In an effort to increase the shelf life of medical guidelines and recommendations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has created the CDC Stacks, a free digital library comprised of peer-reviewed articles and other public health documents. More than 16,500 entries can be...
It’s happening in South Carolina and across the nation—hospitals are acquiring more physician practices as they prepare to move away from a fee-for-service reimbursement system that pays for services and treatments to one that focuses more on quality outcomes and containing costs. South...
Carolyn Clancy, MD, left the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) last month to begin work as Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for Health, Patient Safety, Quality, and Value at the Veterans Administration. Dr. Clancy worked at AHRQ for 23 years, and continued to see patients until...
Greater reliance on physician assistants (PA) and nurse practitioners (NP) is seen as one way to ameliorate the widening primary care physician shortage. However, data suggest that less than half of all PAs currently practice primary care and nearly half of NPs practice outside primary care,...
Provider credentialing in Oregon is on its way to becoming more streamlined under a bill that mandates healthcare entities use a single credentialing system by 2016. The initiative, known as SB 604, requires the Oregon Health Authority to establish an electronic database for credentialing...
Physicians often depend on continuing medical education (CME) to learn about new tests and therapies, and CME is required for physician relicensing, recredentialing, and recertification. However, 75% of CME providers received support from commercial entities in 2011, which raises concerns about...
