Medical practice

While state efforts to require disclosure of pharma gifts to doctors have proven a bit, well, wobbly, federal legislation is still on the table.

Yesterday, members of Congress were discussing just such a measure--a national registry that would publicize the value of gifts and payments to physicians. The hearing, before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, was tagged "Paid to Prescribe?"

At the hearing, chairman Herb Kohl (D-Wisc) cited a study published by The New …

It looks like psychiatrists are getting the most love from pharmaceutical companies, a relationship which critics say could be behind the increasing use of costly atypical antipsychotic drugs for children.

As states begin to track pharma gifts to doctors, psychiatrists are increasingly coming up as top beneficiaries for pharma payments. In Vermont, for example, pharma payments to psychiatrists more than doubled last year, hitting $45,692 per individual, up from $20,835 in 2005. …

While doctors may be trying to build rapport by chatting up patients, it often fails to work and may distract physicians from the problems they're working to solve. That's the conclusion of a study published yesterday in the The Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers recruited 100 primary-care physicians in the Rochester, N.Y. area willing to allow two dummy patients to visit and make an audio recording of their interaction. The researchers found the doctors talked …

It looks like full-scale war is on the way. Arguing that they could endanger patients, particularly children, some attendees at the AMA's annual conference are demanding the group ask for a ban on retail clinics. Unless the AMA intervenes, "in five years, the chairs [at the AMA] meeting will be filled with representatives from Walgreens, Wal-Mart" and other retailers, one physician told the assembly. At minimum, speakers told the …

The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) has issued a cease and desist order against UnitedHealthcare division PacifiCare of California, contending the health plan engaged in "dishonest and unfair" business practices. While the scale of the case is relatively small--it involves about 500 patients enrolled with a medical group in Redwood City--the matter is significant. It's only the second time in the DMHC's six-year history that it has issued such an order. What's …

Virginia's Board of Medicine has decided to give staff members broader authority over certain disciplinary cases in an effort to cut a huge backlog of unaddressed complaints. Right now, more than 2,000 complaints await the Board's attention, although many involve allegations of misconduct posing little risk to patients, such as improper advertising. Over the past few years, violations were found in less than 15 percent of such cases. Now, to keep these more-minor complaints from clogging …

New research suggests OB/GYN fees and availability vary substantially across the United States. According to research by healthcare comparison shopping site Vimo.com, average OB/GYN DRGs can vary by 2,200 percent depending on the zip code in which the physician is based. The group looked at specific DRGs and compared them across the country. For example, DRG 358 (Uterine & Adnexa Procedure for non-malignancy CC) cost was $4,123 in Salisbury, MD, but …

While the federal government has greatly expanded funding for community health centers, it seems that its medical staff hasn't kept pace. Like their private sector counterparts, many of the country's clinics are now struggling to find the primary care physicians they need to function, despite paying reasonable salaries. Meanwhile, doctors who are on board are facing swelling caseloads, which could lead to turnover and make things worse. Health centers are coping, in part, by taking …

At one time, being a cardiothoracic surgeon was one of the highest-status specialties a physician could practice--and many students responded by taking up the arduous training needed to become one. Today, however, it seems that status alone isn't enough. Increasingly, surgeons-in-training are refusing to undergo the 12-year training program needed to become a cardiothoracic specialist. Students are afraid they won't be able to pay back the huge student loans needed to fund this training, …

Another group of doctors is taking arms against a sea of retail clinics (though there's little hope that by opposing they'll end them). Illinois physicians are already lobbying for a new state law that would regulate retail clinic operations, ostensibly to protect the public, though it would be silly to suggest they weren't concerned about competition as well. Now, working with …