American College of Physicians

American College of Physicians & Philip A. Masters, MD

Physicians share same mission across cultures and countries

November 22, 2017Nov 22, 2017

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. As part of my role in International Programs at the American College of Physicians (ACP), I have a unique opportunity to travel frequently and engage with internists around…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

As part of my role in International Programs at the American College of Physicians (ACP), I have a unique opportunity to travel frequently and engage with internists around the world. In fact, I am writing this while almost 7,000 miles away from home, participating in the 4th Annual Qatar Internal Medicine Conference/Best of ACP’s …

Different perspectives but the same goal: providing the best possible care to patients

October 21, 2017Oct 21, 2017

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. For this column, my 61st for the American College of Physicians (ACP), I thought it would be interesting to look back at the first 60 and review the…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

For this column, my 61st for the American College of Physicians (ACP), I thought it would be interesting to look back at the first 60 and review the trends and topics that inspired me to write 800 to 900 words every month. Rather than scan the titles or reread the whole collection, I used …

Rising premiums, high deductibles, and gaps in coverage before the ACA

September 23, 2017Sep 23, 20172

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. By the time you read this, Congress will be in session and hopefully not engaged in another watermelon spitting contest on health care (I’d use a urological metaphor,…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

By the time you read this, Congress will be in session and hopefully not engaged in another watermelon spitting contest on health care (I’d use a urological metaphor, but there may be children in the room). If our Representatives and Senators choose to tackle this again, may it be in a thoughtful manner that …

Improving physician satisfaction by eliminating unnecessary practice burdens

August 23, 2017Aug 23, 20174

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. In April, the American College of Physicians (ACP) released a position paper titled Putting Patients First by Reducing Administrative Tasks in Health Care, published in the Annals of…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

In April, the American College of Physicians (ACP) released a position paper titled Putting Patients First by Reducing Administrative Tasks in Health Care, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The paper, part of ACP’s Patients Before Paperwork initiative, is a thoughtful look at the many administrative tasks …

A part of patient care that I was not taught in medical school

July 20, 2017Jul 20, 20173

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Recently, I’ve been thinking about how physicians express condolences. This weekend, I attended calling hours to visit with the family of a recently deceased patient. As I drove…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how physicians express condolences. This weekend, I attended calling hours to visit with the family of a recently deceased patient. As I drove back from the funeral home, I tried to recall when I started to attend my patients’ wakes, funerals, and Shiva observances, and why I began this …

A wealth of medical knowledge in a country that lacks resources

July 3, 2017Jul 3, 2017

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. For many years, I've wanted to visit Cuba. When travel restrictions to Cuba were relaxed a few years ago, I hoped that I would get there before the…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

For many years, I’ve wanted to visit Cuba. When travel restrictions to Cuba were relaxed a few years ago, I hoped that I would get there before the first Burger King opened in Havana. I had my chance in May, as a member of a delegation representing the American College of Physicians (ACP) that …

Drugs and prescribing

Averting a zombie prescription apocalypse

May 23, 2017May 23, 2017

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. One thing about me that even my closest friends are unaware of is that I am a zombie fighter. Unlike the ones in video games, TV series, or…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

One thing about me that even my closest friends are unaware of is that I am a zombie fighter. Unlike the ones in video games, TV series, or movies, the zombies that I fight in my practice are prescriptions that won’t die. They are prescriptions for discontinued drugs or old medication doses. These “zombie …

Are patients with minor ailments visiting the doctor too often?

April 28, 2017Apr 28, 20174

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Lately, I’ve been asking myself whether today’s patient is less able to self-manage minor illnesses than their parents or grandparents. That question was inspired by my review of…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Lately, I’ve been asking myself whether today’s patient is less able to self-manage minor illnesses than their parents or grandparents. That question was inspired by my review of notes from my patients’ visits with my nurse practitioners or to our after-hours clinic, as well as some of my own patient encounters.

My practice has done …

Drugs and prescribing

The pitfalls of prior authorization for prescription drugs

March 29, 2017Mar 29, 20177

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. One of the things that I dread the most about January 1 is that it’s the start of “prior authorization (PA) season” for prescription medications. It is time…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

One of the things that I dread the most about January 1 is that it’s the start of “prior authorization (PA) season” for prescription medications. It is time consuming and frustrating, plus it often jeopardizes patient safety and quality of care.

A recent Viewpoint in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) describes PA programs, …

PCMH recognition process isn’t easy but it is becoming more relevant and less burdensome

February 27, 2017Feb 27, 20177

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. When the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the other primary care societies introduced the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) over 10 years ago, the model was untested. Here’s…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

When the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the other primary care societies introduced the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) over 10 years ago, the model was untested. Here’s a look at how the PCMH recognition process has evolved and how my experience seeking recognition helped me in my role on the PCMH …

Workplace wellness program requirements should reflect High Value Care recommendations

January 26, 2017Jan 26, 2017

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. If you are a primary care physician, chances are that you’ve had patients ask you to complete forms for work as part of their employer’s wellness program. Workplace…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

If you are a primary care physician, chances are that you’ve had patients ask you to complete forms for work as part of their employer’s wellness program. Workplace wellness programs have been around for several years, but it seems that more of my patients have been participating since the adoption of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Although …

Will repeal and replace of the ACA move us forward or set us back?

December 18, 2016Dec 18, 20163

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. When the Trump Administration takes office, health reform as we now know it will not go away, but it will take a different form. I don’t think the…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

When the Trump Administration takes office, health reform as we now know it will not go away, but it will take a different form. I don’t think the changes will be as easy as opponents of the Affordable Care Act make them appear to be. It won’t be as simple as tearing down a …

How to provide individualized care in an era of standardized office processes and procedures

November 29, 2016Nov 29, 20163

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. It’s been several years since we transformed our practice into a patient-centered medical home and started to truly work as a team. As I’ve written before, working as…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

It’s been several years since we transformed our practice into a patient-centered medical home and started to truly work as a team. As I’ve written before, working as a team is one of the biggest reasons for my practice satisfaction increasing over the past few years.

While I am more satisfied with my …

Dr. Google isn’t all bad: Patient engagement might help outcomes

October 20, 2016Oct 20, 20166

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. It made the rounds on social media this winter: a photo of a coffee mug with the words “Please Do Not Confuse Your Google Search With My Medical…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

It made the rounds on social media this winter: a photo of a coffee mug with the words “Please Do Not Confuse Your Google Search With My Medical Degree.” Colleagues shared and retweeted it, feeling a sense of vindication. I have to admit that I had a chuckle over it as well. It was the …

Health technology

One action that could ease our EHR pain

One action that could ease our EHR pain

September 18, 2016Sep 18, 20166

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. This September, I reached a milestone, the tenth anniversary of my electronic health record (EHR) “go live.” Note that I did not write “I celebrated my tenth anniversary,”…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

This September, I reached a milestone, the tenth anniversary of my electronic health record (EHR) “go live.” Note that I did not write “I celebrated my tenth anniversary,” because while the event was the most disruptive change in over 25 years of practice, the word “celebrate” connotes something joyous, which EHR adoption was not. For that …

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Keep hierarchical condition categories in mind when you code

September 1, 2016Sep 1, 20163

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. This will not be another article focused on the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and its Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Everyone else is writing about…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

This will not be another article focused on the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and its Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Everyone else is writing about that. (But I can’t promise that I won’t mention MIPS at all.)

Hopefully, by now, most of you know what MACRA and MIPS are, but how many of you …

A doctor turns to social media for organ donation

July 29, 2016Jul 29, 2016

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. A couple of months ago I received a Facebook invitation to “like” a page. That was not unusual, and usually the pages are on silly or obscure topics,…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

A couple of months ago I received a Facebook invitation to “like” a page. That was not unusual, and usually the pages are on silly or obscure topics, but this page was different. The name of the page was New Kidney for Stu.

Stuart Himmelstein, MD, FACP, is one of my Facebook friends. Stu is …

Collaboration is vital to mission of professional medical societies

July 5, 2016Jul 5, 20165

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. “Before we end the meeting, I would like to thank our staff, without whom none of this would have been possible …” I can’t count how many times…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

“Before we end the meeting, I would like to thank our staff, without whom none of this would have been possible …” I can’t count how many times I said that or something similar when I was the American College of Physicians’ (ACP) Rhode Island Chapter Governor or Chair of the ACP Board of Regents or …

Picking up the pieces with the ACP’s Yul Ejnes

May 16, 2016May 16, 20163

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. When I accepted the invitation to write this monthly column for the American College of Physicians (ACP), I assumed it would be a one-year assignment. Even so, I…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

When I accepted the invitation to write this monthly column for the American College of Physicians (ACP), I assumed it would be a one-year assignment. Even so, I wondered if I could come up with a different topic each month. Now, over 40 columns and four years later, I guess that my fears were unfounded. Ideas …

The ever expanding list of reasons for a doctor’s note