AOA President's Blog

jwatt, I believe there are similarities between osteopathic and allopathic medicine but osteopathic medicine does provide unique services to the US health care system. Osteopathic medicine is able to place osteopathic medical schools in smaller urban areas and the profession continues to make valuable contributions in primary care and rural medicine. Having multiple forms of medicine provides benefits to our nation's health care system.

Moreover, the osteopathic medical profession is no stranger to working collaboratively with allopathic physicians and other health care advocacy organizations for the betterment of health care delivery. For example DOs and MDs collaborate and share information all the time whether it's the AOA and the AMA working together or the two types of physicians practicing side by side in practice or hospital settings.

Best,
Carlo

When it comes to social networking on the internet, the AOA is a few steps ahead of me, I must admit. As one of the first organizations to see the advantages of connecting with members and sharing information with the public through these very popular Web sites, the AOA has established quite a presence since starting to explore these new avenues of communication just over a year ago. The AOA has a group page on Facebook; a subscriber channel on YouTube, which now features over 25 videos; profiles on MySpace and Osteobook (a social networking site created specifically for osteopathic medical students); and now a DO Fanpage on Facebook.

The DO Fanpage allows family and friends of the osteopathic medical profession to show their support of DOs. Created about four weeks ago, the DO Fanpage has already acquired more than 2,700 fans. If your family and friends are members of Facebook, let them know that they can show support of your profession by becoming a fan. Send them to the DO Fanpage here.

Here are links to the AOA’s other sites:
The AOA MySpace page is http://www.myspace.com/americanosteopathic
The AOA YouTube page is http://www.youtube.com/americanosteopathic
The AOA profile page on Osteobook (for osteopathic medical students only) is: http://www.osteobook.net/profile/ATStill

Best,
Carlo

dowannabe, COCA does not discuss the reasons for particular decisions with anyone but the schools. However, COCA did inform me that both types of substantive change – class size increase and additional locations – have explicit stated criteria for evaluation and monitoring.

You can obtain the standards and procedures from http://www.aoacoca.org. There is a detailed table of contents for the document.

Best,
Carlo

Over the last month, the AOA’s efforts have garnered much attention in the media, thanks to our outstanding expert DOs.

The AOA worked with Laura M. Rosch, DO, to develop tips on healthy foods that easily fit into a purse. The information was submitted to a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, who then posted the information on her Tribune health blog.

On May 13, an article titled “How to Find the Right Osteopathic Physician” ran in several of the Gazette group community newspapers in Maryland. The article included comments from Tyler C. Cymet, DO, and background information on the osteopathic medical profession and DOs.

AOA’s Executive Director John B. Crosby, JD, also appeared in the media recently. John was quoted in the May 8 issue of Medical Economics magazine in an article about health care reform.

An article which featured Mary Beth Bollinger, DO, and discussed health considerations associated with bringing home a pet, was picked up by more than 80 online media outlets, including MSN Health & Fitness, Yahoo! News and the Web site for US News and World Report. The article was based on a press release distributed by the AOA in April in light of the First Family adopting a dog. Unfortunately, HealthDay, the wire service that distributed the article, in accordance with their style guidelines removed Dr. Bollinger’s credentials, but the osteopathic medical profession did receive recognition.

As always, you can keep track of media highlights of DOs and osteopathic medicine by visiting the AOA Media Center on DO-Online, under advocacy.


Best,
Carlo

On June 22, the AOA will hold its first-ever Town Hall Meeting Webinar to discuss current health care reform legislation being drafted and considered by our government. As evidenced by your active participation on this blog, I know you have many comments on what is going on in health care today and may have some questions that need answering. This is your opportunity to ask questions while receiving up-to-date information. The AOA wants to make sure that every member of the osteopathic medical profession is educated and informed on the developing health care reform proposals. The event will also provide an overview of the AOA’s legislative and advocacy agenda.

Register here for this Web-based Town Hall Meeting. You must register by 5pm CDT on June 22 to participate. There is no cost to participate.

To submit questions in advance or to get more information on the AOA’s Town Hall Meeting, email govt-issues@osteopathic.org. You can learn more about the AOA’s resources on health care reform by logging into DO-Online and clicking on Health System Reform under the Advocacy tab (please note: you must be registered user of DO-Online to view this page).

Best,
Carlo

I am thrilled that the AOA Convention will take place in exciting New Orleans this year. We’ll be able to enjoy the city while reconnecting with former classmates and staying up to date on the latest developments in pharmaceuticals and health technology. This year, the convention offers up to 45 hours of Category 1-A CME credit.

Registration for AOA members is offered at a reduced rate and an even greater reduced rate for retired DOs and residents. As always, interns and osteopathic medical students receive free registration to convention, along with a guide titled, “A Student’s Guide to Convention,” which will help you plan which events to attend.

I hope you will join me, our 2009-2010 AOA President Larry A. Wickless, DO, and thousands from our osteopathic family for the 2009 AOA Convention in New Orleans. You can register, reserve your hotel room, and preview the tentative convention program today on DO-Online.

Best,
Carlo

I believe the strength of the osteopathic family resides within the connections between its members. One of the best programs for strengthening these connections is the AOA’s iLEARN Mentor Program, which pairs osteopathic medical students, interns, residents and new physicians in practice with experienced DOs. Through the program, mentors provide invaluable advice at different stages of your career and can help you network in your specialty area. If you are a part of the iLEARN Mentor program as either a mentor or a mentee, I sincerely thank you for your contribution to strengthening our osteopathic family. And if you are not, I urge you to get involved.

For those of you that have a mentor and believe he/she is worthy of the prestigious title of Mentor of the Year, you can now submit a nomination for the 2009 Mentor of the Year Award. Visit the new iLEARN Web site on DO-Online and submit your nomination by July 20.

Best,
Carlo

Saxman and Michigan DO, let me assure you the AOA continues to be engaged with the Obama Administration and the United States Congress. Over the past two months, John Crosby, JD, AOA’s Executive Director and I have each had White House meetings.

Additionally, AOA staff has met with the Chairmen of the Congressional Committees with jurisdiction over health care and conducted meetings with high level staff at the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services. While we are disappointed that we were not asked to participate in the meeting held May 11, it is not reflective of our activities aimed at promoting the interests of osteopathic physicians and the profession as a whole.

Best,
Carlo

Michigan DO, I deleted your posts because I felt you were disrespectful in your comments to RVUCOM students. Please show some respect. These students are worried about their futures and they don't need to hear comments about their selection of osteopathic medical school from you. So yes, I will delete any posts that I feel are unnecessarily rude.

Carlo

RVU Class of 12, the AOA’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) is aware of the recent change in members of the governing board at RVUCOM. The COCA is currently in the process of seeking additional information from RVUCOM leadership and is closely monitoring the situation.

The AOA and the COCA take very seriously your concerns about the future of RVUCOM. You should know that RVUCOM recently had an annual comprehensive site visit by an experienced team of inspectors, after which it was granted continuing provisional accreditation by the COCA. This is definitely something that should be noted and speaks to the ability of RVUCOM to deliver its educational mission. At this time, the AOA is not aware of any information that would cause it to believe that students have to worry about continuing their education at RVUCOM next year.

The AOA will keep you posted as additional information becomes available.

Best,
Carlo

As you all know, there is a very real danger of a primary care physician as well as a general surgeon shortage in the near future. The AOA recognizes the importance of this issue and supports legislation and changes to the current health care system that would provide appropriate incentives to those medical students interested in specializing in primary care or general surgery. The latest video from AOA Executive Director, John B. Crosby, JD, on the AOA’s YouTube Channel deals with the physician workforce shortage issue and explains what the AOA is doing about it. You can view the video here.

In addition to the points John makes in his video, the AOA is in support of a bill introduced on May 5 by Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL), Harry Reid (D-NV), and Charles Schumer (D-NY) titled, “Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2009.” This legislation seeks to establish new residency programs in primary care and general surgery and increase the nation’s training capacity by 15 percent over the next 3 years.

Best,
Carlo

Thanks to those bloggers who correctly indicated that 8 out of 10 of our osteopathic medical schools are in the top 10 with respect to the percent of graduates entering primary care specialties. This information is not presented as a list in the issue, but can be determined by comparing this statistical figure for all of the medical schools listed in the directory. You can view the graduate school rankings issue of Us News and World Report here.

Every year, US News and World Report publishes an edition of their magazine dedicated exclusively to ranking America’s best graduate schools. In the 2009 edition, I am proud to see that Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and the University of North Texas Health Science Center College of Osteopathic Medicine were listed 7th and 29th respectively in the top schools in primary care. I congratulate both these schools for their great accomplishment.


Best,
Carlo

Some Student, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about but again like to put out information that is not accurate. You’re also quite active on the blog but you still failed to mention why you went to osteopathic medical school. I’m curious to know. Please do tell. It seems that you are the one who hates the osteopathic medical profession. What year are you? There may be still time for you to transfer to an MD school if they’ll even take you.

But before you leave, here are a few things you should know:

You state:
Just look at the way they explain our profession"Osteopathic Physicians (D.O.) are fully-licensed to prescribe medicine and practice in all specialty areas including surgery. D.O.s are trained to consider the health of the whole person and use their hands to help diagnose and treat patients"

This definition came out of research with consumers/patients…quantitiative and qualitative research.

1-Send a representative to the AMA they already offered and we were too arrogant to accept
False. We have sent an observer for a number of years now.

2-Combine the match and make our lives a lot easier. The AOA reasoning in this matter would only convince an idiot
I think you should stop thinking about yourself. I’ve addressed this multiple times.

3-Quit charging us 40k/year plus for a 10k worth of education
Do you really think the AOA sets tuition prices?

4-Stop pushing family practice on us. There is no money in family practice and it would be difficult to pay the debt the DO education cheats us out of.
Didn’t you know that family practice was the foundation of osteopathic medicine? Aren’t you aware that 8 osteopathic medical schools were ranked in the top 10 primary care medical schools in a recent issue of “US News & World Report?” We encourage DOs to become specialists too but the foundation is family practice. Yes, pay is not that high but we are working hard to make sure there are some incentives for students deciding to go into the primary care areas of medicine. We agree the pay should be higher.

5-Stop advertising the hands on treatment, numbers don't lie and that's about 5% of DOs
Sure. We’ll just listen to you and do away with a treatment that’s a part of what makes DOs different (we do not promote that it’s the only thing). Should we just disband their specialty college too and turn away DOs who practice OMM?

6-Quit using cranial
DOs can decide for themselves if they want to use cranial just like they can decide for themselves if they want to use OMM.

7-Allow us to take usmle only+OMM, comlex was a terrible and out of scope test.
COMLEX doesn’t just include OMM it includes OPP too.

8-allow MD and acgme/DO to become program directors
We’ve heard this comment and have noted it.

9-get rid of the closed communist system of the good ol boys club and the biased house of delegates.
Get involved and you can make a change.

10-one DO one vote get in in your tiny heads
Sure. Our government works that way, right?

11-you are addressing and governing smart individuals so quit giving us childish excuses no one is buying into your propaganda
I actually believe what I post and do not appreciate you referring to me taking the time to participate in this blog childish. Have some respect.

12-To Carlo please answer our questions in the thread instead of opening new meaningless threads.
Go back and read the way my blog functions. I’ve posted this numerous times.

Carlo

MichiganDO, I agree that the osteopathic medical profession is indeed in need of more recognition by the public and the media.

Rest assured the AOA is committed to doing everything it can to promote the osteopathic medical profession, from providing expert DO sources for media interviews to writing letters to the editor to dispel inaccurate portrayals of DOs and osteopathic medicine. Since the first of the year, we have sent letters to the editor to The New York Times, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. DOs have also recently appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, Vanity Fair, and were featured in a segment on a major Chicago radio station. You can view these published letters to the editor and media placement highlights in the media center of DO-Online here.

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, responsibility also lies in the hands of the members of our profession. One of the primary subjects that news organizations are looking to report on is medical research. The AOA can do its best to make sure that DOs are identified properly and that our role in the health care system is highlighted, but the AOA cannot produce the news-worthy research stories the media is after. That is up to us, the physicians. You can read more about my feelings on research in my blog post from October 13, 2008.

AOA efforts also include the Osteopathic Public Awareness Network (OPAN), which was developed for osteopathic state/specialty organizations as well as DOs and osteopathic medical students to use as a resource for helping to promote the profession; our growing presence on social media sites, like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter (did you know the AOA was one of the first non-profit health care associations to develop a presence?); and a Chicago radio campaign in 2008 which promoted DOs and osteopathic medicine to the public (the AOA would like to do this more widely but the economy will have to improve for that to happen). You can listen to these spots on the homepage of Osteopathic.org.

Please visit the media center for other places where D.O.s and osteopathic medicine have been in the news.

As you can see, the AOA is working hard to promote our profession. Are you?

Best,
Carlo

Mbrwerinms, this piece of legislation doesn't touch interest rates. It only applies to deferment. Unfortunately, interest rates are set by the federal government on subsidized loans and private lenders on private loans.

See what John Crosby, JD, AOA executive director, has to say on the student debt issue here.

Best,
Carlo