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    June 06, 2024 Customer Newsletter

    By   ·  2 minute read

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    • Rethinking Mental Health Emergency Care
    • Mastering Your ABEM MyEMCert Exams
    • Board Certification Scores Tied to 7-Day Patient Survivability
    • It's About That Time Again

    • Digital Health is No Longer the Cure

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    Marshall Hospital Rethinking Mental Health Emergency Care

    Funding for mental health is pretty abysmal, and mental health interventions are getting dumped on EDs. While there’s a case to be made for “why is this in my ED?”, here’s the reaction of one hospital to try and handle some (not all) mental health interventions in a quieter environment. It’s a reaction to the increase in mental health crises, and in particular an upward trend in adolescents presenting to the ER.

    The more fundamental issue is lack of psychiatric hospitals or beds, due to the federal Institution for Mental Health (IMD) exclusion in Medicaid funding.

    Marshall Hospital Rethinking Mental Health Emergency Care

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    Med-Challenger is the Dependable Choice for Mastering Your ABEM MyEMCert Exams

    Many emergency medicine (EM) physicians dread recertification time, but it doesn't have to be that way. Med-Challenger is a leading choice for EM doctors, alleviating the stress associated with the MyEMCert exam. Physicians appreciate the fact that it has 300 AMA PRA Category 1 credits and over 60 ACEP Category 1 credits included with their subscription. Each of the eight required topical areas contains masterful didactic content, quizzes and illustrations ensuring the most relevant and up-to-date information is a click away.

    Take advantage of the free trials and monthly subscriptions starting at $19 and see the reason Med-Challenger continues to be a leading source for online medical test prep.MEM Cert CTA visual

    MyEMCert - Information about the ABEM Recertification and Requirements

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    Board Certification Scores Tied to 7-Day Patient Survivability

    There are a lot of nuances to this study that aren’t easily picked up in a short article. Certifications scores correlate with patient survival in the first week of admission. Milestone measures required by the ACGME do not correspond with patient survival or certification scores. Shelf exam scores do not correlate with these measures either. Other studies show that ITE scores only positively correlate with certification scores, not negatively (that was a small study, and the problem with ITE failures is that they’re often dismissed from residency). The ITE correlation is covered elsewhere in our blog.

    This was a fairly large study, using CMS data and close to a half-million hospitalizations with nearly 7,000 test-takers.

    Associations of Internal Medicine Residency Milestone Ratings and Certification Examination Scores With Patient Outcomes - JAMA Paper

    Resident Physicians’ Exam Scores Tied to Patient Survival - Harvard Medical School


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    It's About That Time Again

    The end of the 2nd quarter is approaching, do you have MOCs that are due? ABP MOCA-PEDS and ABIM LKAs are both due June 30. Med-Challenger has digital courses that can prepare you for both. Each course includes not only exam and question prep, but also pertinent CME credits and MOC points, all for as little as $35! The best part is that these resources can be used over and over to meet all your needs.

    ABP Maintenance of Certification: A Pediatrician's Essential Guide

    Exploring the ABIM Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA)

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    Digital Health is No Longer the Cure and it's Creating a Fragmentation Epidemic

    I think we’d have to argue with the conclusion of at least part of this article about the fragmentation of healthcare into vertical specialties.  

    The blame for increasing vertical specialization lies mostly in the payment system and in the growing size of the enterprises providing healthcare. In the case of the hypothetical diabetic patient in the second paragraph, it’s likely the primary care doctor, the cardiologist, and endocrinologist at least are owned by the same healthcare umbrella if they’re in any large urban center. That doesn’t mean they actually communicate, but it means the patient care structure is designed to maximize patient revenue across Medicare spectrum - whether by conscious design or just adaptation to the easiest system.

    The rest of the article, where the critique is about the isolated and point solutions offered by apps and devices to specific conditions is on point.

    Digital Health is No Longer the Cure and it’s Creating a Fragmentation Epidemic