Healthcare Regulations

Triggered by a newspaper's disclosure of details on the sale of a medical practice to a local hospital authority, a North Carolina state Senator has filed a bill which would make such contracts confidential. The newspaper, the Wilkes Journal-Patriot, had sued the Wilkes Regional Medical Center Hospital Authority to get details on a physician buyout contract, under which the medical center paid $650,000 to buy the assets of a local gastroenterologist's practice. The medical center …

It looks like there's more trouble brewing on the charity care front. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance, has asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct an investigation into whether nonprofits are meeting their community benefit obligations. He's also asked the GAO to investigate compensation for executives and board members at nonprofit hospitals. "We need to get a better handle on how nonprofit hospitals are fulfilling …

The Arizona legislature is considering a bill which would create a statewide database tracking drug prescriptions, a step already taken by 33 other states. The idea behind the bill is to monitor for patterns suggesting patient drug abuse, such as "doctor shopping," under which patients go to multiple physicians for the same drug. The bill would also allow both Arizona state and federal officials to keep an electronic eye on how much doctors and dentists are prescribing, making it easier …

County officials in Arizona have taken the highly unusual and extreme step of jailing a 27-year-old tuberculosis patient who refuses to wear a mask in public to prevent the spread of the disease. The patient, Robert Daniels, suffers from an aggressively drug-resistant strain of the disease, XDR-TB, which is considered more or less untreatable. County health officials got a court order to lock Daniels up when he refused to take precautions that include wearing the mask. He is being …

After years of uncertainty, the Department of Justice has given official permission for hospitals to begin performing "paired" kidney transplants in which multiple donors pass along kidneys to unrelated recipients. The decision should allow about one-half of the 6,000 patients waiting for compatible kidneys to get their transplant, and for others, will cut the standard five-year waiting period significantly, experts said. It should also save Medicare about $500 million each year in …

If you wonder why pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers seem to get a warm hearing on Capitol Hill, here's your answer. According to new research by a journalistic organization, pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers, along with other health product makers, spent a combined $182 million on federal lobbying between January 2005 and June 2006. That paid for roughly 1,100 lobbyist salaries during the 18-month period. The leader in spending was drug …

The AARP has stepped into the fight over biologic drugs, throwing its support behind a new bill designed to speed the development and approval of generic versions of these medications. The measure, The Access to Life-Saving Medicine Act of 2007, would provide the FDA with a regulatory approach for approving generic biologics. The bill is intended to offer cheaper alternatives to biologic drugs, which treat diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer. Brand-name …

Struggling with pressure from their state legislature, Wisconsin's hospitals are gearing up to present their own financial reports, arguing that officials and lawmakers are working from inaccurate financial information. State legislators, as well as Gov. Jim Doyle (D), have suggested that hospital systems are profitable enough to absorb a hospital tax or capital investment regulations. The Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA), however, says that Doyle and state legislators are using …

A group of new bills currently progressing in the Pennsylvania state legislature could change the way the state's consumers shop for healthcare. The bills, which are part of an overall health reform push by Gov. Ed Rendell (D), include a measure requiring the state's pharmacies to submit their retail prices on the 150 most popular drugs to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council. This measure would also call for the state to launch a hospital payment registry, which would …

Massachusetts hospitals are making it, but their margins aren't healthy and their expenses are rising, according a new report by the state's hospital association. According to the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA), the state's hospitals saw revenue grow 8.4 percent in fiscal 2005 to 2006, but expenses climbed 8.7 percent during the same period. And while there's nothing to suggest that expenses will fall, there's several indicators that the state's hospitals won't be able to keep …