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Week of May 5 - In Case You Missed It...TOMF Medical News Roundup

May 12, 2014


In Case You Missed It...
May 7, 2014

Neumayer Returns to Head UA Surgery

The Arizona Daily Star and several other local news sources say that former University of Arizona College of Medicine surgery resident Leigh Nuemayer MD is the new head of the UA Department of Surgery. She follows Rainer Grussner MD.

Neumayer comes from the University of Utah. She completed her residency in general surgery at the UA in 1990. She earned her MD at Baylor and a masters in scientific research from the public health school at the University of Michigan.

OTC Division Goes to Bayer

We did not know Claritin allergy medication and Coppertone sunscreen was even made by Merck & Co, but the Wall Street Journal reports today that the pharmacy giant is selling the rights to those products, indeed its entire over-the-counter portfolio, to Bayer AG for $14.2 billion. It is all part of a shake up in the pharmaceutical industry as companies try to focus in areas in which they excel.

Speaking of Bayer

The Food and Drug Administration rejected Bayer's request to allow it to label aspirin packages with labels touting the drug for prevention of heart attacks for people with no history of heart disease. The FDA does not think the benefits, as yet unproven, outweigh the proven risks of gastric and brain bleeding.

Practice Management Seminar June 3

Licensed physicians can attend a free seminar, "21st Century Strategies for Maximizing Revenues," June 3 at the Pima County Medical Society building, 5199 E. Farness, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Physician staff members can attend for $99 each.

The seminar will discuss collecting on outstanding balances, using technology to collect deductibles and co-pays, reversing claim denials and maximizing cash flow.

The Pima County Medical Society is NOT a sponsor. Call 760-918-6701 for details and reservations.

In Case You Missed It...
May 6, 2014

Pediatricians Should Take Care of Teeth, Too

Only one American preschooler in four actual visits a dentist so the influential US Preventive Task Force is recommending pediatricians and family physicians pick up the slack.

Fluoride varnish on emerging teeth and oral fluoride drops, tablets and lozenges are recommended for children six months old and older. For more details, click.
http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/oral-care/doctors-should-give-toddlers-fluoride-treatments-us-task-force

Picking Up Another Vote

John Kitzhaber is the governor of Oregon. He was also educated at the University of Oregon Health Sciences and worked for years as an emergency department physician before turning his hand to politics.

Last night he was being driven to a function when he saw a woman down on a Portland street. He ordered his driver to pull over. The woman's heart had stopped, possibly from an overdose. Dr./Gov. Kitzhaber started CPR and continued it until paramedics arrived and re-started the woman's heart.

Northwest gets SW Visitor

The fungus that causes valley fever in California and Arizona sickened three in Washington state in 2010-2011. Researchers were puzzled because none of the three had traveled to areas where the fungus is known to thrive.

Last week the fungus was found in the soil which makes up the arid part of the state.

Local Blips

From "Covered Clips," the newsletter of the coalition signing Arizonans onto the health exchange:

Arizona Marketplace Enrollment Exceeds 120,000

On Thursday, the federal government released final marketplace numbers, which included a breakdown on enrollment by states. Arizona's final numbers were 120,071.
Twenty-one percent of those who enrolled were between the ages of 18-34, which was below the national average (28 percent). However, 43 percent of enrollees were below the age of 34, which exceeded the national average (34 percent).
Silver-level plans were most often chosen by those selecting a health plan (60 percent). The vast majority of those who enrolled in a Marketplace plan received financial assistance (77 percent). This was slightly lower that the national average (85 percent).

Reported data includes those who selected a plan from October 1stto March 31st, including special enrollment - related activity through April 19th.
For more information click here
http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2014/MarketPlaceEnrollment/Apr2014/pdf/az.pdf

State's Medicaid ACA-Related Enrollment Numbers Nears 146,000

On Thursday, AHCCCS also reported its latest enrollment numbers for our state's Medicaid program. It reported a change in enrollment in the adult restoration category (0-100 FPL) of 129,486 from January through the end of April. It also reported that 16,319 had been added to AHCCCS in the adult expansion category (100-133 FPL). Added together, that equates to 145,805 Arizonans.
For more info, click
http://www.azahcccs.gov/reporting/Downloads/PopulationStatistics/2014/May/AHCCCS_Population_by_Category.pdf

From the Arizona Daily Star

May 5: Those who have lived in Tucson for a while remember every childhood prank began with a mental calculation" "Hope I don't end up at Mother Higgins."
MA Higgins was the name, at least for us, of the juvenile corrections facility in Pima County until 1972. When the new juvenile facility was built on Ajo Way, the county health department took over Ma Higgins. Eventually it was named the Theresa Lee Clinic in honor of a long time Tucson public health worker. Lately, the clinic has been the primary location to diagnose and treat sexually transmitted infections.

The old building needs substantial renovation and the county decided it was a better option to buy Cope Community Services building nearby on Valencia for $1.1 million, and spend roughly $300,000 on upgrades.

In a nice move, the Theresa Lee name will be retained.

April 28: It has always been pronounced "Sam Heck." Southern Arizona Mental Health Corp. (SAMHC) has provided emergency mental health services and hospitalizations since it became the first state-supported community mental health services agency in 1962. It has been an independent non-profit since 1996.

Now it will be Pasadera, which means "stepping stone" in Spanish.

SAMHC merged with Compass Behavioral Health in order to provide mental health and substance abuse in one stop.

Good move and good luck Pasadera.

May 5: Leapfrog, a national safety measuring company, came out with its grades and no Tucson hospital did better than a ‘C." Reporter Stephanie Innes did an admirable job of trying to give perspective in a story that begins on page C-1 ("Natl. rating gives Tucson hospitals a grade of "C").

May 4: Tu Nidito has a fund-raiser at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort 6 pm Saturday but dress in 1980s attire instead of black tie. Donna Fulton MD and Neelam Sethi, wife of cardio-thoracic surgeon Gulshan Sethi MD, are among the honorees. Tickets are $195. Call 322-9155 for details.

In Case You Missed It...
May 5, 2014

New Diseases Only a Flight Away

Imagine working as a physician at the emergency department of Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana on April 28. A local health care worker arrives, complaining of fever and difficulty breathing. As you take the history you find that the worker returned to the US April 24 -- from Saudi Arabia.

That's how Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) made it to the United States last week. MERS has no cure and no defined treatment; it kills a quarter of the people who contract it. Fortunately it does not seem as contagious as colds, measles, flu or pneumonia.

CDC is checking contacts -- which will be hard for a guy who flew from Arabia to London to Chicago and took a bus to Indiana -- where he spent four days before heading to the emergency room.

MERS is just one of many diseases to be tracked. Polio has broken out in Sub-Saharan Africa. Antibiotics are losing potency and in many regions of the world are growing more resistant. Soon, in the words of Dr. Kenji Fukuda of the World Health Organization, "minor injuries we have successfully treated for years will again kill."