Contributed Posts

Improving Identification and Management of Congenital CMV: Resources for Clinicians Who See Newborns

Over 20% of all congenital hearing loss is caused by congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV), and 25% of children born with cCMV will have hearing loss or developmental problems. But in Colorado, over half of all children with health conditions due to cCMV are never diagnosed. Postnatal CMV infection can occur as early as 3 weeks…

Helping a Rural Community Manage Chronic Pain Medication
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Helping a Rural Community Manage Chronic Pain Medication

This is a story from the Spring 2020 Issue of our magazine, written by Glenn Kotz, MD, and Jarrid Rollins, LCSW. Few things are as frustrating as when a chronic pain sufferer comes into the office for an early refill on their main medication. The negotiation over how much medication to refill needs to be…

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VAERS – Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System

What is the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)? VAERS is a passive reporting system established in 1990 as a national early warning system to detect possible safety concerns in U.S.-licensed vaccines. The program, co-managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), accepts and analyzes…

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What Colorado Doctors Can Do in the Face of a Severe Influenza Outbreak

This is a guest post from Gergory Gahm, MD. It contains his opinion as a clinician and is not necessarily reflective of the views of CAFP or its membership. If any of our members would like to continue this conversation, be in touch and we’ll host the conversation. We are buried in Influenza and almost…

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IQIP: New Immunization Quality Improvement Program

Immunization Quality Improvement for Providers (IQIP) is the new Quality Improvement (QI) program from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that replaced the Assessment, Feedback, Incentive, eXchange (AFIX) program.  In 1995, the Senate instructed CDC to “ensure that all states/awardees receiving immunization infrastructure/operational grant funds conduct annual provider assessments in all public-sector clinics…

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2019 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in Colorado’s Children

In Midst of Nationwide Outbreaks, Colorado’s Immunization Rates Lag, Cost of Preventable Disease Remains High Despite a recent nationwide outbreak of measles resulting in the highest number of cases in nearly 30 years and a growing Hepatitis A outbreak in Colorado, Colorado’s vaccination rates continue to lag, according to an independent report released September 9…

Ensure STI Screening is a Part of Your Practice

Contributed Post From The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are surging across the United States and in Colorado. In Colorado there were 26,995 cases of chlamydia, 8,478 cases of gonorrhea, and 818 cases of syphilis (including five cases of congenital syphilis) in 2017. Anyone who has sex is at…

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Payment Reform for Primary Care: Where does the CAFP’s Primary Care Investment Strategy fit in?

By Stephanie Gold, MD The Primary Care Investment Strategy The CAFP is pursuing a Primary Care Investment Strategy (PCIS) with the aims of: 1) accurately measuring how much is being spent on primary care in Colorado 2) increasing spending on primary care to a target of 15% of total health care spending 3) requiring increasing…

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Primary Care is Undervalued. What Now?

By Michael J. Pramenko, MD Stop the press. Public and private payers take note. Primary Care in the United States is undervalued.  Surely, and sarcastically speaking, primary care providers are shocked by this news. In medicine and public policy, we like to believe that we follow the evidence and let facts guide the implementation of…

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What is the Value of a Patient Centered Medical Home?

By Zach Wachtl, MD Going to the doctor can be very different these days, especially if you consider how it contrasts with experiences 50, 25, or even 10 years ago. Perhaps in the past, or in some places today, when you got sick you sat in a waiting room, had your vitals taken, waited in…

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Primary Care Spending: A sample of current research and state policies

by Gina Carr, MD Despite the knowledge that societies with a better primary care orientation have better outcomes as well as increased efficiency and better perceptions of patient experience of care, we are not yet routinely incentivizing primary care providers (PCPs) and services. Why is the societal value of reduced mortality rates, reduced rates of…