It Pay$ to Learn Procedures

Most generalist physicians know our current payment system rewards procedural skills over cognitive skills. Simply put, it pays more to do a procedure than to spend time coming up with a thoughtful diagnostic or therapeutic plan. Primary care providers may not realize just how lucrative performing joint and soft tissue procedures can be. I do [...]

AAP Cholesterol Screening

Many of us heard on the nightly news that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a new guideline for “cardiovascular health” recently (full paper at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/site/misc/2009-2107.pdf). AAP’s much-ignored recommendation from 2008 to screen all preschool-age children has been replaced by a recommendation to screen all children at age 9-11, and then again at age [...]