Medicine & Health articles from January 2003

Medicine & Health archives from January 2003

Drug benefit top priority;... (In Congress).
January 6, 2003... The 108th Congress will try hard to enact a Medicare prescription drug benefit. It's the top health care priority for the White House and Capitol Hill Republicans, staffers said at a Dec. 19 briefing sponsored by the nonpartisan Alliance for...

... January to see little action. (In Congress).
January 6, 2003... "With Republicans controlling the House, the Senate, and the executive branch, there is an expectation that we deliver." However, "we're going to have to work pretty hard for 51 votes or 60 votes," said Dean Rosen, Republican staff director for...

Court overturns healthy Maine program. (Rx Drugs).
January 6, 2003... On Christmas Eve, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down an effort by Maine to provide discounted prescription drugs for its poor citizens who do not qualify for Medicaid. Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge...

Physicians receive cut in final fee schedule. (Physician Reimbursement).
January 6, 2003... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Dec. 31 issued the long anticipated Medicare physician fee schedule, and with it came the 4.4 percent reimbursement cut physicians fought so hard to avoid. Vigorous lobbying did not succeed in...

HCA, DOJ reach tentative settlement. (Fraud).
January 6, 2003... HCA-The Hospital Company would owe the federal government $881 million under a tentative settlement of civil health care fraud charges reached by the corporation and the Department of Justice, the two parties announced Dec. 18. The total...

Multiple chronic ills are medicare's big money sink. (Medicare Costs).
January 6, 2003... Nothing done in the name of Medicare reform will save substantial money unless it incorporates into the entire program management of patients with multiple chronic ills. That's according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-backed Partnership...

Coverage-wise, women worse off in more ways than one. (Tax Credits and Coverage).
January 6, 2003... Women are losing health coverage at three times the rate of men. But tax credits of the size proposed by the Bush administration would do little to provide lower-income women with comprehensive coverage, given the plans available in the current...

Record state deficits making for medicaid cuts. (State Budgets).
January 6, 2003... States are facing unprecedented budget deficits of between $60 to $85 billion, representing 13 to 18 percent of state expenditures, for fiscal year 2004. These shortfalls, which represent roughly twice the red ink states faced in the early...

Evidence proves alien to cloning group. (In Other News).
January 6, 2003... * Evidence Proves Alien To Cloning Group. Clonaid head Brigitte Boisselier, who on Dec. 27 promised evidence of a cloned baby's birth in 7 to ten days, now says the unidentified parents may not allow DNA testing at all because of a Florida...

HHS takes on New J-1 visa role. (In Other News).
January 6, 2003... * HHS Takes On New J-1 Visa Role. The Department of Health and Human Services said Dec. 17 it will start reviewing requests from community heath centers, rural hospitals, and other health care providers in medically underserved areas to waive...

US stands alone on reproductive-rights language. (In Other News).
January 6, 2003... * US Stands Alone On Reproductive-Rights Language. At a December conference in Bangkok, Asian and Pacific nations approved a plan of action of population policies to lessen poverty in the region, but without the full voting support of the...

CMS issues new inherent reasonableness rule. (In Other News).
January 6, 2003... * CMS Issues New Inherent Reasonableness Rule. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and its durable medical equipment regional carriers will use their authority to ensure "inherent reasonableness" in Medicare reimbursements only when...

Administration looks to congress, not court, on pediatric rule. (In Other News).
January 6, 2003... * Administration Looks To Congress, Not Court, On Pediatric Rule. The Bush Administration won't appeal a federal court decision invalidating the Food and Drug Administration's "pediatric rule," but will instead ask Congress to codify it, the...

Timmons and Company. (People).
January 6, 2003... Rich Tarplin, who served as chief of staff for Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala during the Clinton administration, is the new chair of the board of directors at Washington-based marketing and communications firm Timmons and...

National Osteoporosis Foundation. (People).
January 6, 2003... Judith Cranford has taken over the helm of the National Osteoporosis Foundation, as its new executive director. She's the former assistant executive director for development, marketing, and communications at NOF. Prior to joining the group, she...

U.S. Department of Justice. (People).
January 6, 2003... R. Hewitt Pate is acting assistant attorney general for antitrust for the U.S. Department of Justice. He's been deputy assistant attorney general for regulatory affairs. Pate replaces Charles James, who resigned after less than two years in the...

Humans replace nature as source of medical scourge. (Health Person Of The Year).
January 6, 2003... * Humans Replace Nature As Source Of Medical Scourge. In a strange, unhappy twist, a triumph of modern medicine turned round on itself to become a liability in 2002. Thought conquered forever by the eradication campaign waged in the 1960s and...

What we assume about "new" and "better" treatments might make an ass out of you and me. (Health Person Of The Year).
January 6, 2003... * What We Assume About "New" And "Better" Treatments Might Make An Ass Out Of You And Me. In a series of various-sized shocks to the medical system in 2002, major studies suggested that hype has gone out ahead of evidence in the case of some...

Funny, that rainy day is here. (Health Person Of The Year).
January 6, 2003... * Funny, That Rainy Day Is Here. Money was back with a vengeance as a top health-care concern in 2002. And nowhere is it a more troubling issue than for state governments, for whom health-assistance rolls have burgeoned as revenues have shrunk....

Health care a consuming passion for person of the year. (Health Person Of The Year).
January 6, 2003... * Health Care A Consuming Passion For Pergon Of The Year. A decade ago, the rising cost of care was as troubling as it is today. Then, the answer to the crisis seemed clear: Managed care organizations, a relatively new wrinkle in the delivery...

Bush stimulus package leaves states out in cold. (State Budget).
January 13, 2003... At $674 billion over ten years--more than double what many were expecting--President George Bush's economic-stimulus proposal dwarfs the House Democrats' $136 billion offering. However, when it comes to help for strained state budgets, it's the...

FED-state battle looms over Medicaid's big picture. (Medicaid).
January 13, 2003... States' long-term hope for Medicaid is that the federal government will reexamine the program and conclude that it has shifted onto states financial responsibilities that it should take onto itself. That was the message brought to a Jan. 7...

More talk, not much more action on Medicaid in 2003 ... (In Congress).
January 13, 2003... With governors screaming for help with Medicaid finances, Congress feels it must pay more attention in 2003. But don't expect much--or any--completed action. The tight federal budget, political urgency to enact a Medicare drug benefit, and the...

... But Medicare, long term care bills could help states. (In Congress).
January 13, 2003... The two main proposals affecting Medicaid that Congress is likely to take up in 2003 won't be Medicaid bills at all--by name at any rate--House and Senate staffers said at the briefing. On the House side, the Commerce panel and the...

What goes up, someone will try to bring down. (Health Care Spending).
January 13, 2003... It's official. The United States racked up a total of $1.4-trillion in health-care spending in 2001, just as actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projected last year. That's $5,035 a person and represents an 8.7 percent...

GAO: Freestanding SNFs have big Medicare margins. (Skilled Nursing Facilities).
January 13, 2003... Freestanding skilled nursing facilities have done well under Medicare' s SNF prospective payment system, the General Accounting Office said Dec. 31 in a report which counsels against across-the-board increases in SNF reimbursement. In...

Thomas renews push to aid physicians. (In Other News).
January 13, 2003... * Thomas Renews Push To Aid Physicians. Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has introduced legislation that would freeze Medicare physician reimbursement for one year at its 2002 level. The bill would spare...

Labor-HHS-Education Funding Hardest Hit in GOP Funding Agreement.
January 13, 2003... * Labor-HHS-Education Funding Hardest Hit In GOP Funding Agreement. Spending for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education would be $131.4 billion, $2.7 billion below last year's allocation by the Democrat-controlled...

Drugmarker Settles Antitrust Claims. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
January 13, 2003... * Drugmaker Settles Antitrust Claims. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has tentatively agreed to pay $535 million to settle antitrust lawsuits charging that it unlawfully kept generic competitors to its anxiety drug BuSpar off the market. The company...

WellPoint Pushing Generics, Over-The-Counter Antihistamines.
January 13, 2003... * WellPoint Pushing Generics, Over-The-Counter Antihistamines. On Jan. 6, WellPoint Health Networks Inc. said it would cut copays by up to $10 the first time its members use certain generic drugs. The onetime discount might seem modest, but...

AAHP: M+C Troubles will continue without hill action.
January 13, 2003... * AAHP: M+C Troubles Will Continue Without Hill Action. The American Association of Health Plans is warning that 670,000 additional seniors could have their Medicare+Choice coverage disrupted by January 2004, on top of the more than 200,000 M+C...

Panel to decide who decide on Cigna settlement.
January 13, 2003... * Panel To Decide Who Decides On Cigna Settlement. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will meet Jan. 28 to determine which federal district court judge should review Cigna's proposed settlement of allegations that it systematically...

Food and Drug Administration. (People).
January 13, 2003... Kathy Zoon, longtime head of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, leaves that post this month. A recent reorganization of FDA to divert most of CBER's responsibility for reviewing therapeutics to the...

University of Minnesota. (People).
January 13, 2003... Replacing Zoon is Jesse Goodman, MD. A member of the FDA staff since 1998, he's been deputy director for medicine in the center since 1999. Before joining the agency, he headed infectious-disease studies at the University of Minnesota.

Ernst & Young. (People).
January 13, 2003... Anne Phelps, who' s been a White House special assistant on health-policy issues, joins the lobbying and consulting firm Ernst & Young as a senior manager. Prior to her work in the Bush administration, Phelps was staff director for Sen. Bill...

California Association of Health Plans. (People).
January 13, 2003... Walter Zelman has left the California Association Of Health Plans, where he's been executive director for the past four years. Prior to joining CAHP, Zelman was a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, executive director of...

What we worry about when we worry about cost. (Perspectives).
January 13, 2003... U.S. health spending hit $1.4 trillion in 2001 and grew by 8.2 percent that year, rising to an all-time-high 14.1 percent of gross domestic product, say the newest numbers from actuarial gurus at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...

Senate moves to fix doc pay cut, aid rural care. (Medicare Physician Payment).
January 20, 2003... At press time, the Senate looked ready to approve a modest health-care package that would cancel the physician pay cut scheduled for March 1. House Ways & Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas (R-CA) has been pushing hard for a proposal he...

Rx benefit will be hard to get, and providers may pay. (Medicare Drug Benefit).
January 20, 2003... Only one Capitol Hill staffer was willing to put odds for enacting a Medicare prescription-drug benefit this year at better than 50-50 at a briefing for health reporters Jan. 14. Republicans are particularly eager to get the job done in...

IG: states, localities not ready for bioterror. (Bioterror Preparedness).
January 20, 2003... Unlike some other terrorist acts, bioterror is covert. So the real first responders are the surveillance and mobilization operations of state and local public-health agencies, and they're not prepared, in part because of lack of cooperation...

Care getting better, as we learn what to do ... (Quality).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... Quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries is going up, but there is still a long way to go, according to a study published in the Jan. 15 Journal of the American Medical Association. "We have seen improvement, and that improvement is...

... But next comes creating systems. (Quality).
January 20, 2003... And further improvements, according to Jencks, could be harder, requiring more comprehensive fixes: "A lot of the improvement we've seen to date is because of improved awareness--people being more aware of beta blockers and pneumococcal...

Pay increases approved by panel are mostly slim to none. (MedPAC).
January 20, 2003... Apparently concluding that, for the most part, Medicare beneficiaries aren't suffering serious access-to-care problems, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Jan. 15 voted to recommend modest or no 2004 reimbursement updates for most...

HMOs' higher premiums brought higher profits in 2002. (In Other News).(health maintenance organizations)(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... The country's health maintenance organizations scored a 162 percent increase in profits in the first three months of 2002, compared to the same period in 2001, according to Palm Beach Gardens, FL-based Weiss Ratings, Inc. Industry...

States forming drug purchasing organization. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... In a challenge to both the pharmaceutical industry and the pharmacy benefit managers, nine states are attempting to leverage their buying power by forming a nonprofit organization to manage the drug benefits they provide to Medicaid recipients,...

The uninsured get free care--not. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... The uninsured face enormous difficulties in paying for care, even at "safety net" hospitals and clinics. So says a study by Brandeis University's Access Project, which analyzes a survey of almost 7,000 uninsured people who received outpatient...

Smallpox vaccine protections for hospitals, question marks for patients. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... The Bush administration intends to offer broad liability protection to hospitals and other providers involved in administration of the smallpox vaccine, but some question whether those protections would come at the expense of patients and...

Elimination of thimerosal suits to be itself eliminated. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... Parents who allege that their children's autism was caused by thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative made by Eli Lilly, can continue their court cases against the company if an agreement reached Jan. 10 with Senate leaders by moderate...

Scully on the good and bad in managed care. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... Republicans have always criticized governmental limitations on health care. The Bush administration has increasingly extended the same criticism to limitations imposed by private insurers. One example came at a Jan. 15 briefing on Medicare...

Temporarily detailed to the Treasury Department is Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Deputy Administrator Ruben King-Shaw. (People).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... Temporarily detailed to the Treasury Department is Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Deputy Administrator Ruben King-Shaw. For the next half-year, he'll spend most of the week at Treasury, in charge of implementing an initiative that's...

Daniel Zingale, who was the first director of California's Department of Managed Health Care, is leaving that post to join the administration of Gov. Gray Davis (D). (People).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... Daniel Zingale, who was the first director of California's Department of Managed Health Care, is leaving that post to join the administration of Gov. Gray Davis (D). As Davis' cabinet secretary, he'll oversee state agencies. Prior to being...

The American Public Health Association has chosen Maryland secretary of health and mental hygiene, Georges Benjamin, MD, to be its new executive director, beginning in 2003. (People).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... The American Public Health Association has chosen Maryland secretary of health and mental hygiene, Georges Benjamin, MD, to be its new executive director, beginning in 2003. He served as president of the Association of State and Territorial...

Former Rep. Bill Gradison (R-OH), who headed the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, is joining the new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. (People).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... Former Rep. Bill Gradison (R-OH), who headed the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, is joining the new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. He's a former chief of the Health Insurance Association of America and most recently was...

James Barnes has been named executive director of the National Medical Association. (People).(Brief Article)
January 20, 2003... James Barnes has been named executive director of the National Medical Association. Previously, he was a senior associate vice president for health affairs at George Washington University and chief operating officer of GWU's medical center.

Medicaid: same-old, same-old or a new, not-so-brave world? (Perspectives).
January 20, 2003... This is the first in a series of Perspectives on Medicaid budget crunches that M&H will publish over the next few weeks. We've seen many ups and downs for Medicaid, but we may never have been just here before, various analysts said at...

Bush plans "aggressive" approach on health. (Medicare Prescription Drugs).
January 27, 2003... When the White House rolls out its 2003 healthcare proposals on health care--first a Medicare prescription-drug benefit but also tort reform for medical malpractice and provisions to combat uninsurance such as tax credits and so-called...

Full speed ahead on smallpox vaccine. (Smallpox).
January 27, 2003... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun shipping smallpox vaccine to state and local governments, CDC announced Jan. 22. The administration is pushing ahead with vaccination plans, despite resistance from some prominent...

Next stop conference for omnibus. (Appropriations).
January 27, 2003... Only a third of the way into the fiscal year, the Senate Jan. 23 voted 69 to 29 in favor of a $390 billion-plus FY 2003 omnibus spending measure encompassing the 11 unfinished 2003 appropriations bills. Included is language developed by Finance...

Baucus names his price, and it's probably too high. (Medicare Prescription Drugs).
January 27, 2003... If Washington produces a Medicare prescription-drug benefit that anyone can call bipartisan, a handful of moderate Senate Democrats must support it. A key player in such a scenario would surely be Senate Finance Committee top-ranking Dem Max...

Breaux proposes universal care--American style. (The Uninsured).
January 27, 2003... For the same ten-year cost as the president's proposed new stimulus tax-cut package--between $600 and $700 billion--the country could convert to a healthcare system that insures all Americans, Sen. John Breaux (D-LA) told two audiences in...

Month-old plan for ER flexibility pulled by CMS ... (Medicaid Managed Care).(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services )(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... With the White House firmly opposing across-the-board financial assistance for states facing Medicaid shortfalls, administration officials have promised grouchy governors that they'll offer instead new flexibilities for states to institute...

... After Congress cries foul.
January 27, 2003... But when Congress permitted states to require some Medicaid patients to enroll in MCOs, it hedged the permission with special restrictions intended to protect enrollees from possible over-zealous cost cutting by private plans. The $64,000...

Thompson pushes for Medicare DM. (In Other News).(Tommy Thompson, disease management)(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... Thompson Pushes For Medicare DM. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson urgently wants to explore options like capitated payments for organizations that Would undertake disease management for Medicare enrollees, said Centers for...

SCHIP agreement, but not in Omnibus. (In Other News).(State Children's Health Insurance Program)(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... SCHIP Agreement, But Not In Omnibus. Senate Republican leaders have agreed to move forward this year on a plan to redistribute $2.7 billion in State Children's Health Insurance Program money that has either reverted to the federal Treasury or...

Reinsurance a possible answer in tort-reform wars? (In Other News).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... Reinsurance A Possible Answer In TortReform Wars? A federal reinsurance system that spreads risk more evenly among providers could bring more senators on board with enacting malpractice reform, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) suggested Jan. 23. The...

In settlement, Kaiser to post Doc-Pay Rules, Clinical Guidelines. (In Others News).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... In Settlement, Kaiser To Post Doc-Pay Rules, Clinical Guidelines. To settle two 1999 lawsuits filed by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and other consumer groups, the large nonprofit health maintenance organization Kaiser...

Standards set for classifying trial subjects. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... Standards Set For Classifying Trial Subjects. Food and Drug Administration formally requested Jan. 23 that drug manufacturers classify clinical-trial subjects using federally defined racial and ethnic categories. It's part of FDA's effort to...

FDA to take on supplement industry? (In Other News).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... FDA To Take On Supplement Industry? To an audience member's observation at a Washington health-policy conference Jan. 22 that consumers "need to know exactly what's in herbal supplements," Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Mark...

Nora Volkow, MD, a psychiatrist who is director for nuclear medicine and for life sciences at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been named to head the National Institute on Drug Abuse. (People).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... Nora Volkow, MD, a psychiatrist who is director for nuclear medicine and for life sciences at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been named to head the National Institute on Drug Abuse. An addiction researcher of international reputation,...

Jennifer Boulanger, deputy director for health plans in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Center for Beneficiary Choices. (People).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... Jennifer Boulanger, deputy director for health plans in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Center for Beneficiary Choices, leaves that post to join the Congressional Research Service.

New at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is Martin Corry, former federal affairs director at AARP. (People).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... New at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is Martin Corry, former federal affairs director at AARP. He's a special assistant to CMS Administrator Tom Scully.

CMS. (People).(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... Recently retired from CMS is Tom Hoyer, an analyst on home-health and nursing-home matters.

Kevin Concannon will step down as head of Maine's Department of Human Services in mid-February, the Portland Press Herald reports. (People).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... Kevin Concannon will step down as head of Maine's Department of Human Services in mid-February, the Portland Press Herald reports. Appointed by former Gov. Angus King (I) in 1995, he helped develop and champion through ongoing judicial...

The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship has appointed a new chief operating officer, William T. Schmidt. (People).(Brief Article)
January 27, 2003... The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship has appointed a new chief operating officer, William T. Schmidt. A former legislative assistant for retired Rep. John Porter (R-IL), Schmidt was an associate in the health-law practice of...

CMS and wall street report ...(Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
January 27, 2003... Under Administrator Tom Scully, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published a series of "market updates," which include observations by Wall Street analysts on various sectors of the health care industry. This week's...