March/April - West Virginia State Medical Association

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Legislative | NEWS The WVSMA recommends passage of legislation that will remove the current statutory barriers to routine screening for HIV. The essence of this important law change is to give priority to identifying West Virginians who are unaware of their HIV status and get them into care and treatment and prevention while sustaining the fundamental voluntary nature of HIV screening. Improving West Virginia’s Perinatal Health POSITION: The WVSMA supports initiatives to improve the health of pregnant women and children in West Virginia. ISSUE: The health of West Virginia’s babies has a tremendous impact on the state’s economy, workforce development and family well-being. Fourteen years ago, West Virginia birth statistics were much brighter than today. The State’s rates for pre-term birth, primary C‐sections, vaginal births after cesarean section (VBAC), and low birth weight infants were all more positive for healthy outcomes. While there are solutions to our child health problems, West Virginia has made little progress over the past decade in improving infant mortality. The number of low birth weight babies has increased and more babies are spending the first weeks of life in neonatal intensive care. If we want to improve the health and well-being of our children we must begin long before birth. Better health for our children will be the result of better health for pregnant women and infants. The WVSMA, along with the WV Perinatal Partnership, supports and recommends the following policies to further the efforts to improve perinatal wellness. By working together, we can make sure that the 21,000 babies born each year in West Virginia and their mothers have the best healthcare possible to assure a healthy beginning: • Establish a permanent home for the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership within the Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC), Office of the Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and that funding in the amount of $250,000 be allocated for it’s work in the state budget; • Expand the West Virginia Maternal Mortality Review to include an Infant Mortality Review Process; • Expand state education to adequately prepare our young West Virginians for parenthood; and • Require health insurers to include coverage for dependents for contraception and for pregnancy. Strengthening Tobacco Control and Clean Indoor Air Initiatives POSITION: The WVSMA supports policies that protect public health by discouraging tobacco use and promoting clean indoor air. Such policies include significantly increasing the tobacco excise tax, allocating sufficient funding for education programs designed to reduce or eliminate tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke, and supporting counties’ indoor air regulations. ISSUE: The WVSMA seeks to reduce or eliminate tobacco use by West Virginia citizens, especially children, and to eliminate the exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke, which is the third leading cause of preventable death among nonsmokers. Among the states, West Virginia ranks worst in the nation for smoking rates of adults and youth. We rank first in smoking among women during pregnancy and second overall in women smokers. Furthermore, West Virginia has the highest rate of smokeless tobacco use in the nation with one in three high school students currently using tobacco and one in five males using smokeless tobacco. The deleterious effects of tobacco use affect not only smokers but also the public at large. Scientific studies clearly show that secondhand cigarette smoke is a hazardous, cancer-causing air pollutant. Exposure to secondhand smoke causes increased risk for disease and death in healthy nonsmokers and is the third leading cause of preventable death among nonsmokers. The prevalence of tobacco use in West Virginia translates to an enormous economic toll. The state spends over $1 billion a year on the direct healthcare costs of smoking, and another $1 billion on occupational costs due to smoking. The WVSMA joins with the Coalition of a Tobacco Free WV in recommending a three tiered approach toward addressing tobacco use: • • Increase the Tobacco Excise Tax Provide Adequate State Funding for Cessation Education Programs Protect County Clean Indoor Air Policies. • Combating Poor Oral Health POSITION: The WVSMA supports efforts to make policy changes which foster improved oral health for West Virginia’s children and families. ISSUE: West Virginia is a leader nationwide in the percentage of our citizens with tooth loss and decay. By the time of high school graduation, over 80 percent of West Virginia youth have had dental decay; over 60 percent have had dental decay by age 8 and over 30 percent of West Virginia children suffer from untreated decay. Strikingly, over 45 percent of West Virginia adults, aged 65 and older, have lost all their natural teeth. 50 West Virginia Medical Journal
Legislative | News Continued Dental disease is the single most prevalent chronic childhood disease and correlates directly to other health concerns. With today’s tools and technologies, oral disease is almost 100% preventable and is cost effective with the potential to save millions of dollars. Poor oral health can contribute to a lifetime of overall poor health including diabetes and heart disease. The WVSMA supports the following recommendations to address poor oral health: • Establish the Office of Oral Health within the Bureau for Public Health • Encourage school aged children to have dental exams at appropriate intervals. • Prohibit sale of sugary snacks and beverages in schools. • Address the use of smokeless tobacco among our youth through the implementation of a higher smokeless tobacco tax equaling the cigarette tax, the implementation of youth based, counter marketing and cessation programs. Ensuring Truth in Advertising for Healthcare Providers POSITION: The WVSMA supports legislation to ensure transparency regarding the education training and licensure of healthcare providers. ISSUE: Patients are confused about the differences between various types of healthcare providers. Often, patients mistakenly believe they are seeing medical doctors when they are not. The WVSMA believes that patients deserve to have increased clarity and transparency in healthcare. Confusion among patients about who is and who is not qualified to provide specific patient care undermines the reliability of the healthcare system and can put patients at risk. To help ensure patients can answer the simple question “who is a doctor” the WVSMA believes that all healthcare professionals – physicians and nonphysicians – should be required to accurately and clearly disclose their training and qualifications to patients. Asking medical professionals to display their credentials and their capabilities would allow the public to make informed choices about their healthcare. This includes full disclosure in all advertising and marketing materials. Legislation is needed to require healthcare providers to clearly and honestly state their level of training, licensing and what procedures they may legally perform in their advertising and marketing materials. Patients must be able to rely on what their healthcare providers tell them. Truth in advertising legislation helps to do just that. The WVSMA supports the passage of legislation to include the following components: • Require all healthcare professionals wear a name tag during all patient encounters that clearly identifies the type of license they hold • Require healthcare professionals to display their education, training and licensure in his or her office; and • Ensure any advertisements or professional web sites healthcare providers may have do not promote services beyond what they are legally permitted to provide. Protecting Patients from Non-physician Practitioner Scope of Practice Expansion POSITION: The WVSMA opposes the scope of practice expansion of non-physician practitioners without the appropriate education, training and supervision and recommends legislation requiring healthcare practitioners to clearly identify their credentials and training. ISSUE: Every year, in nearly every state, non-physician practitioners lobby for expansion of scope of practice to gain prescriptive and independent practice rights that were once the sole domain of physicians. The WVSMA recognizes the inevitability of scope of practice overlap. While some scope expansions are appropriate and beneficial to patients, many are unwarranted intrusions into the physician practice of medicine. The health and safety of patients are threatened when non-physician practitioners are permitted to perform services that are not commensurate with their education, training and experience. Some non-physician healthcare provider groups have become increasingly aggressive in efforts to expand their scope of practice to include treatments, procedures, and authority inconsistent with their education and training. These providers seek to expand their scopes of practice through legislative, regulatory, and administrative means. Debates over scope of practice issues have serious implications for patient care. If scope of practice expansions are inconsistent with the education and training a provider group receives, or are not coupled with safeguards, such as practice protocol arrangements with a physician who provides oversight of the care provided, the safety and quality of healthcare delivered to patients is compromised. March/April 2011 | Vol. 107 1
Page 2 and 3: WVUVascular2:GKad 1/26/11 9:12 AM P
Page 4 and 5: B r i n g i n g Y O U E H R e x p e
Page 6 and 7: President’s Message Be Careful Wh
Page 8 and 9: Ears, nose and throat medical and s
Page 10 and 11: Scientific Article | A Controversy:
Page 12 and 13: Scientific Article | Table 1. Summa
Page 14 and 15: Scientific Article | Figure 2. A 66
Page 16 and 17: Scientific Article | Report of Incr
Page 18 and 19: Scientific Article | Figure 1. azit
Page 20 and 21: Scientific Article | who may have b
Page 23 and 24: | Scientific Article Medical Manage
Page 25 and 26: | Scientific Article medical approa
Page 27 and 28: What’s Good for Them Is Good for
Page 29 and 30: | Scientific Article included a cal
Page 31 and 32: TM Allscripts Meet Allscripts MyWay
Page 33 and 34: | Scientific Article 37% in the pla
Page 35 and 36: | Scientific Article Figure 2. 3-di
Page 37 and 38: | Scientific Article Multiple types
Page 39 and 40: | Scientific Article Post-ablative
Page 41 and 42: | Scientific Article Graves’ dise
Page 44 and 45: General | NEWS WVU hosts nation’s
Page 46 and 47: We need your hELp! The WVSMA is fi
Page 48 and 49: Mid-Winter Meetings 2011 Photo High
Page 50 and 51: Legislative | NEWS 2011 Legislative
Page 54 and 55: Legislative | NEWS The WVSMA does s
Page 56 and 57: West Virginia University Health Sci
Page 58 and 59: West Virginia School of Osteopathic
Page 60 and 61: WV Medical Insurance Agency | NEWS
Page 62 and 63: 2011 Certified Medical Office Manag
Page 64 and 65: Obituaries The WVSMA remembers our
Page 66 and 67: Classified Ads | MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
Page 68 and 69: WVSMA | Professional Directory (con
Page 70 and 71: Manuscript Guidelines Originality:
Page 72: West Virginia Medical Journal P.O.

March/April - West Virginia State Medical Association

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?