January 2011

PAMF Event Celebrates Children with Down Syndrome: Families Share, Learn, Exchange Experiences

January 25, 2011

Families with Down syndrome children recently got the chance to share experiences and watch two inspiring short films that celebrate the successes of children with Down syndrome. The viewing took place at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s (PAMF) Family Film Day that was held at the PAMF Mountain View Center on January 16, 2011.

“This was very much a time for sharing and celebrating,” says Jane Chen, M.D. , a pediatrician PAMF’s Sunnyvale Center who organized the event and whose 4-year-old daughter, Melissa, has Down syndrome. “I’ve learned so much myself from other parents, I wanted to provide an opportunity for families with Down syndrome children to gather and exchange their unique experiences.”

Parents, grandparents and children watched and discussed the films “Dakota’s Pride,” and “Emma’s Gifts,” which chart the progress of two children with Down syndrome. One parent, who works for the educational toy maker Leapfrog, engaged other parents in an informal brainstorming session on new ways to support Down syndrome children in their learning. The event also attracted a couple of special guests – Melanie Manning, M.D., the director of the Center for Down Syndrome at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and two of her genetic counseling students.

Down Syndrome Resources

Looking for up-to-date Down syndrome resources in-person? More information, books and videos are now available at PAMF’s Mountain View Center Community Health Resource Center (CHRC) thanks to recent generous donations from Dr. Chen and the Silicon Valley Down Syndrome Network.

Visit the National Down Syndrome Society online.

Visit the Silicon Valley Down Syndrome Network online.

PAMF Sleep Center Expands to Meet Growing Number of Sleep Disorder Patients

January 25, 2011

Starting February 1, 2011, many more Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) patients with sleep disorders will be able to have a sleep study to help speed their diagnosis and provide them with quicker relief from their condition.

“We’re very pleased to offer our patients six additional sleep study suites at our Sunnyvale Sleep Center, which will allow us to conduct a much larger volume of in-depth sleep studies,” said David Crichton, director of PAMF’s Sunnyvale Sleep Center. “There’s an increased awareness that excessive daytime sleepiness is often due to a sleep disorder that can be diagnosed and resolved. The additional sleep suites will help us meet that growing demand.”

With the six additional suites, the Sunnyvale Sleep Center will be able to offer patients a total of 16 rooms for overnight sleep studies. PAMF’s Capitola Sleep Center has eight sleep study suites. Each private room is furnished with a queen-sized Sleep Number bed that lets patients adjust the bed’s firmness and support according to their preferences, a private bathroom, cable television and its own air-conditioning system.

During a sleep study, technicians carefully observe patients during their sleep and monitor and record a variety of functions including eye movement, muscle activity, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, airflow from the nose and mouth, and movements of the chest wall and abdomen. With the help of the sleep study, our specialists diagnose sleep disorders including insomnia, snoring, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, sleepwalking and sleep terrors, and narcolepsy.

PAMF Sleep Centers are located in both Sunnyvale and Capitola, California.

Learn more about PAMF’s Sleep Medicine Program.

Learn more about sleep disorders.

Shared Medical Appointments Help Promote Weight Loss, PAMF Research Shows

January 24, 2011

Latha Palaniappan, M.D., M.S., Principal Investigator, PAMF Research Institute

Obesity is a growing problem in the United States. Two out of every three adults are either overweight or obese, and would greatly benefit from weight loss to prevent chronic disease, like diabetes. In order to address this critical issue, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) has piloted an innovative program using Shared Medical Appointments to promote weight loss.

Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) are group appointments for patients with similar medical concerns. SMAs include components of a regular office visit, but provide increased time with the physician and allow patients to learn from others. SMAs provide patients with high-quality medical care and the support of a group environment.

In a specialized SMA designed for weight loss, Amy Muzaffar, M.D., a PAMF Los Altos Center Internal Medicine physician, adapted the Lifestyle Balance Program for PAMF patients. The Lifestyle Balance Program was developed by the Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group and is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Latha Palaniappan, M.D., M.S., an associate investigator at the PAMF Research Institute and her research team, carefully studied the specialized SMAs for more than two years and found that the SMAs were successful in promoting weight loss. In addition, the more SMAs a patient attended, the more weight was lost. The findings from this study were accepted in December 2010 for publication by the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. Studies have shown that weight loss can prevent and treat diabetes.

“This study suggests that for doctors who want their patients to lose weight, it may be better to offer longer group visits than short visits with each patient,” said Dr. Palaniappan. ”The group visit offers additional benefits of social support and interaction which have been shown to be helpful for weight loss. Shared Medical Appointments are a new and valuable opportunity for patients who want to lose weight and prevent chronic disease.”

Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) at PAMF

PAMF offers several SMA groups, covering a wide range of health care issues. Related SMA groups are currently offered in the areas of diabetes, nutrition, and cardiology. Each SMA group is an appointment with a physician which is additionally supported by a multi-dimensional health care team, such as nurses, medical assistants, and behavioral therapists. For more information about SMAs at PAMF’s Fremont, Los Altos, and Palo Alto Centers, call 650-853-2283.

Learn more:

PAMF Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) study

Diabetes Prevention Program materials (including weight loss and lifestyle changes)

Shared Medical Appointments allow patients to maximize their time and learn from others.

PAMF Donation Helps Train Primary Care Doctors

January 18, 2011

Pictured left to right: Tony Marzoni, M.D., PAMF Palo Alto Division president; George Block, M.D., chief medical officer at O'Connor Hospital; Larry deGhetaldi, M.D., PAMF Santa Cruz Division president, and Bob Norman, M.D., residency program director at O'Connor Hospital

With the current acute shortage of primary care doctors, finding a good doctor to care for you and your family can be like finding a needle in a haystack. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) recently stepped in to ease this critical need by donating $125,000 to the O’Connor Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program in San Jose, the only local program in the South Bay that trains medical school graduates who are committed to becoming family medicine doctors.

“At PAMF, it’s our mission to provide the best possible care to our many patients including the growing number of elderly people and those with chronic diseases,” says Larry deGhetaldi, M.D., PAMF Santa Cruz Division president. “Currently only 4 percent of medical school graduates choose to become primary care doctors. We know how important it is to support a quality program such as the O’Connor Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program that attracts candidates from the best medical schools, many of whom choose to stay and practice in the Bay Area.”

To date, PAMF has recruited more than 45 family medicine doctors from the O’Connor Family Medicine Residency Program.

In addition to financial support, PAMF is also providing the residency program students with the opportunity to gain valuable specialty expertise in our Dermatology Departments. This is the second year in a row PAMF has supported the O’Connor Hospital Family Practice Residency Program financially.

Learn more about the O’Connor Hospital Family Practice Residency Program and the program’s FAQs.

PAMF Vascular Center Achieves Accreditation for Vascular Testing

January 13, 2011

Quick action by a doctor results in patient's life-saving vascular surgery.

The Palo Alto Foundation Vascular Center has been recognized for its commitment to providing a high level of patient care and quality testing for the diagnosis of vascular disease by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL). The PAMF Vascular Center, located in Mountain View, CA, is one of a growing number of vascular laboratories in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to meet or exceed the ICAVL standards for noninvasive vascular testing.

“ICAVL accreditation is a great honor for our vascular laboratory and was a high priority goal when we started our Vascular Center in 2006,” said Tej M. Singh, M.D., Chief of Vascular Surgery and Director of the PAMF Vascular Center. “Accreditation assures our patients and providers that the Vascular Laboratory has high quality skilled personnel evaluating our vascular studies to insure accurate results and patient care. Our laboratory was able to reach this very important goal with the combined efforts of the Department of Radiology and Vascular Surgery. Truly a team effort! Special recognition has to go to our Technical Director Yelena Shub, RVT, for her efforts to complete this task.”

Cardiovascular Disease Leading Cause of Death in the United States

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States costing over 83.7 billion dollars each year in health services, medications and lost work time due to disability. Stroke, a disorder of the blood supply to the brain, is the third leading cause of death and disability in this country, with 500,000 new strokes occurring annually.

According to ICAVL, one American dies every 32 seconds of cardiovascular disease, disorders of the heart and blood vessels. Each year, 2 million people in the United States alone develop deep vein thrombosis – blood clots in the veins. This affliction becomes life threatening for 500,000 of those people when the blood clot breaks through and travels to the lungs.

Early Detection through the use of Noninvasive Vascular Testing Saves Lives

Early Detection of these life-threatening vascular diseases is possible through the use of noninvasive vascular testing techniques performed within vascular laboratories – and quick action by a doctor can save a life. Read about one patient’s life-saving vascular surgery, where quick action by his doctor helped him beat the odds with a life-saving vascular operation.

The Accreditation Process

During the accreditation process, every aspect of the laboratory’s daily operations and its impact on the quality of health care provided to patients is assessed and reviewed. While completing the application, laboratories are required to identify and correct potential problems, revising protocols and validating quality assurance programs. Participation in the accreditation process demonstrates the laboratory’s attention to a high level of care and quality testing. ICAVL accreditation is valid for a period of three years.

Links to more information:

Read about a PAMF patient’s life-saving vascular surgery.

Learn more about the PAMF Vascular Center.

Learn more about the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL).

PAMF Offers MyChart App – Provides Patients Mobile Access to Personal EHR

January 10, 2011

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Sutter Health, of which PAMF is an affiliate, have introduced a free app for patients to access their personal medical records on-the-go – becoming the first health system in California to offer “MyChart for the iPhone.”

The MyChart app, powered by Epic, provides a Sutter Health network patient instant access to his or her electronic health record directly from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. At their fingertips, patients can now access much of the same convenient and personalized tools found through My Health Online, including:

Send a secure message to your doctor
Check most lab and test results
View appointments
Receive health reminders
Access a health summary

“As our patients embark on a new year of wellness goals, we’re proud to be their partner in health and introduce ways to help them manage their personal health,” said Albert S. Chan, M.D., M.S., medical director of My Health Online and a family medicine physician at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. ”Through the My Chart app, we’re giving patients the tools they need right at their fingertips. Access to the MyChart app complements a variety of unique patient needs and lifestyles. With the ability to view personal health data and connect a patient with his or her health care provider – where and when they need to – we’re putting a patient’s health record in the palms of his or her hands.”

The app, called MyChart for the iPhone by Epic, gives patients access to a subset of My Health Online’s features including:

Test results
Secure e-messaging
Upcoming appointments
Health advisories or health maintenance information
Personal health summary (active medications, immunizations, allergies and a problem list)

The app can be used on all mobile Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

My Health Online is available to patients of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties), Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties), Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation (San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, and Lake Counties), Sutter Gould Medical Foundation (Stanislaus, San Joaquin, and Merced Counties), and Sutter Medical Foundation (Amador, Placer, Sacramento, Solano, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba Counties).

FAQs About MyChart App.

How to Get Started with the New MyChart App for My Health Online Users. (Note: You must have an existing username and password for My Health Online to use MyChart for the iPhone.)

PAMF One of First Oncology Practices in U.S. Recognized by Quality Oncology Practice Initiative

January 6, 2011

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) has become one of the first oncology practices in the nation to be recognized by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program, an affiliate of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The QOPI® Certification Program is a new initiative to certify oncology practices that meet rigorous standards for high-quality cancer care.

“Increasingly educated patients and families demand accountability and the highest standards from cancer care providers,” said Douglas W. Blayney, M.D., immediate past president of ASCO. “The QOPI certification will allow oncologists in the community to be at the forefront of cancer care, and to be recognized for their quality. The Certification Program will help practices determine whether they are providing the best treatment and care possible to their patients, and demonstrates a commitment to excellence and ongoing quality improvement in the hematology-oncology outpatient practice.”

“Our mission is to provide personalized care for our patients and their families with high quality, compassionate and coordinated cancer treatment,” said Paula Reed, R.N., OCN, Director of Oncology and Infusion Services at PAMF. “I am extremely proud that our program has been recognized for its clinical excellence and certified by such a prestigious organization.”

QOPI is a voluntary, self-assessment and improvement program launched by ASCO in 2006 to help hematology-oncology and medical oncology practices assess the quality of the care they provide to patients. Through the QOPI program, practices abstract data from patients’ records up to twice per year and enter this information into a secure database. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation is one of 54 QOPI-certified practices that have currently received the inaugural certification in 2010. More than 640 oncology practices have registered in the QOPI program.

QOPI analyzes individual practice data and compares these to more than 80 evidence-based and consensus quality measures. The information is then provided in reports to participating practices. Individual practices are also able to compare their performance to data from other practices across the country. Based on this feedback, doctors and practices can identify areas for improvement.

The QOPI Certification Program provides a three-year certification for outpatient hematology-oncology practices that meet standards for quality cancer care.

Learn more about the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Cancer Care Services.

About ASCO:

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is the world’s leading professional organization representing physicians who care for people with cancer. With more than 28,000 members, ASCO is committed to improving cancer care through scientific meetings, educational programs and peer-reviewed journals. For ASCO information and resources, visit www.asco.org. Patient-oriented cancer information is available at www.Cancer.Net.

PAMF and Mills-Peninsula Health Experts Featured in Award-Winning Interactive Website

January 4, 2011

My Life Stages Named Best Interactive Website

Sutter Health’s interactive website for women, MyLifeStages, was recently named “Best Interactive [Web] Site” in the prestigious eHealthcare Leadership Awards. This is the second consecutive year for MyLifeStages to receive this gold award.

The website was singled out from among 1,300 nominees from across the nation. Also chosen for the gold award in the “Consumer General Health” category was the nationally known WebMD website.

“This award reflects the expertise and creative contributions of affiliate marketing and communications professionals, physicians and other clinicians across our network,” says Tracy Murphy, vice president of Strategic Marketing for Sutter Health. “Together, we’ve created an outstanding online community that serves more than 7,000 members. We’re proud to be their trusted, local resource for information and tools to help them manage their health.”

Several of PAMF’s and MPHS’ doctors and health care experts are featured and contribute to MyLifeStages. Some examples include:

Video featuring Carolyn McCune, R.D., registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator at MPHS.
Expert blog on healthy weight management by Karen Handy, MPH., a health educator and manager of nutrition and diabetes education and the HMR Weight Management Program at PAMF’s Mountain View Center.
Sleep tips by William Hart, M.D., who heads up PAMF’s Capitola Sleep Medicine Center.
Health tips for seniors by Minerva Navarro, M.D., a geriatric medicine doctor at PAMF’s Mountain View Center.
Articles by Tak Poon, M.D., cardiologist at MPHS’ Burlingame Center.
Tips for reducing allergy symptoms at work by Steven Rubinstein, M.D., an allergist at PAMF’s Mountain View Center.
Contribution to article by Michael Wu, M.D., PAMF medical oncologist at the Santa Cruz Commercial Crossings Office.

Explore MyLifeStages to find many other contributors from PAMF and MPHS.

Launched in 2009, MyLifeStages provides information and interactive tools to help keep women and their families healthy and active through every life stage.