Changes to allergy practice continue at a frenetic pace. Chart your course to navigate these changes by attending the 2014 Practice Management Workshop in Atlanta, GA, July 18-20. During the workshop, an expert faculty panel of professional management consultants, allergists and practice managers will address the key management issues you face in your practice every day. The lineup of accredited educational sessions is just the beginning. Workshop attendees will also benefit from: A personal financial planning presentation during Saturday breakfast by Larson Financial Group, a firm specializing in physician financial planning. Their presentation in Nash- ville was highly rated and you won’t want to miss this session. The popular “meet the faculty” wine and cheese reception Saturday evening where you can talk informally with pre- senters and get your questions answered. An exhibit area featuring EMR and other office technology and supply vendors. Ample opportunities to meet informally with colleagues from other allergy practices around the country and hear what works—and what doesn’t—in their practices. View the entire course brochure and register for the workshop at education.aaaai.org/PMW14. If you can’t attend the workshop yourself, consider send- ing your office manager. You and your staff can attend at the member registration rate by using the discount code PMWMEMSAVE. For more information, contact Lauri Sweet- man at the AAAAI executive office at [email protected]or (414) 272-6071. One-on-One With Practice Management Workshop Planning Committee Chair Melinda M. Rathkopf, MD, FAAAAI What is the AAAAI’s Practice Management Workshop and why should you attend? We interviewed Melinda M. Rathkopf, MD, FAAAAI, who is Chair of the 2014 Practice Management Workshop Planning Committee. Dr. Rathkopf served nine years as an Air Force physician prior to joining the Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Center of Alaska. She has been practicing in Anchorage since July of 2006. Additionally, Dr. Rathkopf currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Providence Alaska Medical Center, is the past president of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America Alaska Chapter and serves on the Joint Council of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (JCAAI). What is the Practice Management Workshop? Who is the target audience? The Practice Management Workshop is a weekend course designed to support the practicing allergist. The course is designed to help both new and established allergist/immunolo- gists in various practice settings; fellows-in-training (FITs); PAs and NPs working in an allergy practice; and practice managers/ administrators. The practice of medicine is often overlooked at traditional CME conferences and this intense, two day workshop aims to fill that knowledge gap. What can attendees expect from the 2014 Practice Manage- ment Workshop? What will be the hot topics this year? The hottest topic of course will be ICD-10. We will have a plenary session on ICD-10 along with introductory and advanced coding sessions. Melinda M. Rathkopf, MD, FAAAAI 12A MAY/JUNE 2014 J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract Practice Notes from the AAAAI
Transcript
Practice Notes from the AAAAI
Chart your course to navigate these changes by attending
Melinda M. Rathkopf,MD, FAAAAI
Changes to allergy practice continue at a frenetic pace.
the 2014 Practice Management Workshop in Atlanta, GA,July 18-20.
During the workshop, an expert faculty panel of professionalmanagement consultants, allergists and practice managers willaddress the key management issues you face in your practiceevery day.
The lineup of accredited educational sessions is just thebeginning. Workshop attendees will also benefit from:
� A personal financial planning presentation during Saturdaybreakfast by Larson Financial Group, a firm specializing inphysician financial planning. Their presentation in Nash-ville was highly rated and you won’t want to miss thissession.
� The popular “meet the faculty” wine and cheese receptionSaturday evening where you can talk informally with pre-senters and get your questions answered.
� An exhibit area featuring EMR and other office technologyand supply vendors.
� Ample opportunities to meet informally with colleaguesfrom other allergy practices around the country and hearwhat works—and what doesn’t—in their practices.
View the entire course brochure and register for the workshopat education.aaaai.org/PMW14.
If you can’t attend the workshop yourself, consider send-ing your office manager. You and your staff can attend at themember registration rate by using the discount codePMWMEMSAVE. For more information, contact Lauri Sweet-man at the AAAAI executive office at [email protected] or(414) 272-6071.
What is the AAAAI’s Practice Management Workshop andwhy should you attend? We interviewed Melinda M. Rathkopf,MD, FAAAAI, who is Chair of the 2014 Practice ManagementWorkshop Planning Committee. Dr. Rathkopf served nine yearsas an Air Force physician prior to joining the Allergy, Asthma,and Immunology Center of Alaska. She has been practicing inAnchorage since July of 2006. Additionally, Dr. Rathkopfcurrently serves as the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics atProvidence Alaska Medical Center, is the past president of theAsthma and Allergy Foundation of America Alaska Chapter andserves on the Joint Council of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology(JCAAI).What is the Practice Management Workshop? Who is thetarget audience?
The Practice Management Workshop is a weekend coursedesigned to support the practicing allergist. The course isdesigned to help both new and established allergist/immunolo-gists in various practice settings; fellows-in-training (FITs); PAsand NPs working in an allergy practice; and practice managers/administrators. The practice of medicine is often overlooked attraditional CME conferences and this intense, two day workshopaims to fill that knowledge gap.What can attendees expect from the 2014 Practice Manage-ment Workshop? What will be the hot topics this year?
The hottest topic of course will be ICD-10. We will have aplenary session on ICD-10 along with introductory andadvanced coding sessions.
The AAAAI places a high value on its relationships with patientadvocacy organizations in support of our mutual concern for theneeds of people with allergy, asthma and immunologic disease andtheir families. In particular, the AAAAI has an ongoing relationshipwith a group of organizations with whom we partner on variousprojects as needs and opportunities arise. We encourage you to visitthese organizations’ websites for more information on their initiativesand missions.
Allergy & Asthma Network/Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA)www.aanma.orgwww.breatherville.orgAmerican Latex Allergy Associationwww.latexallergyresources.orgAmerican Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED)www.apfed.orgAsthma & Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA)www.aafa.orgAlaska Chapter: www.aafaalaska.comCalifornia Chapter: www.aafa-ca.comGreater Kansas City Chapter: www.aafakc.orgMaryland/Washington DC Chapter: www.aafa-md.orgMichigan Chapter: www.aafamich.orgNew England Chapter: www.asthmaandallergies.orgTexas Chapter: www.aafatexas.orgSt. Louis Chapter: www.aafastl.orgCampaign Urging Research for Eosinophilic Disease (CURED)www.curedfoundation.orgFood Allergy Research & Education (FARE)The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) and the FoodAllergy Initiative (FAI) merged to form FARE.www.foodallergy.orgImmune Deficiency Foundation (IDF)www.primaryimmune.orgThe International Association for Food Protein Enterocolitis(IAFFPE)www.iaffpe.orgThe Mastocytosis Society (TMS)www.tmsforacure.orgUS Hereditary Angioedema Association (HAEA)www.haea.org
Practice Notes from the AAAAI
Other sessions cover issues related to health informatics(EMRs, non-EMR tech tools, social media, etc.), financialmanagement, office operations, marketing, and other HR issues.There are sessions targeted towards those starting in practice andalso those in academic or institutional settings.If you were talking to an AAAAI member who has neverattended the workshop, why would you urge that person togo?
Our fellowship programs do an amazing job preparing usacademically but the daily practice management issues are oftenoverlooked. Even if you did learn this in fellowship, it constantlychanges and it is challenging to stay up to date on everything.
This workshop is dedicated to the management of your allergypractice. We must be able to keep the doors open so we cancontinue to care for our patients.
Volunteer Faculty: Register to Usethe AAAAI’s Core Curriculum
As an initiative of AAAAI Immediate-Past President Linda Cox,MD, FAAAAI, the AAAAI has launched a core curriculum thatcommunity-based allergists can use to offer a comprehensiveallergy/immunology elective to interested medical students andresidents.
“Many allergist/immunologists practice in a location that doesnot have an allergy/immunology training program, and takingtime out of busy clinic days to give didactic instruction on keyallergy/immunology topics can be difficult,” said Dr. Cox. “Withthe launch of the core curriculum, AAAAI members who arevolunteer faculty now have a defined program they can use toprovide instruction in their practices.”
The curriculum, which was developed by a work group ofrepresentatives from AAAAI’s five assemblies, is structuredaround six topic areas:
1. Asthma
2. Allergic emergencies
3. Rhinitis, rhinosinusitis and conjunctivitis
4. Immunologic skin disorders
5. Diagnostic tests in allergy/immunology
6. Immune deficiency
The resident or medical student’s participation and completionof the core curriculum is documented by the AAAAI’s onlineContinuing Education Center. The curriculum is designed sothat each topic area has a set of assigned reading and onlinelearning materials to serve as the basis for the resident or medicalstudent to review during the elective. These educational materialsconsist of AAAAI resources that meet the key objectives of thetopic areas, such as content from the Virtual Annual Meeting andBoard Review Course. There are also sets of test questions, whichcan be used as pre- and post-tests to measure what was learned.
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
The assigned reading and online learning materials are com-plemented by the third teaching component, having the medicalstudent or resident participate in supervised direct patient care.Patient encounters occur in the practice of the volunteer facultyphysician.
“Survival of the specialty depends upon training new A/Iphysicians,” said Sharon B. Markovics, MD, FAAAAI, Co-chair of the work group that developed the core curriculumand Chair of the AAAAI’s Regional, State and Local Allergy,Asthma and Immunology Societies (RSLAAIS) Assembly. “Theuse of various instructional materials, along with patientinteraction, provides an engaging introduction to A/I. Expo-sure to the diverse conditions evaluated and managed by A/I
specialists will serve to spark greater interest in the specialtyand hopefully a greater number of applicants to fellowshipprograms.”
“The newly developed core curriculum program provides awonderful opportunity to showcase our specialty,” said MaryBeth Fasano, MD, FAAAAI, Co-chair of the work groupresponsible for the core curriculum and Chair of the AAAAI’sProgram Directors Assembly. “Not all medical schools have A/Iacademic divisions or even A/I faculty on staff, which cansignificantly limit the ability of students and residents to beexposed to the specialty. The new program enables us to reach abroader group of learners and potentially entice a larger numberof talented young physicians to consider A/I as a future careerpath.”
AAAAI members who have an appointment as a volunteerfaculty member at a training program and are interested in usingthe core curriculum can register online. Visit education.aaaai.org/meded and select the link for Faculty: Clinical Rotation Cur-riculum Registration.
In addition to the registration form, there are faculty trainingmodules that will instill best practices for teaching and evaluatingstudents and residents when they work through the curriculum.Depending on your prior teaching experience, you may berequired to complete the training resources to gain approval as afaculty member and use the program.
AAAAI Releases Second ChoosingWisely� List
During the 2014 Annual Meeting, the AAAAI released a list of“Five More Things Physicians and Patients Should Question” aspart of the ABIM Foundation’s Choosing Wisely initiative. Thislist focuses on and explains specific tests or procedures that areoverused in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies.What is Choosing Wisely?
The goal of Choosing Wisely is to increase conversationamong physicians and patients concerning procedures and teststhat have the potential to be used inappropriately. In 2012, theAAAAI was one of nine medical organizations involved in thefirst round of developing evidence-based recommendations tohelp patients and physicians start conversations and makewise choices regarding diagnosis and treatment across specialtyareas.
14A MAY/JUNE 2014
What Are the Items on the AAAAI’s New List?The following are the five recommendations which appear on
the AAAAI’s latest list:
� Don’t rely on antihistamines as first line treatment in severeallergic reactions.
� Don’t perform food IgE testing without a history consistentwith potential IgE-mediated food allergy.
� Don’t routinely order low- or iso-osmolar radiocontrastmedia or pretreat with corticosteroids and antihistaminesfor patients with a history of seafood allergy, who requireradiocontrast media.
� Don’t routinely avoid influenza vaccination in egg-allergicpatients.
� Don’t overuse non-beta lactam antibiotics in patients witha history of penicillin allergy, without an appropriateevaluation.
Where Can I View the List?Go to choosingwisely.org to view the AAAAI’s complete
Choosing Wisely list with additional details about the recom-mendations and evidence supporting each item.
As with its first list, the second AAAAI Choosing Wisely list wasdeveloped after months of careful consideration and review, us-ing the most current evidence about management and treatmentoptions.How Did the AAAAI Announce the List?
To officially roll out its second list, the AAAAI held a pressconference during the 2014 Annual Meeting in San Diego.The participants were Immediate Past-President Linda Cox,MD, FAAAAI; Theodore M. Freeman, MD, FAAAAI; DavidM. Lang, MD, FAAAAI; and John Oppenheimer, MD,FAAAAI. AAAAI members can watch the press conference atyoutube.com/user/4AI4YOU.
Media outlets like Medscape, American Journal of ManagedCare, and Healio.com attended the press conference in SanDiego and published coverage of the AAAAI’s new list.Where Can I Find More Information on Choosing Wisely?
AAAAI members are invited to visit the Choosing Wiselywebsite at choosingwisely.org. The website has a library ofpatient-friendly resources that you can use as a way to encourageeducation and dialogue with patients.
In addition, the AAAAI will soon launch a series of shortvideos for patients that explain the 10 items that make up theAAAAI’s first and second lists.
