This is an opportunity for primary care to help avert a public health catastrophe. Physicians need to take ownership over this issue and demand more time for URI patients-E&M criteria do not capture what is lost when these visits are viewed simply as “Level 2 Office Visit, CPT 99212.”
Most parents of boys aged 9 to 18 years do not know that an HPV vaccine is available for their sons. One major factor is a lack of information. This is where you play a vital role.
“STD organisms are all part of an ecological pool that simply share one thing in common: sex," says the author of a new study. Testing for all important STD pathogens is the only way to detect all agents that might be involved in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Details here.