Wound Healing Center

In the video above, you'll see my TV interview from yesterday talking about wound healing centers in general, and specifically, the center at my local hospital. Pretty much everyone knows someone with diabetes and/or circulation problems and this causes even simple cuts and bruises from healing properly.

In addition, people who have had radiation or chemotherapy as cancer treatment, sometimes this causes wounds that are difficult to heal. These treatments are good in that they kill the cancer cells, but sometimes they kill the healthy cells as well.

If you find this interview helpful, I invite you to check out other TV interviews of mine at MikeSevilla.TV. Enjoy!

PharmaPhorum Interview

Thanks to Rebecca Aris for the opportunity with PharmaPhorum.com. They recently interviewed my new social media friend Meredith Gould. But, I was informed that I am the first interview in a new physician interview series for the site. I am honored by that distinction.

Kicking off our new physician series, family physician Mike Sevilla who acts as a social media ambassador to the Family Medicine Physician community shares his thoughts on how beneficial social media is to him and how other physicians can become engaged.

In case you are curious, here are some of the questions that I answered for the interview Physician Perspectives: Mike Sevilla:

• You’ve been involved with social media from its infancy, what do you think can be done to encourage more physicians to engage in this way and what benefits does social media bring to you as a physician?
• How do you see pharma engaging online with physicians? 
• In your opinion how can pharma better engage with physicians? 
• In what ways do you think physicians and the healthcare industry could work better together to improve patient care?

Thanks again to PharmaPhorum for the opportunity to be featured on their site. I welcome those of you who are visiting from their site. I invite you to check out the different aspects of my website and to give feedback. I also encourage you to check out my interviews with Medical Economics, Family Practice News, Primary Care Clinician, Pixels & Pills, the Ohio State Medical Association, and Health Camp Yale. If you would like to interview me for your website or publication, feel free to contact me through the Contact Link above. Thanks for stopping by the website!

Ep233 Wrap-Up: Fracking

Thanks to Karl Henkel, Business Reporter for the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper, for being my guest for Family Medicine Rocks Episode 233 last night. (See preview of the show here) We had a great discussion about Fracking, Injection Wells, and Earthquakes.

In the video segment above, he defines the difference between fracking and injection wells. This is important because the former is NOT associated with earthquakes, but the latter is associated with earthquakes. I also encourage you to check out the Youngstown Vindiacator website, especially the section of the website specifically devoted to Fracking. (The picture below explaining an injection well is from this Columbus Dispatch article)

You can download the entire audio podcast here or at the bottom of this blog post. In addition, I hope to post other video segments of this interview over on the podcast portion of this webpage. Happy Monday!

Download Ep233 Here

Podcast 233 Preview: Fracking

What the heck is Fracking, and why am I talking about it on this blog? I admit that I did not know anything about this subject until a week ago when a 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck about 10 miles from my home. Hydraulic Fracking, or as it is more commonly known, just Fracking, has the potential to have a huge economic boom in this part of the country.

However, as exhibited by last weekend's earthquake, and the 10 other minor tremors last year locally, environmental concerns also question Fracking (and injection wells). And, as I talked about in yesterday's Chronicles blog, the potential to have huge political ramifications.

My guest for Episode 233 of the podcast will be Karl Henkel (pictured above in the video) who is a business reporter from the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper. He has written more than a dozen articles on the subject in the past six months and has been a participant on radio shows talking about this as well.

So, we'll do our best to break things down for you - particularly the difference between Fracking and Injection Wells, with the latter being more of the cause of the local tremors. In fact, Karl tells me that he'll be calling in from a national fracking health forum in Virginia, and maybe we can discuss some potential health related issues as well.

Join us Live on Sunday, January 8th, 2012 at 10pm Eastern Time for Episode 233 of the Family Medicine Rocks podcast. Even if you cannot join us live, you can always download the archived podcast later and listen anytime. Have a great weekend everybody!

Stronger Family Medicine in 2012

Remember the ancient days of medblogging (like in the early 2000s) when someone would write an entire blog post responding to another blog post? I know in this age of the 140 character twitter posts and "thumbs up" facebook responses, people may not be that familiar (hehe). But, this is a reaction to AAFP President, Glen Stream, MD, post entitled "Lets's Make Ourselves - And Family Medicine - Stronger in 2012." 

@AAFPPrez: And I remain confident of the ability of family physicians to transform health care despite a disappointing and frustrating session of Congress in 2011. We will continue our advocacy efforts in 2012 -- in both the public and private sectors -- regarding payment and other issues vital to the future of family medicine. 

It's hard to believe that just 2 weeks ago that many in the physician community, including me, were focused on the impending Medicare payment cut through talking about it and blogging about it. It's also hard to believe that in about 6 weeks, we'll be right back where we started.

I hope that the physician community reaches out to their local Congressional representative while they are in their home districts while on this recess to inform them about our need to find a permanent solution to the SGR debacle and to again prevent the potential cut in Medicare payments beginning March 1st, 2012.

@AAFPPrez: I hope to make steady improvement in my use of social media to better communicate with you about what the Academy is doing on your behalf. If you're not already, you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook. For those who have contributed to our online discussions, thank you for your questions, feedback and support.

About 4 months into his term, I want to publically recognize and show appreciation to the AAFP President for his efforts on social media platforms like twitter and facebook. He has definitely represented the Academy well.

In this US Presidential election year, I hope that he and the Academy continue to utilize social media outlets for the purposes of advocacy and communication. This will be the most important Presidental election ever, and the Academy needs to use all means necessary to communicate with our members, with patients, with legislators, and anyone else who needs to hear our message.

@AAFPPrez: I plan to exercise five days a week with a goal of being in better shape by the time we meet in October in Philadelphia for Scientific Assembly. I find it's easier to talk to my patients about nutrition and exercise when I'm setting a good example in my own life.

I have a similar goal of improving my fitness. Five days into the new year, I'm doing ok. It's just one day at a time. I'm lucky to have a great emotional support system. And, I agree, that it's easier to talk to my patients about this when I'm following my own advise.

Finally, my continuing goal in 2012 is spread the ideas of Family Medicine and Social Media and to continue to make the case Why Family Medicine Needs Social Media. I'm happy to announce that I have been asked to speak at a pre-conference meeting at the 2012 AAFP National Conference of Special Constituencies meeting in May. So, register today people, because it's going to be a good time!

PrimaryCareClinician.com Interview

Primary Care Clinician Interview

Last fall, while at the American Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Assembly, I was interviewed by PrimaryCareClinican.com about Family Medicine and Social Media. Above is a link to that interview entitied, "Entering the Brave New World Of Social Media."

As technology advances, social media is becoming more and more versatile and no longer used for merely just socializing. Electronic mail and secure websites present physicians with an alternative means to communicate with their patients, with the potential to simplify administrative tasks and maximize efficiency. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and podcasts are other avenues physicians can use to provide their patient population with news and information about their practice. Dr. Sevilla, family physician and author of www.familymedicinerocks.com, discusses the potential for social media in the family practice and the challenges associated with sharing information on the World Wide Web.

It was really kind of weird because I did my talk at the meeting, and then, I did the interview below with Family Practice News, then I got in a cab, went to the conference hotel, and then did the interview with Primary Care Clinician above. Was definitely a good time!

2012: Time To Expand Your Brand

As the new year begins, I'm like other people and thinking about some new and different things to do - especially in the area of social media. I've been through a lot, including "rebranding" from Doctor Anonymous to me. How will 2012 be different than last year?

Something interesting I'm seeing are platforms like tumblr and posterous, which are kind of mini-blog sites. Also, in the past couple of years, I've seen people particpate on their blog sites in posting a picture everyday of the year. These have always been intriguing ideas to me, but I felt, for me, that I would be spreading myself thin with more and more social media platforms.

For 2012, I think an idea everyone should consider is to expand their own brand. Don't rest on your laurels and try to milk your own supposed social media success. Try something different, would ya? As I've written in the past, I'm not afraid to fail - Hehe. (in the video above, you'll see a rare video recorded during my Doctor Anonymous days)

I've added a couple of sections to this website - namely a photo only blog and a mini blog. The idea of the mini blog is to write on other topics than medicine and social media that I talk about here. Also, the mini blog are writings somewhere between 141 characters (twitter) and the full length blog post that you'll find here.

Why not challenge yourself at the beginning of the year? How can you expand your brand? Why not take a risk and do something different in the social media world? It could be a learning experience. You could have some fun. And, who knows, you may add more value to your social media brand....

Video: Patients Shouldn't Rate Doctors?

In the video above, I talk in a TV interview about how some doctors are making their patients sign "gag orders" preventing them from talking about their doctors on social media. Is this fair? I talk about physician's reputation on line and why this is important. 

The anchor was also nice enough to mention my podcast and ask me what's that about. I mentioned that I talk about social media and medicine topics including the recent failure of Congress to pay a measure to prevent a 27% Medicare physician payment cut as of January 1, 2012.

The interview was recorded on Wednesday, December 21, 2011. I invite you to check out some more of my TV interviews at MikeSevilla.TV

Video: There's An App For Health

In the video above, I talk in a TV interview about using smartphone apps to monitor your health. Even though I didn't mention it by name, I was talking about the Endogoddess app by Dr. Jennifer Dyer. The anchors seemed to like the term "gameification."

I also talked about the idea of doctors friending their patients on facebook and what that means. The interview was recorded on Wednesday, December 21, 2011. In invite you to check out my other TV interviews at MikeSevilla.TV

I Will Stop Taking Medicare As Of January 1st

Dear United States House of Representatives and Senate:

I really hope that you enjoy your Christmas break going back home to your families. While you're home, I really hope that you will hear from those constituents who will be affected by the 27.4 percent Medicare physician pay reduction that is schedule to take effect January 1st. I really hope that the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, the main stream media, social media, and other outlets start to cover stories of patients who will lose access to their physicians because of those physicians who will choose to no longer accept Medicare as health insurance.

Did you know that one in four patients seen by Family Physicians are on Medicare? Did you know that for some Family Physicians, Medicare comprises as much as 8 in 10 of their patients? (source) What would happen if your pay was cut by nearly 30%? Oh yeah, I forgot. Government never gets a cut. The Federal Government continues to grow.

I know that you have been doing your political calculations about who will get the blame for the lack of passing a definitive solution. Let me help you out. All of you will take the blame including the House, the Senate, and the President - including the Republicans and the Democrats.

I have talked some of my colleagues and some of my patients, and all of us are very upset about this. Some of my physician friends are really thinking this time about completing the necessary paperwork to stop accepting Medicare patients. How can any business (except government) run with such uncertainty as not finding a permanent fix to the broken current Medicare system. Patients will be unable to see their physicians, resulting in delayed care, increased hospitalization, and illness.

Will I stop taking Medicare patients as of January 1st? I have 10 days to decide. Of course, it would be a bold political statement. But, alas, I'm not a politician. I'm a physician and a healer. I still hopeful, even though it is a diminshing hope, that my prediction will stll come true, and the Congressional Conference committee will come together to hammer out a deal before the end of the year.

In the mean time, I will be educating my patients on this (as of now) political reality of a Medicare payment cut. I encourage my physician colleagues to utilize social media outlets to express our outrage that America's patients and physicians have become political pawns to try to score political points with the public.

Happy Holidays to the members of Congress and the President! I know that Santa will give you everything that your deserve this Holiday season....

Addendum: Of course, at the last minute, Congress voted to delay this impending cut for another two months. We'll see what happens in February 2012 when this entire debate and vote happens again.