As described in the first half of this roundtable (see Contemporary OB/GYN, November 2004), the professional liability insurance crisis has had a broad and pernicious impact on the country's obstetrician/ gynecologists. As they conclude the discussion, the panelists move from reflecting on how the crisis came about to speculating about the prospects for reforming--or even completely replacing--the current tort system.
PMS has been a legitimate diagnosis for several decades, but there are no FDA-approved therapies for it. Off-label use of medications that are FDA-approved for PMDD is common in clinical practice. For patients taking daily SSRIs for anxiety or mood symptoms, premenstrual dose adjustment offers a novel management strategy.
These experts offer a common sense approach to reduce pregnancy-linked deaths.
We may have seen the first glimmer of light in the otherwise dark tunnel of the professional liability insurance crisis. On July 12, during a speech at the National Press Club, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist proposed "an expert medical court system with transparent decisions, limits on punitive damages, and scheduled compensatory damages to provide rapid relief to truly injured patients (instead of trial lawyers)" while holding negligent doctors accountable.
Ending months of speculation, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has picked Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) as his running mate. Kerry's choice offers insights into his administration's likely health-care priorities. And unfortunately for ob/gyns, it also raises profound concerns about the prospects for federal tort reform during a Kerry-Edwards administration.
Delay in aggressively treating out-of-control, unremitting vomiting in pregnancy can dehydrate, deplete, and nearly starve a woman and her fetus. This expert's approach tells you how to quickly distinguish developing hyperemesis gravidarum from something more benign.
The only way for women's health care as we know it to survive is if young ob/gyns lead the way in saying NO. Let's stop taking the horrible contracts offered by insurance companies, HMOs, and managed-care organizations and take back control of our futures.
Advanstar Communications Inc., a leading worldwide provider of B-to-B marketing and business information products and services, reported its 2003 operating results.
Case Studies in Coding--Practical advice on reimbursement.
Your patient has CIN, a precursor to cervical cancer. How do you manage her pregnancy? An expert pathologist provides algorithms and a step-by-step guide for safely biopsying a pregnant cervix-when appropriate.
Antibiotics can prove invaluable in the treatment of mastitis, but before you prescribe them, it's important to distinguish breast engorgement from infectious mastitis.
Does maternal epilepsy increase the risk of congenital malformations, or are the antiepileptic drugs to blame? Either way, the primary goal of therapy during pregnancy is to control a woman's seizures while minimizing fetal exposure to anticonvulsive drugs.
Case studies in coding gives practical advice on reimbursement.
Ob/gyns are having to devote significantly more time to medical genetics because of the field's increasing impact on clinical practice. The March of Dimes's new online genetics resource and continuing education program can help you respond to patients'needs with the most up-to-date, customized, and practical information
Most lesbian patients hesitate to reveal their sexual orientation, even though you need that information to deliver targeted health care. Creating a nonjudgmental office environment can encourage trust and disclosure, helping you to better address their unique health needs.