Medicine & Health articles from March 2002

Medicine & Health archives from March 2002

Johnson wants to act, but details, dollars are few. (Medicare Physician Payment).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... "I am committed to fixing this irrational payment formula" and the sooner the better, said House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Nancy Johnson (R-CT) at a Feb. 28 hearing on the Medicare physician payment formula that's produced a 5.4...

States, employers, unions seek to end drug patent loopholes. (Drug Patents).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The big brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers have lost few battles in Washington over the years. But as health costs rise, the war between the pharmas and just about everybody else is heating up and is unlikely to end without some...

Court upholds Maine Rx drug Medicaid waiver. (Prescription Drugs).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... A federal trial court has turned back a challenge by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America to the "Healthy Maine Prescriptions" Medicaid demonstration program. The program was approved by the federal Department of Health and...

Group ready to accredit human subject protections. (Human Subject Protection).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs officially opened its doors for business Feb. 26. AAHRPP will offer voluntary accreditation to human research protection (HRP) programs at institutions that conduct...

Rx card, take two. (Prescription Drugs).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Defying the evolving view in Washington that the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series first, the Bush administration Feb. 28 released its new stab at allowing private groups to offer Medicare-endorsed prescription drug discount cards to...

FTC warily clears Denver docs to negotiate jointly. (Collective Bargaining).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... For the first time, the Federal Trade Commission has cautiously approved a proposal by a practice association including competing primary care and specialist physicians to negotiate jointly with health plans for the group's services as a...

CMS issues OPPS rule. (Outpatient Payments).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Feb. 28 announced a final rule setting new rates, effective April 1, for hospitals under Medicare's outpatient prospective payment system. CMS previously published an OPPS final rule on Nov. 30...

Ambulance fee plan released. (Medicare Ambulance Payment).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final Medicare ambulance fee schedule Feb. 27. Under the regulation, the product of a negotiated rulemaking required by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, "ambulance service providers will...

FDA.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... * Crawford Gets FDA Appointment... As Deputy. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson Feb, 25 named Lester Crawford, a veterinarian, to be deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Crawford, who has a PhD in...

"Symbolic" health legislation -- like patients' bill of rights -- most likely in 2002, says commentator.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... * "Symbolic" Health Legislation -- Like Patients' Bill Of Rights -- Most Likely In 2002, Says Commentator. With federal surpluses a fading memory and all things defense- and security-related gobbling up dollars that remain, lawmakers eventually...

Montana.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... * Montana Launches AWP Suit. Montana on Feb. 25 became the second state to sue major drug companies on the grounds that the drugmakers report inflated versions of the so-called average wholesale prices on which Medicaid programs base their...

CalPERS.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... CalPERS Considers Desperate Measures. No longer able to bargain for very favorable prices on the basis of its gargantuan size, the 1.2 million-member California Public Employees' Retirement System is considering big changes, the Sacramento Bee...

Mississippi Mulls, then pulls doc fee plan.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... * Mississippi Mulls, Then Pulls Doc Fee Plan. With state's Medicaid program set to run out of money in two days, Mississippi legislators Feb. 26 agreed to use provider fees rather than reimbursement cuts to make up a $158 million funding...

American Cancer Society.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... New to the American Cancer Society is Amy Freeman, who previously was a legislative assistant in the offices of Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL). She'll be manager of federal government relations for ACS.

Beth Cameron, a doctoral-level molecular biologist, also joins ACS.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Beth Cameron, a doctoral-level molecular biologist, also joins ACS, where she'll manage policy research. She has been a congressional fellow in the office of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

ER backups not one problem, but many. (Perspectives).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... This is the second part of a Perspectives series on emergency department overcrowding. The first part appeared in Medicine & Health's Feb. 25 edition. With emergency department overcrowding a top health care concern around the country, it...

House GOP hot for fast PDUFA reauthorization. (FDA).(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... To avoid mid-year layoffs of Food and Drug Administration employees who review drug applications, the House Energy and Commerce Committee intends to approve reauthorization of the Prescription Drug Users Fee Act as soon as possible, Chair Billy...

UPL rule lawsuit filed. (Safety Net Hospitals).(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... The American Hospital Association, the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH), and other groups including several state hospital associations filed suit March 7 to stop the Bush administration's rule change that...

Hearing suggests tough going for Medicare Rx. (Medicare Prescription Drugs).(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... At a March 7 hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. John Breaux (D-LA) and others scoffed at the idea of spending $750 billion over ten years on a drug benefit, as the seniors' lobby AARP has proposed. Yet, this amount would cover only...

GAO finds safeguards for seniors lacking. (Nursing Homes).(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... We are leaving our nursing home residents vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, according to a new report from the General Accounting Office presented at a March 4 hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. The panel heard emotional...

Don't throw away money already spent, ER docs say. (Disaster Preparedness).(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... If the Bush budget plan is enacted, funding for emergency disaster preparedness training will be funneled entirely into schools of public health, leaving a gaping hole where a significant amount of the training ought to be concentrated -- among...

Patients haggling with providers over price. (Health Care Consumers).(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... With the apparent new wave of so-called consumer-driven health care just beginning, a "sizable minority" of people, mostly those who report being only in fair or poor health, already say they have haggled with providers over price, according to...

Researchers vow war on Bush budget. (Health Services Research).(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... Health services researchers could virtually be put out of business if the White House fiscal year 2003 budget proposal becomes law, the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy is telling its members. Under the 16 percent cut...

Scully predicts "modest" provider bill.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... * Scully Predicts "Modest" Provider Bill. Striking again his now familiar theme that health care industry investors shouldn't -- and don't -- expect "silicon valley"-like returns, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Tom...

Duke goes from acting to official at HRSA.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... * Duke Goes From Acting To Official At HRSA. On March 6, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson designated Elizabeth Duke as the administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration. Duke has been the acting HRSA chief...

Hopkins radiologist expected to head NIH.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... * Hopkins Radiologist Expected To Head NIH. The Bush administration has reportedly settled on Elias Zerhouni, MD, a radiologist and executive vice dean at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, to head the National Institutes of...

Congress passes stimulus package.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... * Congress Passes Stimulus Package. The House voted 417-3 March 7 in favor of an economic stimulus bill that omits tax credits to help unemployed workers purchase health insurance, and the Senate passed the much-slimmed-down package March 8,...

Barr, Conyers, AMA push Campbell Lite.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... * Barr, Conyers, AMA Push Campbell Lite. With the backing of the American Medical Association, Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) and John Conyers (D-MI) on March 7 introduced a bill to allow independent physicians and other health professionals to negotiate...

Traci Gleason, most recently a Javits Fellow working with the health policy group of the Senate Finance Committee has joined California Gov. Gray Davis's (D) Washington staff.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... Traci Gleason, most recently a Javits Fellow working with the health policy group of the Senate Finance Committee, has joined California Gov. Gray Davis's (D) Washington staff, where she'll also work on health issues.

ER patients: what do they want? Can we make them go away?(Brief Article)
March 11, 2002... This is the third in a series of Perspectives on emergency department overcrowding. The first two were published in our February 25 and March 4 issues. With hospital emergency departments around the country more frequently "going on...

Eisenberg dies at 55. (Quality).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... John Eisenberg, MD, administrator of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, died Mar. 10 of a brain tumor. The 55-year old Eisenberg had been receiving home hospice care at the end of yearlong illness. Eisenberg, who headed AHRQ...

Hospitals would finance small doc fix under Bush. (Medicare Provider Payments).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... The administration has reiterated and expanded its insistence that any adjustments to Medicare provider payments not cost money. "We will not support any package of provider payments unless it is budget neutral in the short- and long-term," say...

USDA pulls out of J-1 visa program. (Rural Physician Access).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... In a move the agency ascribes to terrorism-related security concerns, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly and abruptly announced late last month that it will no longer participate in the so-called J-1 visa waiver program under which...

Scully, IG don't satisfy Grassley on FCA enforcement. (False Claims Act).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... Seeking assurances Mar. 14 that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Tom Scully and Health and Human Services Inspector General Janet Rehnquist are committed to tough False Claims Act enforcement and qui tam whistleblower suits,...

Administration hopes congress gets behind commerce AWP fix. (Medicare Prescription Drugs).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... By administrative action, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could change the payment formula for the limited number of Medicare-covered outpatient prescription drugs to save about $500 million a year in what virtually everyone...

Will congress bow to Bush request for vet cost sharing? (Veterans' Health).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... Among other assumptions in the Bush administration's fiscal year 2003 budget that some observers brand "wishful thinking" is a plan to increase cost-sharing for users of the Department of Veterans' Affairs health care system. The...

Feds seek strict controls in tobacco suit. (Tobacco Control).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... Cigarette packs would be covered with "graphic health warnings" over fifty percent of their surface area and contain leaflets with health messages designed by the U.S. Surgeon General. Cigarette advertisements would be restricted to black and...

McClellan, critics tangle on tax credits. (The Uninsured).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... At a Mar. 12 hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, White House health policy advisor Mark McClellan defended the administration's proposed tax credits to help the uninsured purchase health coverage. A new...

Health spending to double. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... * Health Spending To Double. U.S. health care spending will reach $2.8 trillion in 2011, more than double the $1.3 trillion spent in 2000, according to the most recent version of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' annual spending...

House panel reserves $350 billion for medicare. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... * House Panel Reserves $350 Billion For Medicare. On Mar. 13 the House Budget Committee passed a $2.1 trillion budget resolution. The resolution reserves $350 billion over ten years for a bill or amendment that "provides a prescription drug...

PDUFA agreements contain higher user fees. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... * PDUFA Agreements Contain Higher User Fees. User fees would go up significantly under the terms for reauthorizing the Prescription Drug User Fee Act agreed to by the Bush administration and drug manufacturers, Health and Human Services...

UPL cuts delayed to April. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... * UPL Cuts Delayed To April. Attorneys for the Department of Health and Human Services have told a federal court that HHS will postpone until April 15 the originally scheduled March 19 start date for cutting some Medicaid payments for...

Mississippi opts for reimbursement, benefit cuts for Medicaid. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... * Mississippi Opts For Reimbursement, Benefit Cuts For Medicaid. After mulling then rejecting plans for more general state fees on medical services and providers to fund the state's faltering Medicaid program, Mississippi legislators approved a...

Damon Thompson, who served for the past five and a half years as director of public affairs in the office of the U.S. Surgeon General, has left that post for the private sector. (People).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... Damon Thompson, who served for the past five and a half years as director of public affairs in the office of the U.S. Surgeon General, has left that post for the private sector. He joins the Washington, DC, staff of Lipman Hearne, a...

House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee policy coordinator Anne Esposito has left that post to join Baxter Healthcare's Washington, DC, office, where she'll be director of government affairs and public policy. (People).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee policy coordinator Anne Esposito has left that post to join Baxter Healthcare's Washington, DC, office, where she'll be director of government affairs and public policy. Before taking the top policy...

Replacing Esposito is Steve Tilton, currently the legislative director for Bilirakis' personal staff.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... Replacing Esposito is Steve Tilton, currently the legislative director for Bilirakis' personal staff. (People)

Former South Carolina Governor David Beasley is the newly appointed head of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health. (People).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... Former South Carolina Governor David Beasley is the newly appointed head of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health. Beasley, who had switched from the Democratic to the Republican party earlier in his political career, served as...

White House Office of Management and Budget Medicare analyst Stefani Pashman has made the switch to the private sector, joining Washington DC-based policy firm Health Strategies Consultancy LLC. (People).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... White House Office of Management and Budget Medicare analyst Stefani Pashman has made the switch to the private sector, joining Washington DC-based policy firm Health Strategies Consultancy LLC. Previously, Pashman worked on AIDS issues at OMB...

Also new at Health Strategies is Meiissa Fuller, most recently a principal at the biopharmaceutical development company Covance Inc. (People).(Brief Article)
March 18, 2002... Also new at Health Strategies is Meiissa Fuller, most recently a principal at the biopharmaceutical development company Covance Inc. Previously, she was an analyst at the Institute of Medicine and the National Governors Association, working on...

Er backups: more room needed But where? And who pays? This is the last in a series of four Perspectives on emergency department overcrowding. (Perspectives).
March 18, 2002... Cutting demand for emergency department care can only go so far toward solving the ED backup problem, analysts generally agree. The bottom line on backups is pretty simple: They illustrate, at least in part, some lack of needed capacity in the...

New privacy rule waives consent. (Information Privacy).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... Providers will not have to obtain written consent from patients before they use or disclose identifiable health information for purposes of treatment, payment, or health care operations, under the proposed rule released March 21 by the...

Ethnic minorities get worse care no matter what, says IOM. (Racial Health Disparities).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... Members of an Institute of Medicine panel charged with evaluating the evidence that correlates minority racial or ethnic status with worse health care were "shocked" and "amazed" at the "overwhelming" amount of data that confirms the...

Good old days not good for access. (Access).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... Good times in the late 1990's didn't help Americans get more access to needed health care, according to a new report by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). "Despite a strong economy, fewer uninsured people, and record low...

Budget resolutions passed. (The Budget).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... On a March 21 party-line vote, Senate Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad (D-ND) pushed a resolution through his panel that would reserve $500 billion over ten years for reforming Medicare and adding a prescription drug benefit, upping Medicare...

OIG: states should pay less for generics. (Medicaid Drugs).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... States should revise their Medicaid reimbursement policies for generic prescription drugs because they pay pharmacies much more than retailers' acquisition costs. That's the finding of a report released March 14 by the health and human services...

Dems fight suspension of pediatric testing rule. (Pediatric Testing).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... Three Democratic congressional leaders on health care policy are urging President George W. Bush to preserve a rule requiring pharmaceutical companies to study the proper use in children of new medications that are likely to be used in a large...

Reps argue for doc pay baseline changes. (Medicare Physician Payment).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... If you guys weren't predicting such big cuts to Medicare physician payment rates under current law, we'd have to allocate a lot less money to push payment rates to a level that will keep physicians seeing Medicare patients, and it would be a...

JCAHO tries again on safety. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... * Beginning next year, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations will annually establish six national goals on patient safety and will begin disclosing individual compliance data on those goals beginning in 2004, In...

Manufacturer requests move to OTC for Claritin. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... * Schering-Plough Corp. has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to move its popular allergy drug Claritin from prescription to over-the-counter status, the company announced March 8. Schering-Plough's request came under the heading of...

Govs talk tough on cutting Medicaid. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... * Testifying on behalf of the National Governors' Association, Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton (D) told the Senate Special Committee on Aging Mar. 21 that the combination of rising Medicaid costs and shrunken revenues means states' "only choices are...

More evidence fair game in dumping cases. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... * A rule change for the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which prohibits hospitals from "dumping" patients to other facilities, likely will make it easier for federal enforcers to slap big penalties on offending institutions....

Big employers lean toward `consumerism' for worker coverage. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... * Forty-three percent of employers in the annual Watson Wyatt/Washington Business Group on Health survey of large firms will include more "consumerism" in their health coverage programs next year, the groups say. That's up from 19 percent who...

TB resurgence threatens. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... * After a burst of funding that greatly decreased the incidence of tuberculosis in the United States during the mid-1990s, federal funds to fight the disease haven't kept pace with inflation, resulting in an increasing number of cases in some...

Policy makers find much research irrelevant, rely least on university research. (In Other News).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... * Bombarded with information, policy makers read five or more policy-related articles a week but are most likely to read information that's short, broken up into bullet points, and illustrated by charts and graphs. That's according to an...

International Center for the Integration of Health and Spirituality. (People).(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... Health and spirituality researcher and advocate David Larson, MD, collapsed and died while exercising March 5. A geriatrician and psychiatrist, Larson founded the Maryland-based International Center for the Integration of Health and...

MedPAC to congress: tinker with doc, inpatient, SNF pay formulas.(Brief Article)
March 25, 2002... Reaction to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's March 2002 report outlining a number of recommended changes to provider payment formulas has been distinctly mixed. The Bush administration is scrambling to save any and all available...