Healthcare Regulations

A new bill filed in Florida would require accident victims to get treated at an emergency department within 72 hours if they want their auto insurer to pay the bills. The requirement is part of a larger package which renews the state's no-fault auto regulations. The measure would also boost the minimum auto policy medical coverage level from $10,000 to $15,000. The idea behind the bill is to cut down on post-accident auto fraud, which has increased 378 percent over the past four years, …

A new California bill which would allow psychologists with special training to prescribe drugs has drawn angry protests from a state psychiatric group. The bill, which is being considered by the state Senate, would give psychologists the option of becoming "prescribing psychologists" after taking a year of courses and getting additional supervised clinical experience. (They would be required to have this training because unlike psychiatrists, they don't have MD degrees.) The California …

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has taken new steps to boost HIPAA enforcement, making it easier for the HHS Office of Civil Rights to issue subpoenas in investing potential HIPAA and Patient Safety Quality Improvement Act violations. Leavitt has given the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) the power to issue subpoenas to investigate not only the highly-publicized privacy provisions of HIPAA, but also rules on "transaction and code sets." (In other words, he's also authorizing the OCR to …

Officials at University of California Irvine Medical Center are again facing the threat of a malpractice lawsuit resulting from the closure of its liver transplant program. The plaintiff, Elodie Irvine, originally sued UCI in 2004 for negligence and fraud. She had brought the suit after waiting four years for a transplant, then getting one in two months at another facility. The suit led to a federal investigation of the UCI transplant program, and ultimately, decertification of the …

A new study published in Health Affairs suggests that some physicians may be dodging Stark regulations when billing for advanced imaging services. The study, which used data from an unnamed California insurer, found that 33 percent of providers who billed for MRIs, 22 percent of those billing for CT scans and 17 percent of those who billed for PET scans could be classed as self-referrals. These physicians are avoiding the appearance of conflict by leasing or …

As we've noted previously in FierceHealthcare, the long shifts worked by residents may not be good for patient care, as error rates shoot up when they get too tired. But according to one study, it could hit facilities in the pocketbook, and hard, if they were to work fewer hours. Why? Because someone else, probably physician assistants, nurse practitioners or hospitalists, would have to do the work. What's more, facilities might have trouble adding such workers, as each category …

A new bill being considered by Congress would ban pharmaceutical companies from advertising new drugs for two years after they hit the market. Legislators have said they want to make sure drugs are safe before the pharmas begin aggressive marketing. Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Michael Enzi (R-WY) began working on the measure in 2004 after the Vioxx debacle. The new bill would expand the FDA's powers over drug launches, including a provision allowing it to impose the new ban. Pharmas …

Concerned about the influence of pharma drug reps, who some consider to have undue power, state legislators are considering a number of measures which would regulate the companies providing data on physicians. They're targeting firms like IMS Health, a $1.96 billion company which collects records from pharmacy chains on which drugs physicians prescribe to patients. These databases include details like the physician's age and gender, patient insurance mix and a sense of their attitudes. …

It's crackdown time in North Carolina, which saw a nearly 30 percent increase in physicians disciplined by the state medical board last year. Critics had previously chastised the medical board for being too easy on doctors, but things have changed, with 171 physicians being disciplined in 2006. The total number of disciplinary actions has nearly tripled since 2002. Last year's jump isn't just a statistical anomaly, either. While the total number of doctors disciplined last year went up by …

For a decade, Oregon has been the only state in the U.S. where physician-assisted suicide is legal. However, California could soon become the second, and given its bellwether status, potentially spark a tidal wave of laws in other states or even federal legislation, observers say. California's legislature is now considering a measure which, like Oregon's, would let patients with six months or less to live to take a fatal dose of pills prescribed by their doctor. As in Oregon, doctors …