Lyme disease is endemic to our state, and residents are at high risk. Exactly what is Lyme disease? How is it transmitted? How can we protect ourselves from this infectious disease? And what treatments are available for those who do get the disease?

Guest: Martin Kafina, M.D.

Host: Bruce Karlin, M.D.

For more information on Physician Focus, visit: www.massmed.org/physicianfocus

Co-produced with Hopkinton Community Access Television, HCAM-TV, Hopkinton Mass.

Listen to the podcast (Length 26:43) (This will open your computer’s default media player in a new window)

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The incidence of such conditions as asthma, bullying and violence, and sexually transmitted diseases among school children is high and increasing. Seasonal and swine flu add to the burdens of medical directors and school nurses who provide front-line care for students. Yet budgets are strained and school nurses are in short supply across the state and the nation. Nationally, only 45 percent of public schools have their own full-time nurse, another 30 percent have a part-time nurse, and a quarter don’t have any nurses at all.

What challenges face those responsible for student health? What does the shortage of nurses mean for students? And what can be done to improve health care in the schools?

Guests: Kathy Hassey, B.S.N., M.Ed., Director, School Health Institute Northeastern University; Past President, Mass. School Nurses Organization and Linda Grant, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Director, Boston Public Schools; Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine

Host: Lynda Young, M.D.

For more information on Physician Focus, visit: www.massmed.org/physicianfocus

Co-produced with Hopkinton Community Access Television, HCAM-TV, Hopkinton Mass.

Listen to the podcast (Length 26:43) (This will open your computer’s default media player in a new window)

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Katherine Treadway, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, gave an inspiring presentation this month at the MMS Ethics Forum.

Her talk, “Matter of the Heart: Humanism in Practice” made a compelling argument for returning humanism to the center of medical care.

Listen to the podcast (Length 1:07:45) (This will open your computer’s default media player in a new window)

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Massachusetts Medical Society President Mario Motta, MD, kicked off the Interim Meeting of the Society’s House of Delegates with remarks urging physicians to remain deeply involved in federal and state health reform efforts.

“Do not fear change and the future,” he said. “Get involved, be active. Let us be the architects of our future and the creation of a better health care system.”

Listen to the podcast (Length 8:57) (This will open your computer’s default media player in a new window)

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders of childhood, affecting some 4.5 million children 5-17 years of age in the United States. Here in Massachusetts, nearly 10 percent of children have been diagnosed with the condition, which affects behavior, emotions, attentiveness, and learning. What causes this disorder? What are the signs a child may have it? What should parents do if they suspect their child has ADHD? And what kinds of treatments are available?

Host: Lynda Young, M.D.

Guest: Alison Schonwald, M.D., Medical Director, Developmental Behavioral Outreach, Children’s Hospital Boston

Co-produced with Hopkinton Community Access Television, HCAM-TV, Hopkinton Mass.

Listen to the podcast (Length 26:43) (This will open your computer’s default media player in a new window)

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The Flu: What You Should Know brings physicians and public health officials together in presenting information on the dangers of H1N1 swine flu and seasonal flu, vaccine safety and supply, how to protect against the infections, and what to do if you get sick.

Guests on the program include John Auerbach, Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner; Lauren Smith, M.D., a pediatrician and medical director for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; and Erin Tracy, M.D., an obstetrician-gynecologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Section of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Hosting the show is Bruce Karlin, M.D., a primary care physician in Worcester and Vice Chair of the Medical Society’s Communications Committee.

Co-produced with Hopkinton Community Access Television, HCAM-TV, Hopkinton Mass.

Listen to the podcast (Length 27:58) (This will open your computer’s default media player in a new window)

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November’s edition of Physician Focus examines the skills and responsibilities of the anesthesiologist and the specialty’s impact and influence on patient care.  Skill in the operating room is but one aspect of anesthesiologists’ activities; they also play key roles in patient care, pain management, and critical care medicine. And the specialty has been a leader in local and national efforts in the all-important area of patient safety. 

Guests are David Hepner, M.D., Associate Director of the Weiner Center for Preoperative Evaluation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston; Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School; and President of the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists; and Michael Entrup, M.D., a physician with Providence Anesthesiologists, Inc., Chair of the Communications Committee of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and a past president of the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists. Host for this edition is John Fromson, M.D., Associate Director of Postgraduate Medical Education at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Co-produced with Hopkinton Community Television, HCAM-TV, Hopkinton Mass., Physician Focus is distributed to public access television stations across Massachusetts and is available for online viewing at www.physicianfocus.org

Listen to the podcast (Length 26:06) (This will open your computer’s default media player in a new window)

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The six state medical societies of New England sponsored a webinar to inform physicians and medical office staff about a national auditing program that will impact health care providers. This session described the national Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program, a component of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006. 

The goal of the RAC is to identify improper payments made on claims of health care services provided to Medicare beneficiaries.  Improper payments may be overpayments or underpayments.

• Overpayments can occur when health care providers submit claims that do not meet Medicare’s coding or medical necessity policies.
• Underpayments can occur when health care providers submit claims for a simple procedure but the medical record reveals that a more complicated procedure was actually performed.

Health care providers that might be reviewed include hospitals, physician practices, nursing homes, home health agencies, durable medical equipment suppliers and any other provider or supplier that bills Medicare Parts A and B.

Presenters included representatives from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Diversified Collection Services Inc., the contractor for the RAC program in New England.

Listen to the Question & Answer Session:

Answers were provided by Ebony Brandon and Gia Lawrence from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Catherine Till from Diversified Collection Services.

Listen to the podcast (Length 36:17) (This will open your computer's default media player in a new window)

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Physical disability can affect patients of any age and arise from many sources. Among the causes are sports injuries, conditions affecting the muscular and skeletal systems, neurological trauma such as head or spinal cord injury, stroke, or neck and back pain. The medical specialty that diagnoses and treats such disabilities is called physical medicine and rehabilitation or physiatry.

What are the effects on patients who suffer such conditions? How are rehabilitation programs developed? What can patients expect in undergoing such regimens? How do physicians go about treating these patients and restoring them back to health?  And what are the main health concerns of people with disabilities?

Guests: Edward Phillips, M.D., Director, Outpatient Medical Services, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital; Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School and Carina O’Neill, D.O., Medical Director, Spaulding Rehabilitation Center-Braintree; Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Host: Bruce Karlin, M.D

Co-produced with Hopkinton Community Access Television, HCAM-TV, Hopkinton Mass.

Listen to the podcast (Length 26:22) (This will open your computer's default media player in a new window)

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Integrative medicine is a new approach to care, combining conventional or evidence-based medical therapies with complementary or alternative treatments such as acupuncture, biofeedback, stress reduction, or herbal medicines. Such an approach is growing in a variety of health care settings.

How much do we know about such methods? Are they effective? What is the current thinking of medical doctors about integrative, complimentary and alternative medicine? And how and when should a patient decide on such treatments?

Host: Bruce Karlin, M.D.

Guest: Harvey Zarren, M.D., President, Integrative Medicine Alliance

Co-produced with Hopkinton Community Access Television, HCAM-TV, Hopkinton Mass.

Listen to the podcast (Length 26:19) (This will open your computer's default media player in a new window)

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