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Best Practices: High-Profile Case Prompts Concerns about Breast Cancer Risk
Recent news coverage of actress Christina Applegate's breast cancer and her genetic predisposition has left many women wondering about their risk of breast cancer. A wave of questions for their doctors has followed.
If we consider the statistics, women have every reason to be concerned. All health care providers should appreciate the need for appropriate screening for women at average risk and recognize individuals at increased risk for developing this disease...
Ingrid Meszoely, MD,Vanderbilt Breast Center |
Physician Spotlight: Steven Abram, MD
We've all heard someone quip, "After all, this isn't brain surgery!"
The same could be said for the innovative treatment options being used in the Brain & Spine Tumor Center at Saint Thomas BrainLAB … at least not brain surgery as usual.
Under the leadership of Steven Abram, MD, who directs the center, the use of a high-precision X-Ray Based Patient Positioning System has transformed the treatment of brain tumors, improving outcomes and shortening recovery times...
KELLY PRICE |
Administrator's Corner: Charlene Pershke, HCA Physician Services
Most administrators find it difficult enough to keep up with the demands of managing one practice … Charlene Pershke, market manager for HCA Physician Services, spends her days overseeing 11 busy practices.
"I have been managing multiple practices most of my healthcare career so it feels normal to me," she said. "The only way I can do multiple locations is with great physicians, great managers and the great staff I get to work with," she added.
CINDY SANDERS |
Searching for the How and Why
For nearly a decade now, researchers and physicians have realized that angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors impact more than just high blood pressure. As reported in the January 20, 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, results from the HOPE (Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation) study showed that ramipril could serve as a tool to not only lessen the risk of heart attack and stroke but also prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes...
CINDY SANDERS |
Tax Planning the Right Way
Most physicians make a reasonable amount of money, and when it comes to tax time, here's the rub: "It's very difficult not to be taxed on that, because you've got the money," said Mark Puckett, CPA, regional tax partner for BDO Seidman LLP.
Puckett represents numerous high-income professionals, including physicians in Tennessee, and he said some share a common malady...
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
TennCare Wrestling with Resources
The Dichotomy of Expanding Home Care while Reducing Private-Duty Nursing at HomeWhen it comes to providing home- and community-based services to TennCare's elderly and disabled, the state is walking a tightrope … working to expand such services when clinically appropriate and cost-effective while simultaneously reducing at-home, private-duty nursing benefits for some patients...
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Nashville Programs Focus on Diabetes Education
Helping Patients Take Better Care of Themselves
Nashville-based AmMed Direct, a supplier of direct-to-consumer diabetes products, medications and services, has sought to distinguish itself in the marketplace by offering customers something extra … important educational and lifestyle information at no additional charge.
CINDY SANDERS |
New Alzheimer's Study Reveals Gaps in Awareness, Action
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan designated November as National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month. At the time, only 2 million Americans were known to have the disease. The president, himself, was later diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and today more than 5 million people have AD...
CINDY SANDERS |
Frist, National Experts Look at Healthcare and the Election: Many Questions, Fewer Solutions
The Nashville Health Care Council (NHCC) seized the opportunity presented by the convergence of political cognoscenti in town for the Presidential Debate '08 at Belmont University's Curb Event Center to assemble a panel of national healthcare policy experts to discuss the imminent presidential race and healthcare reform. Senator Bill Frist, MD, who is now a partner at Cressey & Company served as moderator...
KELLY PRICE |
Healthcare Enterprise: Health for K-12
ConnectivHealth's HealthTeacher Arms Instructors with Relevant Health CurriculumA walk down the hallways of most American schools these days is a stark reminder that childhood obesity in this country is on the rise.
Scott McQuigg, CEO of Brentwood-based ConnectivHealth, believes a product the company acquired last summer will help tackle that problem and other health concerns plaguing U.S. youngsters and teens...
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Statewide Project Seeks Physician Volunteers to Help Reduce Incidence of Kidney Failure
In August, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began their Chronic Kidney Disease Project across the U.S. to address the burden of the disease on the healthcare system. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 11 percent of the U.S. population over age 65. CKD is the ninth leading cause of death in the U.S. and the healthcare costs to Medicare are vast...
HOLLI W. HAYNIE |
Ben Vereen Shines a Spotlight on Diabetes
Iconic Entertainer Launches National Awareness CampaignBen Vereen, star of stage and screen, was just another frightened patient a year ago.
According to the Tony Award-winning actor, "I was feeling off for quite awhile. I was tired all the time. I couldn't focus. I was thirsty all the time. … everything was off … my whole system was off."
Hospitalized at the end of 2007, the lab report on his blood work uncovered a reason for his growing malaise. Like someone every 30 seconds around the country, Ben Vereen was diagnosed diabetic...
CINDY SANDERS |
Think Before You Speak
Recent Court Opinions Impact Physician Communication
This summer, the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued opinions within days of each other that clearly impact a physician’s communication with an employer’s legal representation in worker’s compensation cases and directly with a patient. In light of these new opinions, doctors should be aware that what they say could be used against them...
KEITH C. DENNEN |
Attacking Fragile X
Families with a young loved one diagnosed with Fragile X have a powerful resource in the Fragile X Clinic at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Founded in February, the clinic offers patients and families not only medical services, but also education and support to manage the genetic disorder's myriad symptoms...
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Getting Ahead of the Tax Man
The air and the apples are crisp, and football is in full swing. What time is it? Time for some serious tax planning before the end of the calendar year, according to CPA Keith Kamperschroer, immediate past president of Nashville-based HCAA, the National CPA Health Care Advisors Association...
SHARON H. FITZGERALD |
Reducing the Diabetes Epidemic
Diabetes is a serious health concern in our country, and the American Diabetes Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have the statistics to prove it.
Consider these alarming facts. In 2007, the CDC reported that 23.6 million Americans have diabetes, 5.7 million cases of which are undiagnosed. Diabetes cost our nation an estimated $174 billion last year alone … that’s more than the Iraq war...
LAWRENCE WOLFE, MD |
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