Obesity Rivals Tobacco in Impact
Obesity's impact on America's health rivals that of tobacco use in terms of morbidity and related health risk, according to a report from the President's Cancer Panel, a division of the National Cancer Institute. The report cited research showing overall cancer death rates are 50%–60% higher among the obese, and said that two-thirds of all cancer deaths could be prevented through changes in lifestyle. However, the panel said there are policy, industry and cultural barriers that prevent the public from making the changes necessary to reduce cancer risk. For example, the panel noted a lack of adequate sidewalks and safe recreational areas, along with worsening physical education in schools and federal subsidies for foods that contribute to obesity. The report urged physicians to increase efforts to educate patients about weight management, and recommended changes in reimbursement to enable such counseling. “To minimize the growing financial burden that cancer inflicts on our nation, we must dramatically increase our focus on disease prevention and ensure that preventive services, including nutrition and physical activity interventions, become an integral and reimbursable component of primary care,” the panel said in a letter to President Bush.
AAFP, ACP to Test Medical Home
The American Academy of Family Physicians. the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of Pediatrics will join with the UnitedHealth Group to test the concept of a patient-centered medical home. UnitedHealth Group will provide financial and administrative support for the project, which will be conducted with six Florida-based small and mid-sized general internal medicine groups. Practices will have to demonstrate that they have the infrastructure and personnel to provide patient-centered care, and United will provide additional payments to the physicians whose care is based on the model and who demonstrate measurable improvements in the overall health of their patients. The organizations involved in the pilot expressed hope that the results will help determine how to refine and expand the use of the patient-centered medical home concept. “This is what physicians-in-training signed up for when they elected to become internists and this is the care that patients want and deserve,” said ACP Florida chapter governor Dr. Kay Mitchell in a statement.
DTC Spending Triples
Spending on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising by the pharmaceutical industry has more than tripled in the last decade, despite criticism and regulatory action designed to curb it, according to a study in the Aug. 16 New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers analyzed the pharmaceutical industry's spending on DTC advertising and promotions to physicians, and found that total real spending on drug promotions almost tripled, from more than $11 billion to almost $30 billion, between 1996 and 2005. Most of the spending was aimed at physicians. But over the past 9 years, spending on DTC ads and free samples has risen has a percentage of the overall promotional budget, while promotional investment in professional journals has fallen. Real spending on DTC advertising increased by 330% from 1996 to 2005, the researchers found. That spending was concentrated among a relatively small number of brands; the 20 drugs with the highest spending made up more than half of total industry spending on DTC ads in 2005, the study found. Most of these were new drugs used to treat chronic conditions, and nearly all ad campaigns for the most heavily advertised drugs began within a year of the drugs' Food and Drug Administration approval.
ABIM Quality Program Adopted
Four large national health care organizations are using the American Board of Internal Medicine's Maintenance of Certification program to recognize and reward quality care, the ABIM said. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, CIGNA HealthCare, Humana, and Wellpoint Inc., will incorporate ABIM's tools into their quality recognition programs. Internists who regularly complete an ABIM Practice Improvement Module (PIM) can authorize ABIM to send verification of these completed Web-based quality improvement modules to health plans participating in the program. Physicians participating in programs offered by the insurers and the Blues association will receive special recognition in provider directories.
Physical Activity Bill Introduced
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) have introduced a bill to mandate more physical activity for schoolchildren. The Fitness Integrated With Teaching Kids (FIT Kids) Act would add physical education to the ways of determining accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act. States would be graded on how well they worked to meet a target for required physical education of 150 minutes per week in elementary schools and 225 minutes per week for middle- and high-school students. Schools would be required to report their progress. “The statistics on childhood obesity are staggering, and we need to get them going in the other direction,” Rep. Wamp said in a statement. “Research shows that healthy children learn more effectively and achieve more academically. The FIT Kids Act would ensure a strong emphasis on physical education to help bolster academic performance and provide students with the physical activity and education to lead healthy lifestyles.”