Physicians Practice - April 2008 - (Page 18)

NOTE WORTHY PAD PROTECTION Are you using tamper-resistant prescription pads yet? If not, get ready to meet federal requirements to do so. Already the government requires Medicaid prescriptions to be written only on pads that meet guidelines for preventing unlawful tampering. On October 1, the same requirement will apply to Medicare prescriptions. Congress has been meddling with some of the deadlines and particulars of the requirements, but it’s best to just switch now to the most tamper-resistant pads available. Ordinary-paper prescriptions are easy to alter and counterfeit. Those who’d like to use your name to prescribe themselves or others narcotics might, for instance, simply take one of your prescriptions and make a color photocopy, using a chemical such as acetone to dissolve your handwriting. Then they can simply write prescriptions for any drug they want, forging your name. But tamper-resistant pads foil such efforts. Special watermarks containing the word “VOID,” unseen in the genuine article, would be activated by acetone and other chemicals, or by photocopying. Here’s a link to a good Q&A on the subject: http://www.txosteo.org/Tamper%20Resistant%20Pads%20%20Notiﬁcation %209-4-07.htm STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS DERAILED Hopefully Sen. John McCain, the Republican standard-bearer for president, will (or already has) set the record straight about comments he made at a recent “town hall” meeting. Responding to a question about autism, the senator said “there’s strong evidence” that thimerosal, a preservative once found in many childhood vaccinations, is causing the apparent increase in autism. “It’s indisputable that (autism) is on the rise amongst children, the question is what’s causing it,” McCain said, according to ABC News. “And we go back and forth and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines." Actually, the evidence is overwhelming that the vaccine theory is pure hokum — and dangerous, since some panic-stricken parents are refusing to vaccinate their children against potentially life-threatening illnesses for fear that the vaccines will cause autism (still others are refusing to vaccinate for other reasons). McCain went on to say that there is “divided scientific opinion” on this question. Really? This reminds us of the “scientiﬁc debate” about evolution versus “intelligent design.” 18 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | APRIL 2008 S TAT S TAT S TAT S TAT 24.1% 8.5% 15.8% Percentage of Texans without health insurance in 2006. Texas’ uninsured rate is America’s highest. Percentage of Minnesotans lacking coverage in 2006. Minnesota’s uninsured rate is America’s lowest. Percentage of Americans without insurance in 2006. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://www.txosteo.org/Tamper%20Resistant%20Pads%20%20Notification%209-4-07.htm http://www.txosteo.org/Tamper Resistant Pads Notification 9-4-07.htm http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - April 2008

Physicians Practice - April 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Medicare Decision Time Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: Outsource Your Pain Noteworthy Cover Story: Trial Lawyers Tell All Management: When It’s Time to Change Ask the Experts Technology: Do You Know Where Your Data Is? The Tech Doctor: Are Your Discarded PCs Really Clean? Billing & Collections: Playing Hardball The Administrator's Desk: Recruiting for Patient Satisfaction Start It Up: Finance - Mastering the Numbers Game Coding The Great Practice Makeover: Taking Care of Business Associates Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - April 2008

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