Close to 12,000 women in the United States develop cervical cancer every year, leading to almost 4,000 deaths. The disease also disproportionately affects Hispanic and African American women.
Unfortunately, many people don't know that cervical cancer is a preventable disease through regular screenings and HPV vaccinations. To educate Latinas about the importance of regular screenings and vaccinations, the CMA Foundation’s Cervical Cancer/HPV Project in January released a national television public service announcement (PSA). The Spanish-language PSA is airing on Univsion.
The CMA Foundation's Cervical Cancer/HPV Project strives to educate both patients and clinicians about the connection between cervical cancer and the human papillomavirus (HPV). Through collaborations with provider organizations, health plans, public health agencies and key consumer organizations, the Foundation is working to address the health disparities associated with cervical cancer and HPV.
"No woman should ever die from this easily preventable disease," says Diana Ramos, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and CMA Foundation board member. "It is imperative that all women get regular pap tests and also schedule appointments for their adolescents to receive the series of HPV vaccine shots."
The CMA Foundation has joined forces with the Cervical Cancer-Free Campaign, and is engaged in efforts to reduce the prevalence of cervical cancer through increased screening and vaccination. We have developed a comprehensive array of resources for physicians, other health care providers and consumers, including online clinical education resources and multilingual patient education materials. Please visit www.thecmafoundation.org for more information.
For more details on the Foundation's cervical cancer awareness activities, please contact Leslie Barron at lbarron@thecmafoundation.org.
The California Department of Public Health has released new data that shows immunizations rates for California youth ages 13-17 years have increased for a number of highly communicable diseases. These include an increase in pertussis vaccination from 71 percent to 83 percent, meningococcal disease vaccination from 67 percent to 75 percent, human papilloma virus vaccination increase for girls from 32 percent to 43 percent and an increase for varicella vaccination from 57 percent to 67 percent (2nd dose in those without a history of chickenpox). The data comes from the National Immunization Survey for the years 2010-2011.
The department also announced that rates of pertussis immunization have further increased, as Tdap immunizations have been documented for over 3.5 million California middle and high school students to comply with state law since 2011. Tdap vaccination rates in California now exceed the national Healthy People 2020 goal.
The CMA Foundation has begun developing an adolescent vaccine toolkit, which will provide physicians with comprehensive information about best practices in adolescent vaccination. It will include communication tools for talking with parents and teens and approaches for talking with reluctant vaccinators. The toolkit will also contain the California school children vaccination requirements, multicultural communication tips and strategies for effective patient outreach.
The adolescent vaccine toolkit is part of a larger vaccine underuse initiative that the foundation will launch in 2013. Stay tuned for additional details.
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California one of five states with lowest antibiotic use in nation
California has joined Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington as the five states with the lowest antibiotic use in the nation in 2010, according to a recent study. The information was released during “Get Smart Week,” a national partnership launched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to promote the appropriate use of antibiotics. The five states with the highest rates of antibiotic use in the nation that year were Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
Much of the decrease in California can be attributed to a statewide antibiotic awareness campaign launched by the California Medical Association (CMA) Foundation in 2000. with over 80 organizations and hundreds of active volunteers, the foundation's Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education (AWARE) has grown to be the largest, most collaborative project of its kind in the nation.
“The results of education campaigns like the Get Smart/AWARE program in California have had a tremendous impact on the decreased use of antibiotics,” said Dean Blumberg, M.D., Associate Professor, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, UC Davis. “Since 1999, the percentage of antibiotic prescriptions filled nationwide had dropped by 17 percent. While this is a phenomenal achievement, we must be vigilant about education so that the regions of the country (that) are disproportionally prescribing antibiotics for viral infections can also see a decrease.”
The research done by the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy shows that residents of Appalachian and Gulf Coast states, where antibiotics use rates are the highest, take about twice as many antibiotics per capita as people living in Western States.
“At its inception over a decade ago, the AWARE campaign intended to increase appropriate prescribing of antibiotics and raise consumer awareness regarding the appropriate use of antibiotics,” said Carol A. Lee, president and CEO of the CMA Foundation. “Our program in California has received numerous awards for the work that we’ve done, and to see that we’ve successfully reduced the overuse of antibiotics here is a testament to our coalition’s hard work.”
Dozens of groups across California have joined the AWARE program, including consumer groups, health plans, hospitals and physician organizations. A full list of coalition partners can be found here.
For more information about the AWARE campaign, please visit the CMA Foundation's AWARE website.
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County Corner: Sacramento Volunteer physicians moved by the SPIRIT
SPIRIT volunteer,
Sacramento surgeon
David Kissinger, M.D.
Mitchell Shipek, 32, feared that his hernia would jeopardize his dream of graduating from California State University in Sacramento with a degree in geography. To pay his way through school, Shipek had driven commercial trucks. In the summer of 2011 Shipek was denied employment at Gordon Trucking because of a hernia. He was crushed.
“The company said I had to get it taken care of before they could consider me, so I went to my doctor and paid out of pocket and asked her to sign a release, but she wouldn’t,” said Shipek. Instead she referred him to John Young, M.D., a general surgeon with the Mercy Medical Group in Sacramento.
“Most of my life, I have been without health insurance,” said Shipek. “I did not have the money for a hernia repair.” But what Shipek didn’t know was that he wouldn’t have to pay out of pocket − and that Dr. Young was part of the SPIRIT program, which could provide the service free of charge!
The Sacramento Physicians Initiative to Reach Out, Innovate, and Teach, or SPIRIT project, was started by the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society with $300,000 in grant money from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Now, the program has grown to include over 40 physician volunteers in the Sacramento area who provide care for nearly 1,800 patients a year doing everything from basic family medical care within community clinics to eye surgery and hernia repairs.
In addition to placing volunteer physicians, SPIRIT provides case management for all surgeries and communicates directly with patients to ensure that they complete pre- and post-op care.
In 2012, SPIRIT program volunteers treated 1,793 patients that otherwise would not have had access to specialty care. Since the program began in 1995, the SPIRIT program has treated over 38,000 patients, donated over 31,000 of physician hours and performed 650 free surgeries. To date, the SPIRIT program has donated nearly $8.5 million in free care to the uninsured.
After his surgery, Shipek was hired by Gordon Trucking and drives the I-5 corridor delivering products for ConAgra and Kraft foods. He hopes to return to college shortly to complete his schooling and become a geophysical surveyor.
Providing health care to people who cannot afford it can be very satisfying. Andrew Hudnut, M.D., a family physician with the Sutter Medical Group in Elk Grove, spends every Tuesday at the Interim Care Project housed by the Sacramento Salvation Army. The 18-bed facility provides care for homeless patients who have been hospitalized and need a safe place to be released. SPIRIT provides the doctors who work there.
SPIRIT volunteer,
Sacramento dermatologist
Lawrence Bass, M.D.
Dr. Hudnut cares for patients who need wounds dressed, have emphysema or pneumonia, have suffered accidents in cars or while walking the streets, and who suffer from addiction and mental illness. He finds the opportunity to care for the people in the program “wonderfully satisfying and a rewarding way to spend my time and use my knowledge. This is why I went into medicine,” he said.
Students going into the practice of medicine routinely express the desire to care for people, no matter what. And while the business of medicine seems to swallow up this original intent, it still exists for many. David Kissinger, M.D., is one Kaiser surgeon who goes the extra mile to care for people. He has provided hernia repair for the SPIRIT program since 1999 and has since performed more than 100 surgeries for patients in the program.
“These are the neediest people and this is the purest act of giving,” he said. “We can return (many of these patients) to work. It fulfills all my personal goals.”
Have you been moved by the SPIRIT?
To volunteer for the program or to make a tax-deductible charitable contribution to the SPIRIT program, please contact Kris Wallach, SPIRIT Program Director, Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society, by phone (916) 453-0254 or email kwallach@ssvms.org.
This article was excerpted from the May/June 2012 issue of SSVMS Medicine.
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Corporate Advisor Spotlight: The Doctors Company
As the nation’s largest medical malpractice insurer, The Doctors Company is on a mission to relentlessly defend, protect and reward the practice of good medicine.
The Doctors Company is a recognized leader in patient safety and comprehensive risk management, and its dedication to helping doctors reduce risk and avoid claims is unmatched. The company continually pursues new patient safety research and pilot programs, and its online library of original articles is widely considered to be the definitive patient safety knowledge center.
In 2008, The Doctors Company established The Doctors Company Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation is to support patient safety education and research and medical professional liability research. The Foundation also works in partnership with the Lucian Leape Institute to confer the annual Young Physicians Patient Safety Award. Each year, six physician essays are selected, and the winning authors receive $5,000 and registration and travel expenses to the annual National Patient Safety Foundation Congress.
The Doctors Company is rated A by A.M. Best Company and Fitch Ratings and has $4 billion in assets and more than $1 billion in member surplus, giving it the strength to protect members now and in the future.
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CMA Foundation News is a quarterly publication designed to inform colleagues, partners, and contributors about CMA Foundation projects and activities. For publication information, please contact Elizabeth Zima at ezima@cmanet.org.
