The PMD Critical List: ICD-10 Diverting Focus from Patients

A new survey finds most physicians are frustrated by the amount of time they spend focusing on ICD-10. That story tops this week’s PMD Critical List. Also making the list — a plea to stop using the phrase “providers” and a look at why fewer physicians are conducting research.

• ICD-10 Diverts Focus from Patient Care (RevCycleIntelligence.com)

The vast majority of doctors (86%) believe “technical difficulties, coding snafus, and payment snags stemming from ICD-10 implementation causes physicians to divert much needed focus away from patient care and onto more trivial, vapid matters.”

• Should the Annual Physical Be Scrapped? (Philly.com)

A pair of Harvard doctors have differing views. One says research shows that these exams don't reduce your overall risk of disease or death. The other thinks yearly checkups help build the relationship between doctor and patient, leaving both better prepared when illness does strike.

• Don't Call Us “Providers” (Becker’s Hospital Review)

A forceful essay from a respected physician who believes “this non-specific term lowers the power and clout of physicians, who have spent years studying and training to be top in their field.”

• Fewer Physicians Conducting Research (Medical Xpress)

Physician-scientists are responsible for many lifesaving medical discoveries but their ranks are thinning, finds The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Only 14,000 of the almost 1 million doctors in the United States consider research to be their primary focus.

• Physician Insider Trading Causing Concern (Reuters)

A spate of recent insider trading cases involving physicians suggests that tighter rules may be needed to limit interactions between medical researchers and the companies and investors seeking to profit from their data.”

• The Forbes 400 (Forbes)

The annual list of the nation’s wealthiest people is worth a perusal. To gain entry requires a net worth of a least $1.7 billion. Bill Gates is tops at $76 billion. Donald Trump comes in at #121 with $4.5 billion.

• ISIS Doctors Killing Opponents (Sunday Express)

A report on how Islamic state fighters are using hospitals to murder wounded and sick people who do not support the terror group. Some physicians are “administering lethal injections to anyone they suspect of being opposed to their insane jihadi cause.”

• Computer Prediction: GOP Wins in 2016 (Time)

A Republican will be moving into the White House after the next election, according to a new computer analysis. That conclusion is based on the results of a data model—primarily the result of factors related to the challenges faced by “successor” candidates.

• The 7 Consistent Routines of Geniuses (Inc.)

According to a recent Harvard Business Review report, there are seven common threads that bind geniuses together. Starting with going for long walks to having a loving and tolerant partner.

• Finding the Big Pain Pill Doctors (Consumerist)

New analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that just 10% of the nation’s physicians are responsible writing more than 50% of all the painkiller prescriptions. And these doctors are also writing prescriptions with substantially larger daily dosages.