claims incorrectly processed by health plans fell for the third straight year to 7.1% in 2013, according to the American Medical Association.

AMA House Votes Against Council, Calls Obesity a Disease

CHICAGO -- Obesity should be called a disease and not simply a condition, the American Medical Association's policy-making House of Delegates voted on Tuesday, ignoring a recommendation by one of its own councils.

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