Normally I would do this in a regular
blog, but it is becoming so disheartening the way the American
Association of Clinical Endocrinologists is not updating the list of
approved diabetes resources, that I must entreat them to add a few
resources. It seems that a few of those on the current list are
getting less traffic now than before they became listed.
Not only are they not listing
additional resources, but now they will have to factor in the changes
of the American Dietetic Association (past name) to Academy of
Nutrition and Dietetics (current name) and their way of taking over
the field of nutrition and forcing many in that profession to change
to other professional organizations to be able to give nutritional
advice to people in need.
I also think if the AACE cannot decide
whether there are more websites that they can approve, then it is
time to take down the page and stop portraying these as the only
approved sites. I know there are other sites that deserve being
mentioned and I will continue to visit them. Even professional
organizations should act professionally. By not keeping their
website vibrant and updated, they are doing a disservice to
themselves and their profession. This says nothing about the
patients that could benefit from some of the listings.
The site page listing the approved websites
became active on September 27, 2011 and has not added another approve
site since. Granted, the “experts” are probably busy earning a
living, but does it take almost eight months with no additions. I am
sorry, but this does not make for good public relations. I will
continue to call attention to inaction on the part of the AACE.
Endocrinologists should also be reminding their association that more
needs to be done to expand the list as this could help them proudly
point to the list of approved sites.
This is a very disturbing article to
read. I had high hopes for telemedicine and thought it could be very
useful in some cases. “In response to concerns about
tele-medicine’s effect on patient safety, many states have begun
prohibiting physicians from prescribing drugs without conducting a
prior physical examination. In fact, more than 30 states have
instituted this type of rule since 1998.” Apparently, some
physicians and lawmakers do not want this to happen.
The laws in these states mandate that
the patient be examined by physician before they can prescribe any
drugs. This physical examination requirement (PER) has potential
far-reaching effects for future programs. This may also be something
that can be expanded to counter act the proposed FDA in their
approval of over the counter (OTC) medications. It will be
interesting to see how this plays out and if physicians can encourage
lawmakers to expand these state laws.
Just the fact that the current
regulations are costing lives should start making headlines, but will
the news media even go there. This is something that needs attention
of more bloggers, medical and patient. Also, read this by Jason
Shafrin.
The last item is even bigger that the
author may realize. He is talking about accountable care
organizations (ACOs) that came into being under the Accountable Care
Act of 2010. We should learn in June the possible outcome of these
and much more when the US Supreme Court announces their decision.
Will we still have ACOs or will they be a thing of the past. There
have been many articles about the good and bad sides to ACOs and I
chose this as one of the more positive writings
Unfortunately, what many writing about
ACOs and like this one about health information technology (HIT) seem
to ignore is the fact that health information technology is part of a
law passed prior to 2010 to put computers in medicine so this will
continue to be with us. Whether we like electronic medical records,
electronic health records or other electronic care records, these are
here to stay.
What we need is greater electronic
security for our electronic medical records to prevent other people
from gaining access to them and getting medical help at our expense.
Yet this always takes a back seat in any discussion of the pros and
cons of medical databases.
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