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July
25, 2005 |
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MEDICAL
LIABILITY REFORM
• House
Vote Pending on Medical Liability Reform
• Wisconsin Supreme
Court Strikes Down Cap on Damages
• Conn. Medical Liability
Reform Signed into Law
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QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT
• Better Monitoring
of Medical Devices Needed, Says IOM
• NCQA Tool Helps
Patients Measure Cardiac Care
• Study Finds Consumer
Support for Electronic Medical Records
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LEGISLATIVE/REGULATORY
• Floor Vote Expected
on Patient Safety
• High Risk Insurance
Pools, Drug Tracking Bills Advance |
| MEDICAL
LIABILITY REFORM |
|
House
Vote Pending on Medical Liability
Reform
The
House of Representatives is expected
to vote this week on a medical liability
reform bill introduced by Rep. Phil
Gingrey, M.D., R-GA. The legislation,
which is identical to a measure passed
by the House last year, includes a
$250,000 cap on non-economic damages.
While medical liability reform is
expected to once again be approved
by the House, the ACC and other reform
advocates hope to achieve passage
of the bill with as wide a margin—if
not wider—than in the past.
A drop in the number of votes in support
of the bill could signal to opponents
a drop in support. The ACC encourages
its members to  contact
their representatives and tell them
to vote yes on H.R. 5. Call the U.S.
Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121
to be connected to your representative’s
office. |
Wisconsin
Supreme Court Strikes Down Cap on Damages
Wisconsin’s
Supreme Court voted 4-3 that the state’s
$350,000 on non-economic medical malpractice
damages is unconstitutional. The American
Medical Association said in a statement
that the July 14 decision sends “a
message to Washington that we need federal
liability reform.” |
Conn.
Medical Liability Reform Signed into
Law
Connecticut
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, R, has signed into
law a measure that will require the
state’s insurance department to
approve malpractice insurance premium
rates of 7.5 percent or higher. The
measure also limits
attorney fees in malpractice cases and
reduces interest rates on malpractice
settlements paid over time. It does
not include caps on damages. The law
takes effect October 1. |
| QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT |
Better
Monitoring of Medical Devices Needed,
Says IOM
The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lacks
effective procedures to monitor the
safety of medical devices, the Institute
of Medicine concluded in a panel report
released July 18. According to the study,
the FDA needs to improve its procedures
for tracking and reviewing the post-market
studies device makers are required to
undertake as a condition of approval.
In addition, the FDA should improve
the links between its own databases
and other reporting systems and make
findings available to patients, health
care providers, and researchers. Intended
to focus on the devices used by children,
the report was expanded
once the panel identified broader problems.
(Click
here for details.) The study was
released the same day that Guidant issued
a new safety warning about several more
of its pacemakers. |
NCQA
Tool Helps Patients Measure Cardiac
Care
The
National Committee for Quality Assurance
(NCQA) has added clinical performance
information to its Web-based Health
Plan Report Card (HPRC). The Living
with Illness reports are designed to
help consumers and employers evaluate
how effectively their health plans treat
patients in four areas: cardiac care,
asthma, diabetes, and mental illness.
The tool allows users to see a health
plan’s rate on up to 13 HEDIS
measures and compare how the health
plan performed in these
four areas relative to the top 10 percent
of all plans nationally. NCQA is a private,
nonprofit organization dedicated to
improving health care quality. |
Study
Finds Consumer Support for Electronic
Medical Records
Ninety-three
percent of respondents to a recent poll
agreed that electronic medical records
(EMR) can improve the quality of care.
Ninety-two percent said they believe
EMR will reduce the number of treatment
errors in hospitals. Respondents also
said EMR will lower overall health care
costs and reduce the amount of time
patients spend
waiting in doctors’ offices and
emergency rooms. The poll, conducted
by management consulting firm Accenture,
surveyed 519 consumers. |
| LEGISLATIVE/REGULATORY |
Floor
Vote Expected on Patient Safety
The
Senate passed long-awaited patient safety
legislation last week, and passage is
expected in the House this week. The
bill, which reflects an agreement between
House and Senate negotiators, would
encourage the reporting of medical errors
to patient safety organizations and
shield the data from use in medical
malpractice cases. The legislation,
would also establish a national patient
safety database to track and identify
trends in medical mistakes. The
Alliance of Specialty Medicine said
in a letter to two
key House lawmakers that it is “deeply
appreciative of the bill’s strong
confidentiality provisions and the protections
it affords physicians.”
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High-Risk
Insurance Pools, Drug Tracking Bills
Advance
Measures
dealing with high-risk insurance pools
and drug tracking were considered by
the House Energy and Commerce Committee
July 20 and could also be taken up shortly
by the full House. H.R. 3204 would authorize
$50 million in federal funding for operation
of state high-risk health insurance
pools in fiscal years 2005 through 2009.
These pools offer insurance to people
with pre-existing, chronic illnesses
or conditions who otherwise could not
purchase health coverage. H.R. 1132
would provide grants to states to establish
a uniform electronic database
system to enable physicians and pharmacists
to flag drug interactions. The measure
would also allow providers to track
patients who abuse prescription drugs.
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| Questions?
Comments? Send your feedback to epubs@acc.org
and include the name of the publication
in the subject line. |
