How health reform imacts your practiceWhat provisions may have an immediate impact on your practice, and what to expect in the futureAMA

Health reform subsidy calculator: coverage in exchanges/gatewaysFor persons under age 65 who purchase coverage on their own and are not covered through their employer, Medicare or MedicaidKaiser Family Foundation

I found “In Africa With the Pygmies” by Dr Scott Kellerman very moving.

A 14-year-old girl is seen because of long-standing nasal itch, intermittent nasal congestion, and clear nasal discharge. Allergies to house dust mites and to cats shown on prior skin testing. Often has marked eye swelling when exposed to cats. Receives antihistamines when in flare-up and prior to cat exposure. The consumption of dairy products exacerbates all of the above.

Tinea presents as a pruritic rash and is often seen under skin folds.

The recent signing of health reform legislation signals a watershed event in the delivery of health care in our country. It is the culmination of a tangled legislative battle, but it ignores 3 of the 4 pillars of health reform. In this article, I describe these pillars, and then outline how recent legislation falls short.

The sweeping health care reform bill signed into law in March will eventually provide coverage to 32 million more Americans, but the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that about 23 million will still be without health care by 2019.

The smoke has settled, the votes are in, and health reform is real. We’ve all heard about the supposed benefits and drawbacks of the reform package, which includes new rules on coverage for insurers, a mandate that almost every uninsured American citizen get coverage, new taxes, and cuts in Medicare. While others debate whether reform will lead to a healthier and fairer America, or to its ruin, we know you’re concerned about how the new landscape will affect you and your practice.

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Health Policy Questions That Matter to Primary Care Practitioners: Insights From an ExpertFeaturing David B. Nash, MD, MBA, the Dr Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor of Health Policy and founding dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University.

The smoke has settled, the votes are in, and health reform is real. We’ve all heard about the supposed benefits and drawbacks of the reform package, which includes new rules on coverage for insurers, a mandate that almost every uninsured American citizen get coverage, new taxes, and cuts in Medicare. While others debate whether reform will lead to a healthier and fairer America, or to its ruin, we know you’re concerned about how the new landscape will affect you and your practice.

The editors of Drug Benefit Trends interviewed Peter Juhn, MD, MPH, president of the Therapeutic Resource Centers (TRCs) division at Medco Health Solutions, Inc. He discusses the TRC program, launched in 2007, which monitors prescription drug use in patients with specific chronic conditions and is designed to close gaps in care.

A national survey done by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) showed that workers are hesitant to seek treatment for mental health issues. Reasons cited included concerns about confidentiality or fears of loss of status in the workplace.

The use of bisphosphonates, which are commonly taken to prevent and treat osteoporosis, may lower the risk of breast cancer, according to the results of a recent study led by Polly A. Newcomb, PhD, MPH, a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Until recently, I never paid much attention to the possibility that abnormalities of the parathyroid glands could be relevant to patients in my practice. But I decided to learn more about this issue when one of my patients with bipolar disorder who had been treated with lithium told me that she had been given a diagnosis of a parathyroid adenoma after her primary care physician noted hypercalcemia on routine testing.

Parkinson disease (PD) is associated with a number of nonmotor symptoms, including depression, drug-induced psychosis and impulse control disorders, cognitive impairment, anxiety, and sleep disturbances.

With the country’s greatest number of uninsured residents, the largest public insurance program, and one of the lowest rates of physician reimbursement, California is struggling to provide health care to the 6.5 million people who need it.

Comparative Effectiveness Research: Let’s Look at Those Rationing ChargesWho should oversee comparative effectiveness research? How should the information it produces be promulgated to physicians? And is there any basis for charges that CER will lead to health care rationing?