State Forces Physical Therapists to Wind Down ‘Dry Needling’ Treatment

Therapists’ decade-long practice to end; acupuncturists, other professionals accused them of performing ‘unlicensed acupuncture’.

from NJ Spotlight

Hundreds of New Jersey physical therapists now offering “dry needling” will no longer be able to treat their patients using this pain-relief technique come September, ending a nearly decade-long practice and easing concerns among acupuncturists who felt it infringed on their own profession.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Texas on Track to Become First State to Explicitly Back Stem Cell Therapies

For years, clinics across the country have been offering experimental stem cell therapies, but no state has given them legal validation—yet.

from STAT

Lawmakers in Austin have approved a bill authorizing unapproved stem cell therapies, putting Texas on track to become the first state to explicitly recognize the experimental treatments.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

New FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Unveils Price-fighting Strategies

The FDA can’t regulate drug prices, but it can implement measures aimed at deterring the types of price hikes that have made so many headlines over more than a year.

from FiercePharma

During the campaign and since the U.S. presidential election, President Donald Trump has pledged to bring down drug costs and, in some cases, railed against the industry for its pricing. Now, his new FDA commissioner is laying out some approaches the agency will take to fight high prices.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Millennial Physicians Sound off on State of Medicine Today

Some concerns relate to excessive paperwork, administrative burdens, EHR issues, bureaucratic issues, and government regulations, and medical school debt.

from AMA

Administrative burdens, career aspirations, the role of technology and work-life balance are just a few of the topics that 200 physicians age 35 and younger were asked to weigh in on recently. The survey of physicians providing at least 20 hours a week of direct patient care found that 56 percent report unhappiness with the current state of medicine and 34 percent say that the reality of practicing medicine is worse than they had expected. Yet 83 percent are committed to their medical careers and many harbor ambitions for how they can shape medicine over the course of their working lives.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Mindfulness Is the Key to Physician Burnout

Researchers have turned their attention on mindfulness benefits on physician burnout and physician stress relief and are finding promising results.

from KevinMD

Mindfulness has gained a lot of awareness and attention over the last few years as the medical community has set out to find strategies for prevention of physicians burnout. What has been coined “mindfulness-based stress reduction” or “mindfulness” is a principle proven long before medical researchers decided to reduce it to treatment strategy to promote acceptance among the physician community. This very useful tool today is becoming widely used in our community, where it was once viewed as “fluff” or “quackery.”

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

OH Expands Prescriptive Authority for Certain APRNs

This new “exclusionary” formulary applies to Ohio’s certified nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse midwives.

from The National Law Review

On May 17, the Ohio Board of Nursing adopted a new formulary which expands the prescriptive authority for certain of Ohio’s advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). Specifically, this new “exclusionary” formulary applies to Ohio’s certified nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse midwives. The new formulary was adopted pursuant to Ohio’s House Bill 216 (HB 216), which amended ORC § 4723.50 to require, in part, that the Board adopt a new exclusionary formulary permitting APRNs to prescribe any controlled substances except as prohibited by federal or state law, and except for drugs or devices to perform or induce abortions. The exclusionary formulary also provides that the APRN’s prescriptive authority shall not exceed that of the APRN’s collaborating physician or podiatrist.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

This Month, Everything Changed for PAs

After days of debate and years of dreaming, collaboration and study, an entire profession has embraced their future.

by Beth Smolko, MMS, PA-C

After days of debate and years of dreaming, collaboration and study, the resolution called “Optimal Team Practice” (OTP) came up for a vote in the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) House of Delegates (HOD). I remember hearing the Speaker call for all votes in favor and although there was a good response, I couldn’t tell if it was a majority. Then, the Speaker called for “all opposed” and there was silence. Pure, beautiful, silence. It was in that moment that an entire profession embraced their future.

In years past, a determined and legendary PA leader, David Mittman, started saying we needed Full Practice Authority/Responsibility in order for the PA profession to survive and thrive. Many PAs did not want to risk future PA legislation by angering physicians with FPA. We saw the fierce battles the NPs had to engage in and realized that we would have to fight the state Board of Medicine in almost every state without the same level of protection that comes from having your own state board (like nursing). As the years went on, we saw our nurse colleagues fight battle after battle, state after state, and even though the physician groups bemoaned their success, they didn’t cease to hire NPs. In the past year, it became clear that physician groups were actually preferentially hiring NPs due to the reduced administrative burden, over “dependent” practitioners like PAs. PAs who felt that physicians would continue to hire them due to PAs practicing in the same “medical model” or staying “in our place” were sadly mistaken. As physicians had increasingly become employees instead of solo practitioners, they no longer wanted the professional liability that comes from having to “supervise” another professional.

Almost two years ago, I led an advocacy team for primary care PAs (AFPPA) joining with the PAs for Tomorrow (PAFT) and Brian Sady (a passionate educator from Nevada who wrote a comprehensive white paper on FPA for PAs) to address PA practice authority. We worked diligently to create a resolution to bring to the 2016 AAPA HOD to introduce Full Practice Responsibility (FPR). There was vigorous debate on the house floor but ultimately the resolution was referred for further study. From this point, the HOD and AAPA Board of Directors (BOD) formed the Joint Task Force on the Future of PA Practice Authority (JTF). The JTF reflected the diversity found in our profession. It was made up of clinically practicing PAs, educators, state PA leaders, and two PAs who work for the Veterans Administration. It was a group that would have to come to consensus on ideas and language that would be best for our patients, our profession, and our stakeholders.

Over the past 10 months, the JTF worked with AAPA staff to create the most transparent and member-engagement driven process in our organization’s history. They sought to understand the wishes, needs, and will of their constituents. The concept was named Full Practice Authority and Responsibility (FPAR) and consisted of four “pillars”:

  1. Emphasize the PA profession’s continued commitment to team-based practice.
  2. Support the elimination of provisions in laws and regulations that require a PA to have and/or report a supervisory, collaborating, or other specific relationship with a physician in order to practice.
  3. Advocate for the establishment of autonomous state boards, with a voting membership comprised of a majority of PAs, to license, regulate, and discipline PAs.
  4. Ensure that PAs are eligible to be reimbursed directly by public and private insurance.

A survey was released on FPAR with over 12,000 PAs responding and over 71% in favor of the concept. The AAPA held calls with state chapters, specialty organizations, students, program directors, PA Administrators, past presidents and a variety of other PA leaders, as well as external stakeholders to field questions and explain the concept of FPAR. The AAPA also received thousands of emails, comments on social media, and letters regarding FPAR. PA leaders met with multiple physician organizations to discuss the proposal under consideration. By March, it appeared clear that this would be the way forward, but slow deliberation is the hallmark of PA leadership. During the Leadership and Advocacy Summit held in March 2017, we heard concerns from some attendees, including PA educators, which led to rethinking the name and some of the language originally proposed by the task force. As the pillars would directly impact AAPA’s Model State Legislation, they were added to the guidelines document as opposed to creating a “stand alone” resolution. The pillars were given a new name — “Optimal Team Practice” (OTP). This change in language gave some assurance to PAs that felt teamwork was important to emphasize. They wanted it to be clear that PAs weren’t going “rogue”, but rather wanted to be better teammates by not burdening any other teammate with “supervision”.

So, once again, I found myself on the floor of the HOD last week, asking for my colleagues to consider the future of our profession and the impact OTP would have on patient access to care. And after two days of debate, it ended in silence… followed by cheers, tears, and emotion unlike anything I’ve ever seen from our profession. It was a moment that changed everything – how PAs see themselves as a profession, where we belong in the healthcare landscape, and how we can expand access to care for our patients.


Beth Smolko is a certified PA with experience in primary care and occupational health and wellness. While in PA school, Beth volunteered in a mobile medical unit in Tucson, AZ which ignited her passion for bringing quality medical care to the underserved outside the walls of a clinic. Beth is a recognized leader in primary care with professional roles that include: Director-at-Large, American Academy of PAs (AAPA); Past President of the Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants (AFPPA); PA Representative at the 2013 and 2014 World Hepatitis Day meetings held at the White House; HCV Testing Recommendations Implementation Panel – Healthcare Providers (Centers for Disease Control). Participant representing PAs in the discussion on the Implementation of Hepatitis C Screening Recommendations for Patients born between 1945-65; Preceptor for George Washington University, Franklin Pierce and Salus University PA Programs. Preceptor for LECOM. Preceptor for University of Michigan Nurse Practitioner program; Guest lecturer for Mary Baldwin – Murphy Deming and George Washington University PA program speaking on “Pulmonary Disease” and “Family Medicine”; President and Founder of The Heart of Medicine, a non-profit connecting healthcare providers with patients desperately in need of care in Haiti.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

What Data-driven Healthcare Orgs Have in Common

It’s up to the analytics team to break the C-suite out of its old ways and get them engaged in the data.

from HealthcareITNews

Though it can be difficult to quantify just when a health organization has embraced analytics, but you usually can tell when its executives are engaged with the data.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Rural Americans, Hospitals Disproportionately Hurt by ACHA

Medicaid expansion was associated with a 4-percentage point increase in operating margins for rural hospitals.

from Healthcare Finance

There’s little doubt that the American Health Care Act, passed by the House this month, would raise the number of uninsured Americans, but a new analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that rural Americans, and the hospitals that serve them, would be hit especially hard.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Physician-owned Hospitals Have Positive Impact on Communities

As Congress grapples with the issues of the most expensive health care system in the world, we work to find solutions to reduce health care costs while improving value.

from Healio

Hospital-based care will always be a necessary component of health care, so improving value with better outcomes and higher patient satisfaction while lowering costs should be a priority. It remains curious that Section 6001 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibited the formation of new physician-owned hospitals (POHs) and the expansion of existing POHs, while no restrictions were placed on the growth of hospitals without physician ownership (non-POHs). According to the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program established by the ACA, seven of the top 10 and 40 of the top 100 hospitals were POH-based in 2017.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.