What an incredible year 2012 was! The news media were inundated with stories from every portion of the health care sphere – from dramatic , once-in-a-lifetime court decisions to some of “the usual suspects.” What were the top 10 health care stories of 2012? The Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians has selected its biggest news stories of the year. Click through the following slides to relive 2012: a banner year for health care!

1. What an incredible year 2012
was! The news media were the top 10 health care
inundated with stories from
every portion of the health care
stories of 2012
sphere – from dramatic , once-
in-a-lifetime court decisions to
some of “the usual suspects.”
What were the top 10 health
care stories of 2012? The
Pennsylvania Academy of
Family Physicians has selected
its biggest news stories of the
year. Click through the
following slides to relive 2012: a
banner year for health care!

2. Tobacco use is still very much a
problem in America and 10. the war on tobacco.
worldwide. In fact, it’s rising in
some demographics: A new
state study out of California
shows rates increasing there in
18-to-24-year-olds. Smoking
research and statistics were
prevalent among the health
news headlines in 2012.
Click here to see PAFP 2012-13
Board Chair Dennis Gingrich,
MD talk to WITF about the
history of smoking. And click
here to read about Tar Wars, the
PAFP’s program to get fourth-
and fifth-graders to say “no” to
tobacco, in the York Daily
Record’s Cram Session blog.

3. The safety of certain energy
drinks has come under scrutiny 9. the energy drink health
in 2012, with The New York
Times reporting 13 deaths
scare.
linked to one brand. The Food
and Drug Administration (FDA)
is planning an investigation,
which means this story will
likely stretch well into 2013.
Click here to see PAFP member
Matthew Silvis, MD talk to
abc27 News about caffeine use
in children and teenagers.

4. In July and August of 2012,
cases of a variant form of the 8. influenza epidemics.
H3N2 virus, also known as
“swine flu”, increased quickly
and significantly. And, at the
beginning of December, the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) said this flu
season could be particularly
severe.
Click here to watch PAFP 2012-
13 Board Chair Dennis Gingrich,
MD talk to abc27 News about
influenza outbreaks.
Additionally, click here to read
about how family physicians
prepare for widespread
outbreaks of disease.

5. Conversations about the
changing nature of the 7. the evolving physician-
physician-patient relationship
took place across the media
patient relationship.
spectrum in 2012. Physicians
and patients working together
is an absolute necessity for
quality health care, a thread
that wove its way through
media coverage this year.
Click here to see PAFP members
Wanda Filer, MD; Dennis
Gingrich, MD; and Peter Lewis,
MD on the HealthSmart
program on WITF.

6. “Preventive care” has never
been more of a buzz term than 6. the importance of
it was in 2012, especially given
the rapidly changing health
preventive care.
care environment. From news
about vaccinations to
preventable hospitalizations,
the media in 2012 did a great
job making the connection
between quality preventive
care and a cost-efficient health
system.
Click here to listen to PAFP
President Kevin Wong, MD
discuss about the importance of
back-to-school vaccinations on
KDKA. Also, click here to read
Molly Talley, PAFP Director of
Resident and Student
Initiatives, talk to The
Pennsylvania Independent
about preventable hospital
stays.

7. “Patient-centered medical
home” may have been a 5. the rise of the patient-
confusing new term to the
media, patients, and even some
centered medical home.
physicians at the beginning of
the year. That’s likely not the
case anymore. The health care
model of the future, which
emphasizes coordinated care
and quality improvement, is
very much one of the hot news
topics of the moment in 2012.
Click here to read 2012-13
President Kevin Wong, MD and
PAFP Vice President and CEO
John Jordan talk about the
importance of the patient-
centered medical home in The
Penn-Trafford Star (part of the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).

8. Electronic health records (EHR)
systems are an important part 4. the growing necessity of
of the transforming health care
landscape. In 2012, the Centers
electronic health records.
for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) released a final
rule for Stage 2 of its EHR
incentive programs, one of the
biggest health care stories of
the year.
Click here to read PAFP health
information technology experts
Tracy Koval and Pam Wilshere
discuss electronic health record
implementation in The Central
Penn Business Journal.

9. The influx of a newly insured
population into the patient pool 3. the looming primary care
has led to speculation that
America’s primary care
shortage.
workforce may not be able to
handle the burden. Concerns
over a primary care shortage
have led to other questions
about topics like medical
education and scope-of-
practice, providing plenty of
fodder for health care sections
and segments of newspapers,
websites and broadcast outlets.
Click here to read PAFP member
Marjorie A. Bowman and others
talk to The New York Times
about the looming primary care
shortage and how to compel
medical students to seek
careers in family medicine.

10. States had until Dec. 14 to
decide whether or not they’d 2. health insurance
implement a health insurance
exchange – where those
exchanges.
without work-based insurance
can shop for coverage – or have
the federal government operate
it. Policy, politics, and cost
apprehension made for a huge
(and often confusing) health
care story in 2012.
Click here to hear the PAFP
respond to Pa. Gov. Tom
Corbett’s announcement that
Pennsylvania will not set up its
own health insurance exchange
on abc27 News.

11. Months of speculation and
analysis – rivaled only by the 1. the patient protection
presidential election in fervor
and intensity – ended on June
and affordable care act.
28, 2012 when the United
States Supreme Court upheld
the constitutionality of the
majority of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care
Act (PPACA), the health care
overhaul law often called
“Obamacare” by supporters and
critics alike. The rare story that
everyone seemed to have a
passionate opinion on, the
Affordable Care Act absolutely
dominated the news cycle in
2012.
Click here to view PAFP Board
Chair Dennis Gingrich, MD
discuss the implications of the
health care law on abc27 News.