"One of my mottos is flaunt what you've got left."                   ~ Cybill Shepherd

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year."          ~  John Foster Dulles

True courage is facing life.                         Frank Miles

IN THIS ISSUE, FOR YOU:
ON THE SCHEDULE AND DISTRICT MEETINGS
HOSPITALS, PHYSICIANS FIGHT TO DEFEND 2003 LIABILITY REFORMS
HHS SEEKS COMMUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN E.H.R. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT 
WORKERS COMP REVISED MEDICAL FEE GUIDELINES EDUCATIONAL SESSION
CAN THE TEXAS HOUSE SPEAKER SURVIVE?
REPORT:  ONLY 25% OF AMERICANS KNOW SIGNS OF HEART ATTACK
WHY ALL THE DRUG ALERTS?
THE MEDICAL HOME:  AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME - AGAIN
THE ART OF APOLOGY:  WHEN AND HOW TO SEEK FORGIVENESS
LAUGHTER IS A PART OF THE HUMAN SURVIVAL KIT

ON THE SCHEDULE AND DISTRICT MEETINGS:

District 9                    Wednesday, Feb. 27th, 6:30 p.m.
                                    Johnny Carino's
                                    4904 N. Navarro Street,
                                    Victoria, TX

District 19                  Thursday, Feb. 28th
                                    La Barranca Restaurant
                                    107 Calle Del Norte
                                    Laredo, TX
                                    TOMA / ATOMA Presidential Visit

District 5                    Thursday, Feb. 28th, 6:30 p.m.
                                    Mercury Grill,
                                    11909 Preston Rd. #1418, Dallas, TX
                                    Delegates for the TOMA House of Delegates will be finalized.

District 8                    Thursday, Feb. 28th, 6:30 p.m.
                                    Omni Marina, in Padre Ballrooms A & B
                                    Corpus Christi, TX

District 18                  Tuesday, March 4th, 6:30 p.m.
                                    Cheeves Brothers Steak House
                                    14 East Avenue A
                                    Temple, TX 76501

District 13                 Thursday, April 17th, 6:30 p.m.
                                    Sullivan's Steak House
                                    11795 N. Dallas Parkway
                                    Dallas, TX
   
March 1-2, 2008 "Ligamentous Articular Strain Techniques" Advanced Course
                               presented by the Dallas Osteopathic Study Group
                               Doubletree Hotel-Campbell Centre, Dallas, TX 75206
                              Contact: Conrad Speece, D.O. course director,
                              214-321-2673       cjspeece@yahoo.com
                              CME: 16 hours OMM category 1-A anticipated from AOA

April 24, 2008  DO Day on the Hill
                    American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
                    Registration forms can be found at D.O. Online.

HOSPITALS, PHYSICIANS FIGHT TO DEFEND 2003 LIABILITY REFORMS
Groups respond to suits challenging constitutionality of caps

AUSTIN- Texas physicians, hospitals and medical groups filed a lawsuit thismonth in Travis County to defend a 2003 Texas law limiting punitive damages in medical malpractice cases. The suit is in response to a legion of medical malpractice lawsuits filed in the past four years challenging the constitutionality of the 2003 law.

Corpus Christi orthopedic surgeon John McKeever, MD, the Texas Alliance for Patient Access, the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Hospital Association are seeking to validate once-and-for-all Texas House Bill 4 and the accompanying state constitutional amendment, Proposition 12, which limit noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000 per defendant and a total of $750,000.

Charles Bailey, general counsel for the THA says the economic caps have led to considerable reductions in medical malpractice insurance rates, causing Texas to become a prime destination for physicians, particularly in high-risk specialties such as neurosurgery.  "If these laws are not upheld, there is certainly the potential for insurance premiums to go back up, which is of great concern to hospitals, doctors and patients," he says. Bailey says Texas hospitals have reinvested savings from lower medical liability insurance rates in patient safety initiatives and in providing charity care.

Since 2003, insurer Texas Medical Liability Trust has reduced its rates five consecutive years for a cumulative reduction of 31 percent and approximately $200 million of premium savings, according to TMLT officials.
- Kathryn Mackenzie
From:  Texas Healthflash, by HCPro, Inc., www.healthleadersmedia.com

HHS SEEKS COMMUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN E.H.R. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT 

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt is inviting community leaders nationwide to apply for a demonstration project that will provide Medicare incentive payments to primary care physician practices for use of certified EHRs to improve patient care, according to a February 20 HHS press release.

Financial incentives paid to as many as 1,200 physician practices over five years may be as high as $58,000 per physician or $290,000 per practice, according to the press release. The results of a standardized survey measuring the number of EHR functionalities incorporated into a physician practice will determine the amount of potential bonus payments beyond the incentive payments.

Communities interested in becoming one of 12 participating health markets may apply from now through mid May. CMS expects the demonstration to begin with four communities in 2008 and continue with the remainder in 2009. CMS will work with selected communities to recruit physician practice participants, according to the press release.

Recruitment will focus on locations where demonstrations may enhance existing or planned private sector initiatives pertaining to health information technology and quality reporting. HHS seeks communities that have strong ties to primary care physicians and are willing to assist CMS with respect to education activities and physician recruitment, according to Kerry Weems, acting administrator of CMS.

Click here to read the HHS press release:  http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/02/20080220a.html

From:  EHR Connection, by HCPro, Inc., www.hcmarketplace.com

WORKERS COMP REVISED MEDICAL FEE GUIDELINES EDUCATIONAL SESSION

The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation (TDI-DWC) will present two educational sessions, Newly Revised 2008 Hospital Fee Guidelines and Newly Revised 2008 Medical Fee Guidelines, sponsored by the University of North Texas Small Business Development Center (SBDC) on Thursday, March 13, 2008. The Newly Revised 2008 Hospital Fee Guidelines educational session will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon. The Newly Revised 2008 Medical Fee Guideline educational session will be held from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The sessions will take place at Eastfield College, 3737 Motley Drive, Mesquite, Texas 75150. The cost is $79 per person for each session when registering online.

The complete news release concerning the educational sessions on workers' compensation medical and hospital fee guidelines offered in Mesquite on March 13, is located at the following link:

http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/news/2008/news200834.html .

CAN THE TEXAS HOUSE SPEAKER SURVIVE?

After Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick survived two Republican-led challenges to his leadership last year, his bid for a fourth term as speaker hinges on legislative primary contests far from his Midland home base.
MORE: Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5564943.html

REPORT:  ONLY 25% OF AMERICANS KNOW SIGNS OF HEART ATTACK

A report from the CDC indicates one in four Americans can recognize the signs of a heart attack and know how to react, a decline from about one in three in 2001. Whites, the highly educated and women, as well as West Virginia residents, seemed to be the most informed groups, the report found. The lead researcher said public awareness is "alarmingly low" and urged states with low awareness to be more aggressive in outreach and education. USA TODAY/Associated Press (2/21) , U.S. News & World Report/HealthDay News (2/21)
http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/080221/awareness-of-heart-attack-signs-lags-in-us.htm

WHY ALL THE DRUG ALERTS?
Step-Up Signals FDA Bid for Renewed Trust
 
If it seems as though the Food and Drug Administration has been issuing a new drug safety warning almost every week, that's because, for the past three months, it has. Since early November, the agency has sent out 14 advisories, more than it has issued in some entire years. Wall Street health-care analyst Les Funtleyder recently quipped that the agency should have a color coding system, as the Department of Homeland Security does, so consumers could determine the severity of the risk.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/22/AR2008022202686.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

THE MEDICAL HOME:  AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME - AGAIN
Leigh Ann Backer

Family physicians have always known the value of a medical home, even when there was no term to describe it. Now, 60 years after the AAFP was founded, others are recognizing that medical homes may be the key to getting better value from the U.S. health care system. In recent months, a wide range of stakeholders including legislators, large employers, patient groups and organized medicine have begun championing medical homes as the centerpiece of a primary-care based approach to health care reform.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/563437

THE ART OF APOLOGY:  WHEN AND HOW TO SEEK FORGIVENESS
Richard G. Roberts, MD, JD, FAAFP

How can you manage your malpractice risk more effectively?
The role of risk management is not to eliminate all risk but to anticipate and manage risk. Introduction.  Mistakes happen. What happens after a mistake can be as, or even more, important to a patient's ultimate outcome and satisfaction with care. This article discusses how to decide if an error has been made in your practice and how to offer an apology when one is warranted. It also recommends strategies to avoid future errors.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/561576

From Family Practice Management

LAUGHTER IS A PART OF THE HUMAN SURVIVAL KIT                 (David Nathan)

Working in an ophthalmology practice that specializes in LASIK surgery, I am expected to comfort nervous patients. But prior to one operation, the patient was so frightened she was actually shaking. Nothing I said seemed to calm her. So after the doctor finished operating on her left eye, and before he began on the right, I wanted her to know the surgery was going well. "There," I said, patting her hand reassuringly. "Now you only have one eye left!"                       -- Allison Mangin

During a job interview, a client of my employment-search company voiced his concern about work-life balance.  "Spending time with my family is very important to me, and I'm just wondering how much overtime I can expect to put in," he asked. His prospective employer quickly put him at ease.  "Family should always come first," came the reply. "Of course, here we like our employees to think of us as family."

Q. What did the 'Zero' say to the 'Eight'?
A. "Nice belt!"

"What's your golf score?" the country club interviewer asked the prospective new member.
"Well, not so good," replied the golfer. "It's 69."
"Hey, that's not bad. In fact, it's very good."
"Glad you think so," the golfer confided. "I'm hoping to do even better on the next hole."

Judge: "Is there any reason you could not serve as a juror in this case?"
Juror: "I don't want to be away from my job for that long."
Judge: "Can't they do without you at work?"
Juror: "Yes, but I don't want them to know that."

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With the Continuous Policy, you will automatically receive a 10% discount and are eligible for additional discounts and credits.  Prior acts coverage and part-time coverage are also available.  Please visit www.advocatedo.com for additional information.

Advocate, D.O.

Underwritten by Advocate, MD Insurance Company of the Southwest Inc.

800-686-2734 or 512.275.1830