Family Physician to Replace Senator McCain from AZ?

We are pleased to share this exciting announcement that hit our inbox today!:

I am writing to you today to ask you to support a fellow colleague that is considering a run for the US Senate in Arizona against John McCain. Kelli Ward, D.O., MPH is a family physician that left the full-time practice of family medicine to fight the overreaching arms of government into medicine. Like you, she was dismayed that the “house of medicine” turned on all of us and supported Obamacare and now the ever expanding Maintenance of Certification. Kelli is currently serving her second term in the Arizona Senate where she serve as the Chairman of Education, Vice-Chair of Health and Human Services among other important committees.

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Patients can recognize quality. That’s what really counts.

Dr. Alieta Eck writes in:

Why do we need a big study on what makes a good physician? The answer is clear to most of us out in the day to day physician world.

A good physician is one who connects with his patients and really cares about them. He makes the patients feel at ease and willing to divulge their most intimate details, since they realize that any detail might be relevant.

A good primary care physician has taken the time to learn the family dynamics that impact the psychological make-up of the patient. He attends the funerals of select patients as he knows this will help the grieving process of the family, and they are also his patients.

A good physician has had good training and keeps up with the latest diagnostic and therapeutic regimens. He has developed a good referral network, so he knows his patients will get the same concentrated attention that he gives. He would never refer to someone he would not entrust with his own family member. A good physician can recognize the qualities in other good physicians.

We do not need tests to measure good physicians. We need continuing education so physicians and keep up and learn what to measure in our patients to detect and monitor illnesses.

If anything has decreased the quality of our care, it has been the theft of our time by government and hospital corporations like the Joint Commission that has added the extra burdens of paperwork and form-filling to our duties as physicians. Or the participation in HMOs that so underpay, we need to have 5 instead of 30 minute visits.

Patients know who the good physicians are and need to be free to choose them. Insurance companies herd patients into provider networks, but many patients see the difference. Recently we have had patients return to us after 10 years, lamenting their experiences with doctors they did not feel we’re paying attention. They are willing to pay cash to see us as they understand value.

I guess that might indicate that my practice has good physicians in it. I am a grandfathered internist, so I have never re-certified and do not intend to participate in MOC. My husband did 3 years of general surgery and 3 years of family medicine residency. He is an excellent physician with a wealth of experience. He refused to participate in the re-certification testing scheme, as it never made sense to him, especially since I was exempt. But after 25 years the credentialing secretary caught up with him and he was dismissed from the hospital staff.

This broke the hearts of many of his long-term patients, but the bureaucrats didn’t care about how his patients felt. Their goal was to proudly state that all their physicians are “board certified,” as if the public really cared.

The “public” simply wants to know that their physician knows how to fix what ails them and will be by their side when they need him. Studies have shown that patients never ask if their doctor participates in MOC. They really do not care one iota.

Patients can recognize quality. That’s what really counts.

Alieta Eck, MD

Lesson for all American physicians from a Canadian physician:

Physicians should not allow themselves to be compromised or worn down from trying to meet unhealthy expectations of others. Unhealthy expectations include those that require the MD/DO to act against their conscience and sense of moral purpose.

– Dr. Merrilee Fullerton

ACA: rewarding big corporates, punishing American doctors and patients

Guest post from Dr. Gina Reghetti:

I believe that our so-called medical peers which force that doctors re-certify will soon be failing us all due to the doctors’ refusal to practice medicine under the new ACA standards that aren’t about quality care for patients but more so about rationed care.

The boards will test us on ACA’s & Insurance Corporates’ standards which have nothing to do with medicine, only their profitable agendas. If we fail to adopt and go along with their ways then they will just not pass anyone. The control now lies all in the hands of the Enforcers.

National Physician Coalition for Freedom in Medicine

Dear Physician Colleagues,

Obamacare continues to wreak havoc. The decision by the Supreme Court to hear the King v. Burwell case in March creates a glimmer of hope. There is a real chance the Court will invalidate subsidies issued without statutory authority through federal exchanges. This would pull the rug out from under Obamacare, as some 90% of enrollees could lose their premium support. There have been many calls for Congress to prepare legislation to address this potential crisis, and to have it ready to go in June, when the Court decision is due.

We see this as a rare opportunity for a coalition of freedom-oriented physician groups to make our priorities known to Congress.

You are cordially invited to attend a meeting of the National Physician Coalition for Freedom in Medicine to be held in Washington, DC on March 25 and 26th. The limited goal of this meeting is to discuss, finalize and publicize a simple one-page plan to propose to Congress. We will focus on legislative items that will neutralize the worse aspects of Obamacare, and thus increase patient and physician freedom.

All practicing physicians who are concerned about the direction health care has taken are invited to participate.

AAPS has secured a meeting room and has preferred rates at the Cambria Hotel and Suites right in the heart of Washington, DC. We have chosen March 25 and 26, so ask that you save the dates, secure a room, and invite your colleagues. More details to follow.

Here is the link for hotel reservations. Ignore the error message and put in the dates to secure the preferred rate of $229 for this landmark event.

Space will be limited, so please register today by clicking here to fill out a short RSVP form. The form will also collect a $25.00 fee from each doctor (spouses and guests are free) to help cover the costs of this event.

Sincerely, 

 National Physician Coalition for Freedom in Medicine

Richard Amerling, MD, President, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons 

Alieta Eck, MD, Past-President, AAPS 

Ken Fisher, MD, Michigan 

Arvind Cavale, MD, Pennsylvania 

Craig M. Wax, DO, Independent Physicians for Patient Independence, New Jersey 

Herb Kunkle, MD, Patient-Physician Health Care Alliance 

Marion Mass, MD, PPHCA, Pennsylvania 

Jane Hughes, MD, AmericanDoctors4Truth.org 

Kris Held, MD, AD4T 

Parvez, Dara, MD, New Jersey

John Tedeschi, MD, New Jersey 

John Perry, MD, Pennsylvania & Florida

Marcy Zwelling, MD, California

 

PQRS MOC Incentive Program Eliminated

Via Dr. Paul Kempen:

Good news! Even the ACA and the congressmen have listened and destroyed the PQRS-MOC incentive-if we can only believe the ABIM and they probably are telling the truth on this one. The continued decline of ABMS and ABIM power base is evident!

“As of January 1, 2015, the PQRS MOC Incentive Program will no longer exist. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted the program as a way to encourage physicians’ participation in the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), while also recognizing the value and importance of American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) programs. ABIM participated as a member board from 2012 through 2014. The ACA ended the PQRS MOC Incentive Program after 2014 (though the underlying PQRS program continues).”

https://www.abim.org/maintenance-of-certification/additional-credit-for-earning-points/physician-quality-reporting-system.aspx

“It is up to us,” writes Doc Chip

Guest Post from Dr. Chip Smutny

Folks,

Physician history has been to turn away from that which we don’t like and leave it alone. That brought us to where we are today.

That has to change now if we are to survive.

The way the government works in 2015 is by money first, period. We need to address that as a group. We might call this government now a Democratic Republic run by lobbyists, not voters.