Last month I was in a meeting in Baltimore for the APM listening for the hundredth time about the

upcoming changes to Medicare and what would have happened if the Republican Health Plan was

enacted.. It occurred to me that the differences in this health plan compared to the Affordable Care

Act mirrors the difference between the two parties.

The Dems tried to cover everyone and the only way to do that was to mandate everyone sign up so

you get the healthy subsidizing the sick (which is how insurance works.) It was a flawed plan from

the start. It didn’t cover everyone, it didn’t keep premiums down, it required significant co-pays and

deductible, and it imposed penalties for not joining, among other problems. It could have been fixed

over time but the GOP was only intent on bringing down Obama. So for 7 years they tried to repeal

this plan, and it is now obvious (if it wasn’t before) that they had no plan to replace it. However, the

plan did become demonized across the country even though most individuals like much of the plan,

such as no rejection for pre-existing conditions and leaving minors up to age 26 on their parents plan.

People hated Obamacare but thought highly of the Affordable Care Act. (Wonder why?)

So now that the Republicans are in power, the plan they haphazardly put together was based on mil-

lions not being able to afford or not wanting to sign up. It would have taken away current benefits

such as the right to obtain contraception and absurdly would allow males not to pay for maternity

coverage as if they play no role in this process. No more coverage for emergency room or preventive

care visits, etc. It would have replaced certain taxes with tax credits, which would not have been

enough to allow people to buy coverage and would have charged more as one ages. The Congression-

al Budget Office acknowledges that this plan could save money over time by limiting coverage, but

warns that millions of Americans who currently have coverage would lose their insurance. As a re-

sult, we all would have paid for the uninsured as patients show up in emergency rooms without insur-

ance but needing care.

One plan is compassionate but fiscally flawed. The other callous but fiscally responsible. The reason

Paul Ryan was so cavalier about the estimates of 24 million new uninsured is because it made his plan

fiscally solvent. He believes we should be free to choose not to be insured even though that choice

negatively impacts others. (Why is it that car insurance can be mandatory but not health insurance?)

Nothing describes the difference between the two parties as effectively as these two approaches to

health care. And neither is really acceptable. Why are we the only industrialized country that doesn’t

insure health care for all? Our current system would make some sense if it delivered exceptional care

given the cost, but it doesn’t. In many areas we lag behind many other countries such as infant mor-

tality.

Finally, a warning for those on Medicare. The changes coming in reimbursement to physicians, I

believe, will lead thousands more physicians to stop treating Medicare patients. Interestingly, these

rules were started under Obama and are being embraced by Trump. There is bipartisan support to cut

back on payment to docs rather than start to do what is needed and appropriately ration care to keep

Medicare solvent. Neither party has any guts and are hiding behind words such as Quality Based,

Merit Based and Value Based Care. You can put lipstick on this pig but you should at least call it

what it is “The way to pay less to physicians Based Program”. On this the two parties agree. So a Pox

on both your houses.

April 2017 Volume 21, Issue 4

GW Medicine Notes A Monthly Publication of the GW Department of Medicine

From the Chairman On Page 3 of the newsletter are the

match results with our new intern

class. We started this year with two

major goals. First to recruit more

GW students and second to recruit

more minority students.

We did very well with our first goal

and will have 9 GW student join

us. No other Department has more

than 1. However, we didn’t do as

well as I would have liked with our

second goal recruiting approximate-

ly 12% that have identified as being

from an underrepresented minority

background. This is an improvement

but I would have hoped for bet-

ter. So we will look at our process

and see what we can do next year to

improve on this number.

Overall I am very pleased as are Jill

and April. Once again, thanks to

everyone who worked so hard dur-

ing this recruitment season.

Alan G. Wasserman, M.D.

INTERN MATCH

2017– 2018

SAVE THE DATE

END-OF-THE-YEAR PARTY

FRIDAY, JUNE 9th

RITZ CARLTON HOTEL

Department of Medicine April 2017 Grand Rounds

Medicine Team Contacts

Page 2 GW Medicine Notes

WHITE TEAM (202) 715-5669 YELLOW TEAM (202) 715-6041 GREEN TEAM (202) 715-6062 RED TEAM (202) 715-6039 BLUE TEAM (202) 715-6156 SILVER TEAM (202) 715-6040 PURPLE TEAM (202) 715-6042 GOLD TEAM (202) 715-6044

ADMITTING RESIDENT 741-0161 pager

Resident Lecture Series April 2017 Noon Conference

APR 3 Journal Club

APR 4 Wound Care Part 1 - Dr. Freba Farhat

APR 5 Wound Care Part 2 - Dr. Freba Farhat

APR 6 Medicine Grand Rounds

APR 7 Chairman’s Rounds

APR 10 Nutrition- Lauren Frendewey and Margery Swan

APR 11 Mortality & Morbidity

APR 12 “Introduction to Echo”- Dr. Janet Lewis

APR 13 Medicine Grand Rounds

APR 14 Chairman’s Rounds

APR 17 “Levels of Care/Geriatrics”- Dr. Christina Prather

APR 18 Clinical Pathological Conference– Drs. Sam Ober and Greg Piech

APR 19 GME

APR 20 Medicine Grand Rounds

APR 21 Chairman’s Rounds

APR 24 Clinical Cases– Dr. Richard Simons APR 25 Clinical Pathological Conference–

Drs. Celia Mouyal and Stan Liu

APR 26 “Podiatry/Diabetic Foot Wounds”-

Dr. Michael Stempel APR 27 Medicine Grand Rounds

APR 28 “Intro to Structural Heart Disease”-

Dr. Christian Nagy

APR 6 Ottenberg Palliative Care Ground Rounds

“Dementia/Neuropsychological Testing”

Angelo E. Volandes, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine

Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA Co-Founder/President, ACP Decisions

APR 13 “Traumatic Brain Injury/Concussion”

Marilyn Kraus, MD

Director, Traumatic Brain Injury Program and

Concussion Clinic

Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Director, Division of Neuropsychiatry

APR 20 "Weight Loss: Medical and Surgical Approaches”

Paul Lin, MD

Associate Professor of Surgery and Surgical

Oncology

Chief, Division of General Surgery

Vice Chair, Department of Surgery

Marijane Hynes, MD

Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine

Division, General Internal Medicine

Department of Medicine

GW MFA

APR 27 “Hyperuricemia and Gout- An Update”

Adey Berhanu, MD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Division of Rheumatology

Department of Medicine

GW MFA

The George Washington University Medical Center (GWUMC) is accredited by

the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to

sponsor continuing medical education for physicians. GWUMC designates this continuing medical education activity on an hour-for-hour basis in Category I of

the Physician’s Recognition Award of the American Medical Association.

(AMA).

Cardiology Grand Rounds 5:00 PM, Ross Hall, Room # 104

APR 5 Mortality & Morbidity Conference APR 12 Anitha John, MD, PhD Director, Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program Children’s National Health System Adult Congenital Heart Disease APR 19 Kris Lehnhardt, MD Medical Director, Emergency Medicine Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Jason McKay Adjunct Instructor of Emergency Medicine GW SMHS Update on Adult Resuscitation APR 26 Andrew Choi, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine and Radiology Division of Cardiology Department of Medicine GW MFA MRI and Cardiac Devices

GW Medicine Notes Page 3

Eric Yvon, PhD joins the Division of Hematology and Oncology as the new Director

of Stem Cell and Immune cell-based Therapies at GW Cancer Center.

Dr. Yvon earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Biochemistry at ESBB,

University of Paris, France in 1987. In 1999, he completed a Master of Science Degree

in Immunology at the EPHE, Sorbonne University in Paris, France. Upon completion

of his Master’s, Dr. Yvon enrolled into a Doctorate program at the same institution; he

completed in 2008, earning a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Immunology.

Dr. Yvon has had many years of experience as a researcher, starting as a Research

Assistant at the Necker EM Hospital in Paris France in 1990. He remained there for

ten years before becoming a Research Associate/Laboratory Manager at the Center for

Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; while there, he

held the academic rank of Instructor of Pediatrics. After leaving Baylor, Dr. Yvon

maintained employment at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, at

the academic rank of Assistant Professor, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation-

Research, Division of Cancer Medicine. He held the administrative title of Associate

Technical Director of Cell Therapy Laboratories

Dr. Yvon has participated in a number of research projects, which include: Principal

Investigator, Utilizing TGF-Beta Resistant Natural Killer Cells For Adoptive Transfer to

Overcome Tumor Immune Evasion, Department of Defense; Co-Principal Investigator,

Genetically Modified, Cord Blood Derived Natural Killer Cell Therapy for High Grade

Pediatric Brian Tumors; and Collaborator, Clinical Safety and Efficiency of Third Party,

Fucosylated Cord Blood Derived Regulatory T Cells to Prevent Graft Versus Host

Disease.

Dr. Yvon’s scholarly activities are impressive, with fifty three publications and eleven

abstracts noted on his curriculum vitae.

Dr. Yvon is an active member of the American Society of Cell and Gene Therapy, the

American Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation, the International Society of Cellu-

lar Therapy and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy.

Please Join Us In Welcoming Our Newest Addition to the

Department of Medicine

Internal Medicine Match CATEGORICAL

Name Medical School

Monica Arendt Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Daniel Beatty Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

Emily Bilger Cooper Medical School of Rowan University

Matthew Cichocki Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School-Piscataway

Pedro Covas Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University

Jonathan Czeresnia Escola Paulista de Medicina

Leigh Dickinson Campbell University Jerry M Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine

James Doran Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine

Brian Epling University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Esosa Imasuen Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Praneet Kalkat Albany Medical College

Ghazal Kango George Washington University School of Medicine

Ali Khan George Washington University School of Medicine

Alexander Loreck Sackler School of Medicine

Christina Marlow George Washington University School of Medicine

Jigar Patel Indiana University School of Medicine

Paul Pickmans University of Michigan Medical School

Linda Salva University of Health Sciences, Antigua

Mohammad Shirazi Howard University College of Medicine

Karandeep Singh Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin

University of Medicine and Science

Rachel Volke Florida International University Herbert Wertheim

College of Medicine

Kendrew Wong Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Linda Yue Florida International University Herbert Wertheim

College of Medicine

PRIMARY CARE Name Medical School

Caroline Bockus George Washington University School of Medicine

Danielle Grams USF Health Morsani College of Medicine

Puya Jafari George Washington University School of Medicine

Karan Kochhar American University Of Antigua College of Medicine

Sonia S. Krupnikova George Washington University School of Medicine

PRELIMINARY Name Medical School Andrew Canonico George Washington University School of Medicine (GW Anesthesia) Daniel Kenneth Fisher University of Colorado School of Medicine (GW Anesthesia) Ahmad Garada University of Virginia School of Medicine Adam T. Greenwood Tulane University School of Medicine (GW Anesthesia) Angela Hou New York University School of Medicine (Dermatology) Deborah Jeon George Washington University School of Medicine Meredith Kim George Washington University School of Medicine Chiemeka Onyima Drexel University Monmouth Medical Center (GW Anesthesia) Aislynn Raymond George Washington University School of Medicine Shabeg Singh Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (GW Anesthesia) INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS Name Medical School Moyad Almuslim (Categorical) University of Dammam College of Medicine Haneen Ismail (Categorical) King Abdul Aziz University Taher Tayeb (Categorical) King Abdul Aziz University Khaled Albazli (Preliminary) Umm Al Qura University Mohammed Alsaggaf (Preliminary) King Abdul Aziz University

Chairman’s Rounds GWU Hospital Auditorium, 12:00 Noon

All Faculty Invited to Attend APR 7: Drs. Dianne Thompson and Alexis Pavle APR 14: Drs. Caitlin Biedron and Srikar Kumar APR 21: Drs. Kani Gupta and Rami Alsharif

RENAL GRAND ROUNDS

1st Floor, Ross Hall, Lobby C

April, 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th

4pm-6pm

Senior Director, Ambulatory Operations for Specialties Amy Mower, MHA, CMPE joins us from Cooperstown, NY. She has

over 17 years of experience in healthcare administration, including clini-cal practice management, telemedicine program implementation and development, business operations, program development, quality man-agement, performance improvement and information services. Her most recent role was as Director of Performance Metrics at Bassett Medical Center in support of the New York State Medicaid Redesign (DSRIP) pro-ject. Amy’s role will be to direct the financial, clinical and administra-tive operations of the Medical Specialties of the Department Medicine.

The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates

Department of Medicine, Suite 8-416

2150 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

GW Medicine Notes Page 4

Rheumatology Academic Conference Schedule April 2017

2300 M Street, N.W., Suite 3-332

8AM—11:30 AM Questions: Call (202) 741-2488

APR 6: Dermatology-Rheumatology Combined Conference APR 6: M&M and Clinical rounds APR 6: Knowledge Bowl and Rheumatology boards training /preparation Dr. Taylor/ Dr. Curiel APR 13 : Intra-city Grand Rounds Location: NIH NOTE: LOCATION TIME 7:30AM APR 13: M&M and Clinical rounds APR 20: JIA Dr. Patience White APR 20: M&M and clinical rounds APR 20: Knowledge Bowl and Rheumatology boards training /preparation Dr. Taylor/ Dr. Curiel APR 27: Pain Management Dr. Danielle Doyle APR 27: M&M and Clinical rounds APR 27: Knowledge Bowl and Rheumatology boards training /preparation Dr. Taylor/ Dr. Curiel

Kudos and Congratulations Kudos… to Dr. Aneesha Hossain, PGY3, on receiving a letter of

praise from a patient who was so thankful that ‘these physicians

centered their medical plans around my quality of life and wish-

es.’

Kudos…to Dr. Azita Moalemi, former Cardiology fellow, on

receiving words of praise from a medical student, “She was one

of the best teachers… she is a true testament to the caliber of

training in Cardiology here at GW.

Congratulations…to Dr. Benjamin Blatt, General Internal Med-

icine, on being selected as the recipient of the 2017 Northeast

Group on Educational Affairs (NEGEA) Distinguished Service

and Leadership Award!

Congratulations...to Drs. Samah Nassereddine, Leukemia fel-

low, and Hind Rafei, PGY 2, on being awarded top prize for their

Case Report at the GME Resident Research Award competition!

See you next month! The Editor

Condolences…

To the family of Dr. Richard Simons, General Internal Medicine, on

the passing of his mother. To the family of Dr. Lawrence DuBuske, Allergy, on the passing of

his mother.

To the family of Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Cardiology, on the passing of

his mother.

Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families during this

difficult time.