By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Business Writer
yahoo.com

The Food and Drug Administration is considering not using the word “recall” to warn patients and doctors about defective pacemakers and defibrillators at the request of a physicians’ group struggling to deal with a loss of public confidence in the safety of implantable heart devices.

FDA officials say they are conducting focus groups to see whether the currently used “recall” term is causing undue alarm when used to refer to heart devices the agency has decided might be faulty.

“It’s a terrible term,” said Dwight Reynolds, president of the Heart Rhythm Society, an association of doctors who implant the devices. “The anxiety created among patients and physicians by this term is the No. 1 cause for replacement of devices.” According to Reynolds, patients who learn they have a faulty device often assume they need to have it removed immediately, even though the surgical procedure to replace the device typically involves more risk than leaving it in.

The Heart Rhythm Society released guidelines today, asking the FDA to use “safety advisory” or “safety alert” when referring to device problems. (more…)

Regina McEnery
Plain Dealer Reporter
http://www.cleveland.com

A new study challenges long-held notions about a biological marker used to track the progression of HIV, raising questions about standards of care and what exactly drives the virus in desperately ill individuals.

The multicity project conceived and led by scientists from Cleveland found that the biological tool used almost exclusively to predict how quickly patients progress to full-blown AIDS is not as revealing as once thought.

The findings carry implications in determining when to initiate lifelong and pricey drug cocktails that have turned what once was a death sentence into a manageable disease.

The study found that high levels of the human immunodeficiency virus in the blood, often referred to as a person’s viral load, corresponded to a rapid decline in infection-fighting CD4 white blood cells just 10 percent of the time. What drove the remaining 90 percent is unclear. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. (more…)

A report issued by doctors who implant heart devices recommends better ways to track the devices once they’ve been put into patients — and what to do if the devices malfunction.

Janet Moore, Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com

When a young man collapsed and died after his heart defibrillator failed to revive him, thousands of devices were recalled and a controversy began.

Questions among doctors also soon arose: How can we prevent more people from dying? And how to tell people with the same heart device what to do?

On Wednesday, the Heart Rhythm Society — a group of doctors who implant defibrillators and pacemakers — issued its final report with recommendations that seek to address those questions.

The report comes following the death of a Minnesota man who was implanted with a defibrillator made by Guidant Corp., now part of Boston Scientific Corp.

Doctors, patients and regulators wanted to know why the company failed to notify doctors about the device’s potential to fail.

Boston Scientific’s cardiac rhythm management division is based in Arden Hills. (more…)

By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
yahoo.com

A doctors group expects a serious shortfall of family physicians in at least five states by 2020.

Population growth and rising numbers of elderly people in Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Idaho will make the need in those states most critical, said Dr. Perry Pugno of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

“As Americans age, they need more health-care interventions, and primary care is the most cost-effective way to help them maintain their health,” Pugno said.

The number of U.S. medical graduates going into family medicine has been falling — by more than 50 percent from 1997 to 2005 — with many young doctors preferring specialties that pay better and offer more control over work hours.

The group scheduled a rally in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, timed to coincide with the release of its workforce report, which estimates the number of family doctors must grow by 39 percent during the next 14 years to keep up with the nation’s needs. All states will need more family doctors by 2020, the report says, with Nevada topping the list. (more…)

The Business Review (Albany)
by Barbara Pinckney
The Business Review

Among the freshman students at Albany Medical College are three African Americans, one Mexican/Chicano, one mainland Puerto Rican and three who classify themselves as “other Pacific Islander.”

This means that out of 135 people, 6 percent identify themselves as racial minorities. The school’s 2005 graduating class contained three blacks and three Hispanics.

New York ranks relatively high in its number of minority physicians. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the state is No. 2, behind California, in black doctors. It ranks fourth in Hispanic/Latino doctors, and eighth in Native American physicians.

Still, a study by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany found that the number of minority physicians in the state has not substantially increased over the past five years and remains far below the groups’ proportion of the state’s population.

African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos and Native Americans make up 30 percent of the population but only 10 percent of the physician work force.

They are dubbed “under-represented minorities,” or URMs. Only Asian Americans are “over-represented,” meaning their percentage of the physician work force is higher than in the general population. (more…)