For 35 years, this town’s residents have brought all manner of illnesses, aches, and worries to Kevin de Regnier’s storefront clinic on the courthouse square — and he loves them for it.
De Regnier is an osteopathic physician who chose to run a family practice in a small community. Many of his patients have been with him for years. Many have chronic health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or mental health struggles, which he helps manage before they become critical.
Quality and cost of care were similar between allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) physicians who care for older patients in hospital settings, according to a retrospective observational study.
Of over 300,000 Medicare admissions, the adjusted 30-day mortality rate was similar between MDs (9.4%) and DOs (9.5%), with an average marginal effect (AME) of -0.1 percentage point (95% CI, -0.4 to 0.1, P=0.36), reported Atsushi Miyawaki, MD, PhD, of the University of Tokyo in Japan, and co-authors.
Some racial and ethnic groups are underrepresented in the medical field because they face unique barriers to admission to medical school. One admission requirement that can present a barrier for applicants is the physician letter of recommendation (PLOR). Undergraduate students report confusion with the application process and lack of mentorship to be two of their biggest challenges to becoming a doctor. It is especially challenging to those who already have limited access to practicing physicians. Therefore, we hypothesized that in the presence of a PLOR requirement, the diversity of students who apply and matriculate into medical school will be decreased.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently published the requirements for training for the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act. These requirements are tied to practitioners’ initial or renewal DEA registration starting June 27, 2023, and the only exception is a practitioner that is solely a veterinarian.
Under the MATE Act, practitioners must complete at least eight hours of training on opioid or other substance use disorders, as well as the safe pharmacological management of dental pain. The education requirement can be met in one of three ways:
February 24, 2023 the Drug Enforcement Administration announced proposed permanent rules for the prescribing of controlled medications via telemedicine, expanding patient access to critical therapies beyond the scheduled end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The public will be able to comment for 30 days on the proposed rules.
The proposed rules – developed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and in close coordination with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – propose to extend many of the flexibilities adopted during the public health emergency with appropriate safeguards.
Diego Dominguez’ trail to becoming an Oklahoma State University Scholar in Urban Medicine and a third-year medical student started years ago when he was just 12 years old on his first visit to a doctor after moving from El Salvador to his new home in the United States. That visit did not go well.
“I couldn’t explain my symptoms in a different language and unlike the other patients at the clinic I didn’t have anyone to translate for me,” Dominguez recalls.
But now, doctors will have to take substance use disorder training to get their DEA license. The Biden administration’s recent spending bill contained under-the-radar changes for addiction medicine, including eliminating the X waiver requirement for clinicians who treat opioid use disorder with medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
Since the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, we have seen the introduction of new regulations that apply to healthcare entities — and a relaxing of others. While some COVID-era changes may permanently remain in place, such as rules related to telemedicine, others are temporary or may have already ended. Healthcare providers need to be alert for temporary changes that are coming to an end and need to also confirm that they have properly understood any waivers or changes in the law on which they previously relied.
Hard thresholds for pain medication doses and duration are no longer promoted through the CDC’s new Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain. The new guidance — which covers acute, subacute, and chronic pain for primary care and other clinicians — updates and replaces the controversial 2016 CDC opioid guideline for chronic pain.
Abortion Guidelines for Oklahoma osteopathic physicians were approved by the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners at its September 15, 2022, Special Board Meeting.
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