Becker's Hospital Review

40 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Get Ready for a DO Boom: 6 Stats on Osteopathic Providers By Alyssa Rege W hile doctors of osteopathic medicine currently make up roughly 8.5 per- cent of licensed physicians, experts suggest the percentage will increase dramatically during the coming years, according to a Health Affairs blog post. Aer doubling enrollment during the past 10 years, 26 percent of first-year medical students pursue a medical education at an osteopathic medical school, while approximately 17.6 percent of DO physicians reported entering residency and other graduate medical education programs in 2015, according to the report. Here are six additional statistics from the report. 1. e match rate for DO physicians in the Na- tional Resident Matching Program grew from 75 percent to 82 percent between 2013 and 2017. 2. In 2017, 99 percent of DO residency applicants were successfully matched through a variety of match placement programs. 3. e Accreditation Council for Graduate Med- ical Education and American Osteopathic Asso- ciation revealed plans to transition to a single ac- creditation system, which will reportedly be fully implemented by 2020. Accredited AOA programs are currently in the process of application and re- view by ACGME. 4. Between 2009 and 2016, the percentage of women matriculating into a DO medical school decreased from 47 percent to 46 percent. How- ever, the number of underrepresented minorities increased slightly from 7 percent to 8.5 percent. 5. Experts suggest a medical school's location plays a significant role in determining the ul- timate practice location for each graduate. e majority of DO medical schools are located in medically underserved areas or areas that report a shortage of health professionals. Graduates from these schools tend to set up their practices in rural and underserved locations, the report states. 6. Nearly half (45 percent) of osteopathic medi- cine physicians practice primary care and account for 10 percent of all primary care physicians in the U.S. In comparison, 34 percent of medical doctors identify as primary care physicians. n Florida Physician Caught on Video Cursing, Yelling at Patient Issues Apology By Alyssa Rege A Florida physician who was filmed yelling at a patient at Gainesville (Fla.) After-Hours Clinic issued a written apology in October, claiming he "over- reacted" and was acting in defense of clinic staff, WCJB-20 News reports. In the video footage, which has since gone viral, Peter Gallogly, MD, is seen telling patient Jessica Stipe to leave the facility. As she and her daughter exit, Dr. Gallogly allegedly realizes he is being filmed by Ms. Stipe's daugh- ter and takes her phone with him back into the clinic. In a statement to WCJB-20 News, Dr. Gallogly claimed the video captured the last minute of an "hour-long episode" that included Ms. Stipe becom- ing "increasingly belligerent and abusive to the office staff and threatening them with violence," according to the report. He claimed he went into the patient waiting room because Ms. Stipe demanded to see him, which is when the exchange on camera occurred. Dr. Gallogly also apologized for his behavior, stating he was defending his staff but that "there was no excuse for his behavior," the report states. WCJB-20 News said Dr. Gallogly included a police report and witness testi- monies in his statement, which described Ms. Stipe as "irate." Dr. Gallogly is facing charges of grand theft for taking Ms. Stipe's daugh- ter's phone and walking away. However, he is not facing battery charges because officials said there was no reason to believe he pushed Ms. Stipe or her daughter during the incident, according to the report. n Patients Lack Access to Primary Care Follow-Up After ED Visit, Study Finds By Mackenzie Bean P atients discharged from the emergency department often struggle to secure a follow-up with a primary care physician within seven days, according to a study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine. For the study, researchers recruited two men in New Haven, Conn., to pose as patients recently discharged from the emergency department. The men called all 53 primary care practices in the New Haven area, requesting fol- low-up appointments with a primary care physician. Each care practice re- ceived six calls from the men, who used different scripts for each call. The scripts differed based on the pretend patient's insurance type — Medicaid, state exchange or commercial — and health condition — hypertension or back pain. The men successfully scheduled an appointment with a primary care pro- vider within one week 30.7 percent of the time, on average. Medicaid pa- tients had a seven-day appointment rate of 25.5 percent, compared to 35.7 percent for privately insured patients. The men were more likely to secure an appointment within seven days for hypertension (33.7 percent) than back pain (27.6 percent). "Follow-up is an essential component of the outpatient care provided by emergency departments," the authors wrote in the study. "Our findings demonstrate the need for close partnerships between EDs and primary care providers to improve access to acute and primary care." n

• Cover