I found this article about a website where you can check the disciplinary records of physicians. It’s important when choosing a physician to make an informed decision. Physicians may have disciplinary action taken if they have provided incompetent or negligent care, over-prescribed drugs, committed sexual misconduct or if other things, such as substance abuse problems, compromise their ability to provide competent care to their patients.

The Castle Connelly website offers a search facility that will search individual states or all 46 states and the District of Columbia. Four states, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina and South Dakota, are not included.

I ran a few test searches on the website, both in single state and nationwide. Parts of the site seem to still be under construction and a 46-state search only returned an error screen. I was able to perform single state searches, however.

To verify that the information contained on the site is up-to-date, I checked with my state’s Board of Registration in Medicine for the names of physicians who have been disciplined in the last year. I tried several searches on names of physicians that I know have had disciplinary action taken by the board – in one case, a doctor who has had his license to practice medicine revoked by the state board. Unfortunately, in each case, the Castle Connelly search turned up no information regarding any disciplinary action. I decided to try the website of the American Medical Association, which offers a doctor-finder search facility for patients.

The AMA website wasn’t much help either as it didn’t return any information on doctors who are not AMA members. The doctor who had his license revoked apparently was an AMA member and so his name did bring search results, but no mention was made of any disciplinary action and he seemed to be a member in good stead. The AMA doctor finder even provided a link to this physician’s website, in spite of the fact that his license to practice is under complete revocation and has been for four months. The physician in question is an orthopedic surgeon.

The four states not included in the Castle Connelly search facility have their own state-wide physican profile page. In fact, many states do make public the disciplinary and malpractice records of physcians licensed in that state. In most cases these can be easily found by googling “Board of Medicine+your state’s name”. The information found on these pages is usually current and verifiable. If your state doesn’t provide physician profiles online, usually you will be able to contact the state board in charge of licensure and registration of medical doctors by phone. Check your state’s government website for information.

When searching for a specialist or even a new primary care physican, take the time to research your choices and find the best match for your health issues.

Seniors are increasingly turning to generic equivalents of prescribed drugs to save costs. New data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) show that generic-drug utilization exceeds 60 percent in Medicare Part D.

Keeping costs down is good for seniors and it’s good for the program. For every percentage point increase in generic drug utilization, Part D drug spending falls by by an estimated $12 billion over the 2007 to 2015 period.

Keeping drug costs low helps to keep program costs low which in turn keeps Part D premiums from rising for participants. It will also help prevent seniors from falling into the “donut hole” coverage gap.

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association believes these data should serve as a reminder to policymakers about the need to expand access to generic drugs. At least 14 name brand drugs commonly used by seniors are expected to be in generic form by 2009.

Pharmaceutical Care Management Association

It’s tax time again and once you’ve retired your tax picture can change dramatically. There are tax preparation services available, but for those on a fixed income, paying the high fees of an accountant or tax-preparer may be budget-busting.

For seniors, AARP offers Tax-Aide – a free, volunteer-run tax counseling and preparation service. 32,000 volunteers provide free tax preparation and assistance services to low and middle-income taxpayers, with special attention to those 60 years of age and older. Electronic filing and online counseling are also offered.

Go to the AARP website for more information about Tax-Aide and to find a Tax-Aide site near you.

The CDC has announced that the annual cost of arthritis in the US has increased to $128 billion annually in medical care and indirect expenses such as lost wages and production.

Arthritis is the nation’s leading cause of disability. Currently, 46 million Americans have arthritis and an estimated 8 million new cases will be diagnosed in the next decade. As the baby boomer generation ages, they add to the millions of arthritis sufferers in large numbers.

Arthritis is not only costly in monetary terms. Arthritis costs millions of individuals their health, physical abilities and often, their independence.

The Arthritis Foundation, the nation’s largest private, non-profit contributer to arthritis research has spent more than $380 billion since 1948 to support research into causes and cures of the many forms of arthritis.