Background And Objectives: The Medicare Primary Care Exception (PCE) permits indirect supervision of residents performing lower-complexity visits in primary care settings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare expanded the PCE to all patient visits regardless of complexity. This study investigates how PCE expansion changed resident billing practices at a family medicine residency during calendar year 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedical assistants (MAs) are among the fastest-growing occupations in the United States, yet health care employers report high turnover rates and difficulty filling MA positions. Employers are increasingly using apprenticeship to meet emerging workforce needs. This qualitative study examined the perspectives of 14 employers using registered MA apprenticeships in 8 states.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedical assistants (MAs) are a flexible and low-cost resource for primary care practices and their roles are swiftly transforming. We surveyed MAs and family physicians in primary care practices in North Carolina to assess concordance in their perspectives about MA roles, training, and confidence in performing activities related to visit planning; direct patient care; documentation; patient education, coaching or counseling; quality improvement; population health and communication. For most activities, we did not find evidence of role confusion between MAs and physicians, physician resistance to delegate tasks to properly trained MAs, or MA reluctance to pursue training to take on new roles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt has been long recognized that sex-based biases related to participant inclusion exist in research. To help address inequities in research participation, the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act was passed into law in 1993. Although this act was primarily designed to increase inclusion of females and minorities in research funded by National Institutes of Health, it has also helped raise global awareness of the value of routinely including females and minority groups in research.
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