By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Updated: 11:08p.m.Sunday,April1,2012

Published: 8:49p.m.Sunday,April1,2012

EL PASO The Rock Kiss bar, with its neon pink walls, stands a few steps from the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, the state's newest medical school. Although a sign advertises happy hour, the bar is shuttered, having been acquired by the growing school to make way for a parking lot, trees and shrubs.

Across the street, a children's hospital opened earlier this year, as did an adjacent women's hospital within a recently renovated county hospital.

Thus, in ways large and small, a sizable medical complex is emerging in El Paso, a high-desert city of 649,000 people along the border with Mexico and New Mexico.

Political, business and nonprofit leaders reached a consensus more than 10 years ago that educating medical students, treating patients and exploring biotechnology are essential to the future well-being of this area's people and economy. Several hundred million dollars from local tax proceeds, legislative appropriations and philanthropic donations have flowed into the effort.

Probably the singular thing here was to have a very consistent message that this is the most important thing to us," said Woody Hunt, a businessman and philanthropist who helped organize a 1998 economic summit that focused attention on the health care field following the collapse of the garment industry, which had been an economic mainstay.

Hunt added, "You've got to have vision. You've got to be organized. You've got to be patient."

More here:
El Paso medical school offers lessons for Austin's effort

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Mizzou wants to expand its medical school by partnering with both Mercy and Cox in Springfield.

This is in the planning phase but the hope is this partnership will help bring more doctors to rural areas of southwest Missouri.

A recent study says 90% of Missouri counties lack adequate access to physicians with Webster County being among most needy.

In a nutshell, Mizzou medical students will come to Springfield and do their residency with either Mercy or Cox. In 10-years, 51-medical students and 27-physicians will be in place in southwest Missouri.

MU says the Springfield "campus" would offer significant economic benefits to the state, create thousands of new jobs and expand medical care in rural counties.

The MU medical school now admits just 96 new students each year out of 1,500 applicants. That makes its enrollment about half those of such institutions such as the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and the medical school at Saint Louis University. ----

Edited news release from MU School of Medicine:

Medical Education Expansion Would Enhance Economy, Create Jobs Clinical Campus Supporters Announce Economic Impact and Investment Figures

A plan to improve health by expanding medical education in southwest Missouri would add more than $390 million annually to the states economy and create 3,500 new jobs. The economic growth figures were unveiled Friday at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce by supporters of establishing the citys first medical school clinical campus.

CoxHealth and Mercy Health Systems in Springfield and the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia are designing the campus to expand MUs medical student class size and meet the need for more physicians. More than 90 percent of Missouri counties lack adequate access to health care professionals. Missouri also ranks among the top 20 states in terms of the number of people 65 and older who will require more medical care as they age. While the number of elderly is expected to double by 2030, the number of physicians who care for aging patients with chronic illnesses is expected to decline.

Continued here:
MU medical school seeks to establish Springfield campus

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) Faced with a national shortage of rural physicians, heavy but unmet demand from would-be doctors and limited classroom space, the University of Missouri wants to expand its medical school with a second campus in Springfield.

The Columbia-based School of Medicine joined health care providers CoxHealth and Sisters of Mercy Health to support a clinical campus in southwest Missouri. The program would provide third- and fourth-year medical students who started their training in Columbia with hands-on experience treating patients at two Springfield hospitals, under the supervision of doctors at CoxHealth and St. Johns Hospital, which is owned by the Mercy Health system. The plan was outlined Friday afternoon at a news conference at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

You literally require more patients to build up a medical school, said Steve Edwards, president and chief executive officer for CoxHealth. And Springfield is one of the largest cities in the country without a medical school.

Most of the medical schools physical expansion would occur in Columbia, which now admits just 96 new students each year from 1,500 applicants.

That makes the medical school at the states largest university roughly half the size of peer institutions at St. Louis University, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and even the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine at A.T. Still University, in terms of student enrollment. Under the proposed expansion, Missouri would boost its first-year class by 32 students, a one-third increase.

And doctors trained in Columbia nearly 45 percent are more likely to remain in the state after they graduate, said Weldon Webb, associate dean for rural health at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

Were the No. 1 provider of practicing physicians in the state, even though we are one of the smaller programs in Missouri, he said.

Edwards and other boosters of the Springfield program note the region is growing faster than the rest of the state, particularly in the resort town of Branson and communities near Table Rock Lake. A recent Missouri Hospital

Association report shows the states rural areas have fewer primary care physicians per person than urban ones, with a disproportionate share of rural doctors approaching retirement age.

We forecast future needs that will outstrip our ability to serve the region, Edwards said.

Originally posted here:
MU medical school seeks Springfield campus

Former Temple University physician and medical school assistant dean Joseph J. Kubacki was sentenced in federal court Thursday to more than seven years in prison after being convicted by a jury of defrauding Medicare, private insurers, and patients by filing false medical claims.

Kubacki, 63, was convicted in August of 150 counts of health-care fraud, wire fraud, and making false statements in health-care matters. U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno also ordered Kubacki to repay Temple about $1 million and patients a total of $5,445 for co-pays they should not have been billed for.

Kubacki was chairman of the ophthalmology department at Temple University School of Medicine and also served as an assistant dean. According to prosecutors, he submitted false claims amounting to $4.5 million in charges for services to patients he did not see or evaluate between 1996 and 2007.

"Health-care fraud costs the public billions of dollars a year," U.S. Attorney Zane Memeger said in a statement. "But when an accomplished member of the medical profession perpetrates this type of fraud, the costs cannot be measured in dollars alone. Fraud erodes public trust, and today's sentence should send a message that regardless of your stature in society, the government will seek significant prison time for violating that trust."

Nick DiGiulio, special agent in charge for the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, said: "We rely on honest citizens and health-care workers to turn in dishonest people. We want people to call our hotline," 800-447-8477.

Temple personnel discovered Kubacki's actions and turned him in to prosecutors. Public and private insurers are being reimbursed by Temple nearly $1.8 million.

"Kubacki acted on his own initiative and in defiance of Temple's repeated compliance training about proper billing method," university spokesman Ray Betzner said via e-mail. "Temple trusted Kubacki, and Kubacki abused that trust."

Kubacki's attorney, Judson Aaron, said Kubacki's previously distinguished career ended as a "human tragedy."

Contact David Sell at 215-854-4506 or dsell@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @PhillyPharma. Read his "PhillyPharma" blog on philly.com.

Read more:
Ex-Temple med school official sentenced in fraud case

A FORMER Bristol Medical School lecturer and renowned researcher has failed to get a restraining order against him lifted.

Cardiac physiology specialist Dr Allan Levi is banned from making any contact with his ex-wife Dr Jackie Addison, who practises as a GP in Shirehampton.

A court heard the pair, who have three grown-up children, had an acrimonious divorce in 2001 after Dr Addison had an affair with their gardener, Gordon Strong. Following a number of offensive letters sent by Dr Levi to Dr Addison, her parents, sisters and work colleagues, a restraining order was imposed in May 2004.

Yesterday, Dr Levi represented himself as he made an application at North Somerset Magistrates' Court to lift or vary the order.

It bans him from any contact with his ex-wife except through solicitors for matrimonial matters and from going anywhere she resides or works. One aspect, "clause C", makes it an offence for Dr Levi to send any correspondence or documents concerning his relationship with Dr Addison or his relationship with his children to any person or organisation apart from his parents, sister or legal advisors. Since, 2004, he has also been banned from contacting Mr Strong in any way, and he also applied to lift that condition yesterday.

Dr Addison, of Easton-in-Gordano, told the court: "I feel the current restraining order, as it is, is sufficient to protect me from having to go through what I went through in 2003 and 2007 and I feel that if it was dismissed, something would happen again."

Asked by Paul Ricketts, on behalf of CPS, what her specific fears were, she added: "That he'll start again basically, which will cause huge distress to me and my family, and particularly the children."

Much of Dr Levi's argument focused on clause C, which he believes is severely damaging his medical career.

"It is greatly unjust and disproportionate," he said. "It is a very wide-ranging and unusual clause to have in a restraining order."

In September last year, the General Medical Council suspended the 56-year-old from practising medicine for a year. Significant factors in that decision were the harassment conviction and restraining orders, and a diagnosis from 1999 that he suffered from bipolar mental disorder.

Read this article:
Bristol Evening Post published Prominent doctor fails to overturn his ban on contacting former...

QUESTION: I drink coffee every day, sometimes as much as three or four cups. I also have heart disease. I'd hate to give up coffee, but I worry it may be adding to my heart trouble. Should I quit or cut down?

ANSWER: Coffee is popular because it tastes good, and it makes most people feel better. Perhaps that's why it's been blamed for innumerable woes. Some people assume that anything that feels good or tastes good must be bad for you.

Coffee has taken the rap for serious illnesses ranging from heart attacks and strokes to cancer of the pancreas. Careful studies have debunked these fears, but lingering concerns persist.

That's why coffee lovers will welcome a study that makes coffee seem a bit sweeter. The research was conducted in Israel, where coffee is nearly as popular as in the U.S.

Instead of testing coffee in a cup, a team of Israeli scientists evaluated its most notorious ingredient, caffeine. Their subjects were 80 volunteers with an average age of 53. Half the participants had stable coronary artery disease, while the others were free of cardiovascular disease; 83% were male.

Each volunteer underwent two tests, performed one to two weeks apart. On each occasion, endothelial function -- critical to vascular health -- was tested just before and again one hour after the individual swallowed a capsule containing the test substance. On one of the two tests, the capsule contained a placebo; on the other, it contained 200 milligrams of caffeine, about 2 1/2 times the amount in a typical cup of coffee.

Caffeine actually improved endothelial function. The improvement was substantial in both groups, but was greater in the healthy subjects than in the patients who had atherosclerosis. Caffeine did not affect the response to nitroglycerin, a standard drug for angina, in either group.

The study does not make coffee into a health food. But it does add to the large brew of scientific evidence that tells us coffee is safe for the heart. So, listen to your body; if it handles coffee well, then enjoy drinking it.

Have a question? Send it to harvard_adviser@hms.harvard.edu

Go here to read the rest:
Harvard Medical School Adviser: Research shows that coffee is safe for your heart

Cezanne Manor hails from Squaw Valley and is on her way to becoming a successful doctor.

At 15 years old, Manor began taking pre-med classes at Reedley College. Ten years later, she has graduated from medical school and is now preparing to enter a residency program in Arizona this June.

I knew I wanted to be a doctor ever since I was about 12 and my plan was to get started as early as possible, Manor said.

Manor entered Reedley High as a freshman in 2001, and before the start of her sophomore year, she had already taken and passed the California High School Proficiency Exam. Other than the golf team and Mrs. Merciers science class, Manor said most of the high school classes bored her and she was ready to accept a more difficult challenge. By the summer of 2002, Manor had enrolled in medical classes at Reedley College.

Since medical school is expensive, Manor has supplemented her income by working as a waitress at the Outback Steakhouse in New York City where she currently resides.

Manor is one of eight children born to Rhon and Sheri Manor of Squaw Valley. When Rhon would ask his young children what they wanted to be when they grew up, Manor would respond by saying that she wanted to be an artist since she loved to draw.

He told me that I was already an artist and that I needed to study something else in college. I loved science and always admired my family doctor, Manor said.

Manor said her parents have been one of her biggest sources of encouragement on her journey to becoming a doctor. Her father flew an F-16 at the Fresno Air National Guard. Her mother, having eight children, was a stay-at-home mom.

My father was very successful in everything he did. I always admired him for protecting our country and for his accomplishments in the air force and academically. He was the one who taught me that I could become anything in the world I wanted to be - even the President of the United States, Manor said.

Manor said her mother is an equally amazing person. She said her mothers example of patience, kindness, empathy and self sacrifice are the driving force behind her desire to become a doctor.

Read the original post:
Squaw Valley native prepares for graduation from medical school

Newswise NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Doctors at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School are the first in the tri-state region - and only the seventh nationally - to use laser ablation, a revolutionary, minimally invasive laser technology that utilizes light energy, to treat epilepsy.

Doctors successfully performed the first procedure in December 2011 on a 61-year-old man who had been suffering from epileptic seizures since childhood. The patient has been seizure-free since that time.

During the procedure, a team led by Shabbar Danish, M.D., Director, Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Assistant Professor of Surgery at UMDNJ-RWJMS, delivered laser energy through a 1/8 inch hole in the patient's skull to target the area of the brain that is responsible for causing the seizures. As light is delivered through the catheter-directed laser probe, temperatures in the targeted area begin to rise, gradually destroying the unwanted tissue in the frontal lobe portion of the brain, leaving the surrounding areas untouched.

The entry hole through the skull is about the size of the end of a pen and requires just one stitch and a small bandage following the procedure. Only local anesthesia is used. The patient returned home one day after the procedure and remains seizure free. Doctors will continue to monitor his progress over the next several months to determine if the procedure has permanently cured his seizures.

"Because laser ablation is a much less invasive approach than traditional surgery to treat epilepsy, it reduces the risk for many post-surgical complications such as infections, bleeding, speech difficulties and vision problems," Dr. Danish notes. "The recovery time is much shorter and in these cases, the patients returned home within one to two days."

According to Stephen Wong, M.D., an Assistant Professor of Neurology at UMDNJ-RWJMS and RWJUH who specializes in epilepsy and neurophysiology, the technology is an effective surgical alternative that provides new hope for epileptic patients whose seizures cannot be controlled with medications.

"As our first patient's seizures became more severe and frequent, he began to suffer from seizure-related psychotic episodes, which led to antipsychotic drugs and further medication-related side effects," Dr. Wong explains. "Due to his multiple medical complications, he was a poor candidate for the standard surgical resection. Without the laser procedure, the patient's quality of life and independence would continue to diminish over time."

Dr. Wong estimates that three million people suffer from epilepsy in the United States. Of that number, there are approximately 300,000 individuals who may require surgery to treat their seizures and who could potentially benefit from laser ablation.

A second procedure was successfully performed in February on a 27-year-old woman who also experienced epileptic seizures since childhood. She has been seizure-free for about one month.

Produced by Visualase, laser ablation is the latest addition to RWJUH and UMDNJ-RWJMS' growing expertise and capabilities in the division of neuroscience. The Neuroscience Department is dedicated to the research and treatment of a wide range of neurological disorders.

Read more here:
RWJUH, UMDNJ-RWJMS Doctors First in Tri-State to Treat Epilepsy with Laser Technology

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Boston Medical Center (BMC) and seven affiliated health centers will join Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) Alternative Quality Contract (AQC). The five year agreement combines a global budget with significant performance incentives based on nationally endorsed measures tied to quality, health outcomes, and patient experience. BMC will manage the growth in health care spending to a level that falls below BCBSMAs network average expense trend.

The AQC has become a national model for payment reform and we are pleased that Boston Medical Center has committed to working with us in a deeper, more collaborative way to lower the cost and improve the quality of the care they deliver to their patients, said Andrew Dreyfus, President and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. The agreement continues to validate that the AQC is an attractive model that can work for a variety of provider organizations including urban hospitals and community health centers - that are committed to lower the cost and improve the quality of health care.

BMC works with an extensive network of community health centers in Boston, including seven that will participate in the AQC contract: Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Greater Roslindale Medical & Dental Center, South Boston Community Health Center, South End Community Health Center, and Upham's Corner Health Center. By joining the AQC, BMC is not only committing to improving the cost and quality of care for patients that seek care at Boston Medical Center - they are committing to work with the seven health center partners to improve the quality and cost of care for patients receiving their care in a health center setting. The AQC contract will also include Boston Medical Centers community-based primary care physicians who are part of the Boston University Affiliated Physicians (BUAP) group. These practices are in Bostons Back Bay and South End, Foxboro, Norwood, and Taunton.

BMCs focus is providing high quality, affordable and accessible care to all our patients, and we work closely with our community health center partners to deliver on that high standard, whether its here at the hospital or in the community, said Kate Walsh, BMC President and CEO. Participating in this agreement together gives us an exciting opportunity to coordinate even more closely, and that will mean even better care for our BCBSMA patients.

East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) provides a range of high quality services to the communities we serve. BMC is a key partner in efficiently and effectively meeting the full spectrum of our patients health needs. Joining together in this agreement not only strengthens our ability to provide great care, its a model for the kind of innovation in health care delivery were all working toward, said John P. Cradock, EBNHC President and CEO.

This agreement brings nearly 800 additional physicians into the AQC who care for approximately 13,000 of BCBSMAs in-state HMO members. The AQC now has more than two-thirds of doctors in BCBSMAs in-state HMO network participating who provide care to approximately 76% of BCBSMA members.

With their significant gains in quality, AQC providers now significantly outperform the rest of BCBSMAs fee-for-service network on a comprehensive set of quality and outcome measures. This is particularly true in managing chronic illness, preventive care screenings and treating depression. Recent independent studies conducted by Harvard Medical School, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and Brandeis University, published in Health Affairs, found that the AQC is achieving its twin goals of improving care and slowing costs.

These studies found that in the first year of the AQC:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (www.bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. Celebrating our 75th anniversary in 2012, we are committed to working with others in a spirit of shared responsibility to make quality health care affordable. Consistent with our corporate promise to always put our members first, we are rated among the nations best health plans for member satisfaction and quality.

View post:
Boston Medical Center Joins Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Alternative Quality Contract

POMONA, CA--(Marketwire -03/28/12)- Dr. Kay Kalousek, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) associate dean and associate professor at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., is the first COMP graduate to become dean of an osteopathic medical school.

A.T. Still University (ATSU) announced on March 27, 2012 that Kalousek had been appointed dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (SOMA) in Mesa, Ariz. She will begin her duties on July 1.

Kalousek, who earned her DO degree from COMP in 1989 and her Master's in Health Professions Education in 1994, has been involved with COMP and WesternU for nearly 27 years, ever since she walked onto the campus as a student in 1985.

"Being involved in teaching and facilitating groups and getting more involved in academic medicine during my career has prepared me for my new role, because I've worn many different hats at COMP," Kalousek said. "Under the leadership and mentorship of COMP Dean Clinton Adams, who in my opinion is the best dean in all of the country, I've been able to learn what I would do as a dean and how to make a college successful. COMP certainly has become very successful."

Kalousek, DO, MS, MSHPE, AAHIVS, FACOFP, joined COMP part-time in 2000 and became full-time faculty in 2007.

Kalousek regularly volunteers her time for the underserved and has guided many students by teaching and being a preceptor. She has served several roles in non-profit organizations, including past service as chair of the board of the Foothill AIDS Project.

The City of Montclair named her Volunteer of the Year in 1993, the DO Class of 2006 honored her as Most Inspirational Faculty Member, and she has received many other awards.

In 2010, the California chapter of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) presented her with its Physician of the Year award.

Since COMP's opening in 1977 (the college became Western University of Health Sciences in 1996), the college's graduates have held or are holding many prestigious positions, but this is the first time a graduate of COMP will become dean of an osteopathic medical school, Dean Adams noted.

"Dr. Kalousek has prepared long and hard for this opportunity, having been a leader in the complete revamping of our curriculum to enhance our student-centered lifelong learning experience," said Adams. "She has frequently said 'I came back to COMP because I wanted it to be better than when I was here.'"

See more here:
Kalousek First COMP Graduate to Become Dean of an Osteopathic Medical School

By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff

Using a $30 million anonymous gift, Harvard Medical School has opened a center to redesign primary care and make the field more attractive to new doctors. As one of its first projects, the center is creating a new training program for residents.

The medical school said Wednesday that it has hired Dr. Russell S. Phillips, a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, as director of the Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care. Dr. Andrew L. Ellner was hired as co-director.

Phillips, 59, is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he co-leads a task force to improve transitions in care and reduce readmissions. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University School of Medicine.

Ellner, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, is an associate physician in the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Womens Hospital and the assistant medical director of the Phyllis Jen Center for Primary Care.

Phillips said in an interview last week that the center has started an Academic Innovations Collaborative that will provide more than $10 million in funding over two years to nine primary care teaching practices at six Harvard teaching hospitals, and to eight affiliated community health centers.

The money will help the hospitals redesign their curriculum so that residents train as part of small primary care teams, rather than see patients in a clinic one afternoon a week, largely on their own. This change is part of the strategy to make the fields of internal medicine, family practice, and pediatrics more attractive to new doctors.

Residents dont want to do primary care because its so solitary, Phillips said.

He said that most practices also plan to hire nurse care managers to help residents coordinate care for the most complex patients. Caring for these patients by themselves often feels overwhelming, and getting help from experienced nurses will make caring for these patients more manageable for residents, and also result in better outcomes for our patients, Phillips said.

The new training program will go into effect at the start of the 2013-2014 academic year.

See the original post here:
Harvard Medical School opens center for primary care, appoints director

March 28, 2012 Mini medical school FSHS students visit West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine

By Mary Wade Burnside Times West Virginian The Times West Virginian Wed Mar 28, 2012, 05:01 AM EDT

FAIRMONT Austin Patterson wants to pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon, and getting to perform such medical functions as an intubation putting a tube down an airway passage of a mannequin during a visit to the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine encouraged his dream.

We got to try two different tools to do it and decide which one we liked better and which one was easier,Patterson said.

Instead of deterring him from his desire to be an orthopedic surgeon an idea he

got from his godfather, who practices at United Hospital Center It influenced me more,said the Fairmont Senior High School student.

Patterson was among 13 Fairmont Senior students who traveled to the school, located in Lewisburg, to talk to current medical students and learn more about the types of scenarios and conditions that they will get to in the future if they do decide to pursue medicine as a career.

Full story

More:
‘Mini medical school’

Another piece of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus began to take shape Wednesday, as architects showcased their ideas for a new medical school at the corner of Main and High streets at the edge of downtown.

The University at Buffalo last month invited four teams to compete for the chance to design the new $375 million School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Wednesday the teams showed UB what they had to offer.

It was challenging, said David Rolland, project director for Rafael Vinoly Architects, which partnered with FoitAlbert Associates. But this is, as architects, what we love. We love the challenge.

UB is scheduled to break ground on the project in September 2013.

Each of the design teams, big-name firms with offices around the world, brought a different vision to the new medical school.

Pelli Clarke Pelli Associates and Cannon Design partnered to create a sleek building with lots of glass and a curved facade at the corner of Main and High.

Rafael Vinoly designed a 10-story, glass structure that included winter gardens and a circular staircase that winds its way throughout the inside of the building.

Grimshaw Architects and Davis Brody Bond designed a building shaped like two bars one a six-story, one nine-story with cascading glass connecting the two to draw in the natural light.

Helmuth, Obata & Kassabaum came up with a masonry and glass building that would incorporate retail on the ground floor to draw in the public along Main Street.

We see it as an opportunity to create activity on the street, said Ken Drucker, design partner with HOK.

Excerpt from:
Medical school designs unveiled

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University has tapped a veteran kidney disease researcher from Ohio to take over as dean of its struggling medical school.

Dr. Joseph Shapiro, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, will step in as Marshall's medical dean on July 1. The Marshall medical school faces big staffing and curriculum problems identified by its primary accrediting body.

"I'm truly excited and enthralled with the opportunity to lead this terrific medical school into the future," Shapiro told a large audience at Marshall's campus on Tuesday. "We face some challenges, some might say crisis, but out of crisis we're going to find opportunity to serve the population of West Virginia and make this part of the world a better place."

The School of Medicine was placed on probation in June by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for a lack of diversity, lack of scholarly activity, a poorly integrated curriculum and a breakdown in student advising.

"Our real problem was infrastructure," said Dr. Robert Nerhood, interim dean of the School of Medicine. "We had too few faculty to do too much, and a consequence of that was that some things didn't get done."

The LCME identified 10 areas of concern in a June 15 letter to Marshall University President Stephen Kopp, among them a lack of debt counseling and career advising.

According to the letter, 32 percent of students who graduated in 2010 left the school with debt of more than $200,000.

The school has two years to correct the problems and must tell all new students about the accreditation problems. Marshall appealed the LCME accreditation decision in October, but their request was denied.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University has tapped a veteran kidney disease researcher from Ohio to take over as dean of its struggling medical school.

Dr. Joseph Shapiro, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, will step in as Marshall's medical dean on July 1. The Marshall medical school faces big staffing and curriculum problems identified by its primary accrediting body.

The rest is here:
MU names new medical school dean

by: Tyler North on March 28, 2012

Med school employees Scott Kimberlin and Sage Bates make their way to the Neurosurgery Department Tuesday at the School of Medicine.

The School of Medicine was recently denied funding for a class size increase by the Utah Legislature.

Currently, the School of Medicine accepts 82 students per year to its program, a drop of 20 students from 2010. Lack of funding and many other reasons caused the school to decrease its size during the past two years.

In the recent legislative session, higher education in Utah received an overall boost in the budget, but the School of Medicines initiative was turned down.

I was disappointed we didnt fund the medical school, but that is not to say we didnt give plenty to higher education, said Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, who supported the School of Medicines initiative. We helped higher education by increasing the budget by three percent.

Utah is ranked No. 46 nationally in the number of physicians per population with the projection for physician supply worsening in the future, according to the School of Medicines web page.

We really do have a shortage of physicians and especially in pediatrics and rural areas, said Chris Nelson, Health Sciences spokesman. For this reason, our top priority is to grow the class size over the next two years.

The School of Medicine received 1,500 applicants for its 82 positions in 2011. Under the proposed plan, the School of Medicine first intends to restore class sizes to 102 students and then increase accepted applicants to 122 as soon as possible.

Just to restore it back to 102 is $6 million per year, Nelson said.

See the rest here:
Medical school denied funding to increase class size

More U. doctors

The shortage of seats in the University of Utah medical school means that some of the Beehive States brightest youths will leave for medical school elsewhere and the potential for Utah to add to its pool of primary-care doctors will shrink.

The state so far has not seen a critical shortage of primary-care doctors, even though doctors in Utah are paid only two-thirds the national average, but that could change quickly. Rural areas already have a hard time keeping physicians in town.

The Utah Legislature decided not to restore the U. medical school classes to 102, an increase of 20 over the current number, set in 2010 because of declining revenue. The U. medical school gets just 4 percent of its budget from state funds, while the national mean for public university medical schools is 14 percent.

U. administrators say the medical school, the only one for 500 miles, should have an enrollment of 122 per class and they have proposed a deal to share costs that would increase annual contributions from state coffers by $9.6 million and from the U.s clinical departments by $12 million.

That is a sensible way to prevent Utah finding itself with a critical shortage of "family doctors," who are the first line of defense in health care, as other states are facing. Besides the low medical-school enrollment, the states relatively low pay for physicians, especially those in primary care, could mean more undergraduates leaving Utah to study and then practice elsewhere.

The alternative of raising tuition would result in medical-school graduates going deeper in debt to finance their training and then potentially being lured into medical specialties, rather than family practice, in order to repay loans and support families.

The Legislature was generous in filling some requests from higher education officials in its session just ended. But the university is farsighted in continuing to press for additional medical school funding to boost enrollment.

Its important to those bright young Utahns who want to train and practice as doctors in their home state so they can raise their families here. The U. recognizes that and reserves 70 percent of slots for Utah residents.

And its important, not only to families with children but also the growing elder population. The number of Utahns65andolder is expected grow by 50 percent between 2000 and2015, and by 155 percent by 2030. Their need for medical services will grow just as fast. The state has a duty to meet those needs.

See the article here:
More U. doctors

Based on Research by UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Physician

Newswise New Brunswick, NJ -- The transfusion of red blood cells is a common treatment in clinical practice. However, the level at which they are transfused varies based not only on a patients health, but also is determined by what the administering physician deems appropriate. Today, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) has issued new guidelines, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, recommending that transfusion of red blood cells be considered at a hemoglobin threshold of 7 to 8 g/dL for stable adults and children. This recommendation to use a restrictive approach not only saves blood, but also reduces the costs related to unnecessary transfusions.

A systematic review of published research determined that a restrictive approach to red blood cell transfusions would provide the best clinical outcomes for patients without causing harm, said Jeffrey L. Carson, the Richard C. Reynolds Professor of Medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who chaired the guideline committee and is the first author of the guidelines found at: Red Blood Cell Transfusion: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the AABB (http://www.annals.org/content/early/2012/03/26/0003-4819-156-12-201206190-00429?aimhp). It is important however that physicians consider other clinical conditions when determining transfusion levels to ensure patient safety.

The AABB recommendations four in all are based on the systematic review of research published from 1950 to 2011 which examines the proportion of patients, both adult and children, who received any red blood cell transfusion for medical or surgical reasons, and the number of red blood cell units transfused. The guidelines also recommend a restrictive transfusion approach for patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease but indicate that it is unknown when transfusion should be given to a patient hospitalized for a heart attack. The fourth guideline recommends that the patients symptoms, in addition to hemoglobin levels, be considered when determining transfusion levels.

Dr. Carson was the study chair for the Transfusion Trigger Trial for Functional Outcomes in Cardiovascular Patients Undergoing Surgical Hip Fracture Repair, known as FOCUS, the results of which were published in December 2011 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results of FOCUS contributed to these guidelines as did two previously published systematic reviews of research by Dr. Carson and colleagues.

Dr. Carson developed the guidelines along with specialists in cardiology, pediatrics, critical care medicine, trauma and anesthesia who formed a 20-member panel of experts.

About UMDNJ-ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL

As one of the nations leading comprehensive medical schools, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, health care delivery, and the promotion of community health. In cooperation with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical schools principal affiliate, they comprise one of the nation's premier academic medical centers. In addition, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has 34 other hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites throughout the region.

As one of the eight schools of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with 2,800 full-time and volunteer faculty, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School encompasses 22 basic science and clinical departments, hosts centers and institutes including The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. The medical school maintains educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels for more than 1,500 students on its campuses in New Brunswick, Piscataway, and Camden, and provides continuing education courses for health care professionals and community education programs. To learn more about UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, log on to rwjms.umdnj.edu. Find us online at http://www.Facebook.com/RWJMS and http://www.twitter.com/UMDNJ_RWJMS.

Originally posted here:
New Guidelines Issued for Red Blood Cell Transfusions

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Dr. Joseph I. Shapiro was named dean of Marshall University's medical school on Tuesday.

Shapiro currently serves as associate dean for business development and medical chairman at the University of Toledo's College of Medicine. He was picked through a nationwide search that started last summer.

"It is a great honor and privilege to be associated with this fabulous organization, and I firmly believe that the coming years will present great opportunity for the school to expand its purview in the areas of education, research and service as we pursue our mission to improve the health of West Virginia," Shapiro said.

Shapiro's appointment comes five months after an accrediting body placed the medical school on probation due to noncompliance with accreditation standards in several areas.

Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp highlighted Shapiro's work in academic medicine, research knowledge and clinical and business experience.

"More than anything else, however, we believe he embraces the ideals that distinguish our School of Medicine, and he knows the direction we must take to continue to build on the great tradition and proud heritage at Marshall," Kopp said.

Shapiro has more than 30 years of clinical and teaching experience and specializes in kidney care. He succeeds Dr. Robert C. Nerhood, who had been serving as interim dean of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.

Dr. Charles McKown stepped down as dean last year to become the Huntington school's vice president for health sciences advancement.

Shapiro has served as an investigator on nearly three dozen grant-funded projects totaling more than $30 million. He has been involved with the creation of three spin-off companies from that research. In addition, he holds patents on 14 medical inventions and has written more than 100 research articles.

In October, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education denied Marshall's appeal of its June 2011 recommendation of probation for the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. Under the committee's rules of procedure, programs on probation retain their accreditation. But the committee can revoke the accreditation if any noncompliance is detected within a two-year period.

Read the rest here:
Shapiro named Marshall medical school dean

Officials are pondering a plan that would bring third- and fourth-year medical students from the USC School of Medicine to study in Florence beginning in 2014.

Officials from Francis Marion University, McLeod Regional Medical Center and the Carolinas Hospital System are pondering a plan that would bring third- and fourth-year medical students from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine to study in Florence beginning in 2014.

A meeting last week with an outside consultant was designed to give the participants a financial framework for the plan. The institutions involved would need to hire additional teaching and supervisory staff. The students 25 to begin with, with as many as 60 at some later date would work and study at Florence-area hospitals their last two years of medical school at USC.

The idea of opening a med school practicum in Florence stems from the recent decision to create a branch of the USC Med School in Greenville. The USC School of Medicine-Greenville is scheduled to enroll its first class of students this fall. When those students begin their third year in the new program, they will displace the nearly 60 USC students who currently complete their third and fourth years of study in Greenville.

Because the new Greenville school represents an expansion of the USC School of Medicines enrollment, the school will need to find a new place for those students.

Local officials here say Florence is a natural choice. The Pee Dee area is about to become the only area of the state without a med school (the state will have medical schools in Columbia and Charleston, as well as the new school in Greenville), and Florence already has extensive medical facilities.

It would be a great fit, said Dr. Eddie Floyd, a local cardiologist and philanthropist who is shepherding the plan. Were all working together on this and it will really enhance what we have to offer, both as a city and a medical community.

MCT

See the original post here:
USC medical school student could work in Florence

John Hopkins Medicine, one of the top medical institutions in the United States, is exploring the possibility of opening a Medical School in Malta to offer medical courses to local and foreign students. John Hopkins Medicine is considering buying St Philips Hospital which can house up to 120 beds but as that will not be enough to provide the wide range of patients needed for a proper medical education, an arrangement would have to be reached with Mater Dei Hospital and the Medical School of the University of Malta to provide access to at least another 100 patients.

The University of Malta resisted a similar attempt by the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) to open an international medical school in Malta. RCSI also needed access to Mater Dei Hospital for its medical students. The University of Malta had proposed the opening of another medical school together with St Georges University of London but this proposal got nowhere. While RCSI were ready to invest in Malta, St Georges did not have the money to do so.

Last May the Ministry of Health commissioned John Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) to carry out a systems revue and needs assessment at Mater Dei Hospital with the aim of enhancing hospital efficiency to continue to improve access and the quality of service delivered to Maltese patients.

The Maltese government had said that this is in line with its stated objective that Malta should become a healthcare centre-of-excellence for the Mediterranean region within the wider context of Vision 2015.

Government had been also considering contracting John Hopkins Medicine International to manage Mater Dei Hospital but has given up the idea as the management fee was going to cost 10 million a year.

Continue reading here:
John Hopkins consider opening a Medical School in Malta