"Health & Medical News"

Under fire from anti-abortion physicians and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists announced in March that it will re-examine a controversial November 2007 opinion outlining the limits of conscientious refusal.

The ACOG ethics committee opinion said physicians who have religious or moral objections to “standard practices,” such as abortion, sterilization or the prescribing of contraceptives, are not ethically obligated to provide those services but do owe patients a timely referral to another doctor willing to deliver them.

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Health plans are facing even more legal, regulatory and legislative challenges to their practice of canceling enrollees’ coverage after approving treatment. In reaction to the mounting pressure, some insurers are changing their rescission policies.

Last month, Health Net became the latest target in California. A state arbitrator on Feb. 21 levied a $9 million award, largely in punitive damages, against the insurer for canceling a breast cancer patient’s policy after authorizing $129,000 in medical care. The plan dropped the woman for supposedly misrepresenting her weight and a heart condition on a pre-enrollment form.

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Washington — A new Medicare coverage policy on drug treatment for anemic cancer patients is hurting care, according to a survey of doctors released last month.

Ninety-one percent of oncologists and hematologists reported adverse patient events in the 12 weeks after the July 30 implementation of the national coverage determination on erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. The poll was sponsored by U.S. Oncology, which funds, develops, and helps manage 443 cancer centers in 39 states. It surveyed 307 physicians from Nov. 26, 2007, to Dec. 11, 2007. The organization limited the number of affiliated physicians involved in the poll to 20% of all respondents.

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Barack Obama stated support for marijuana decriminalization in 2004 but has backed off that position during the 2008 presidential campaign, the Washington Times reported Feb. 1.

While running for Senate in 2004, Obama told a group of Northwestern University students, “I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws. But I’m not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana.”

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A California appeals court ruling may bode well for physicians and patients in their fight against alleged illegal policy cancellations by health insurance companies.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that the practice of reviewing individuals’ applications after they have submitted claims and then pulling the coverage based on alleged errors “is flatly prohibited” under state insurance laws. The Dec. 4, 2007, decision gave the green light to a patient’s class-action lawsuit alleging that Blue Shield of California tried to dodge claims by looking for supposed misstatements or omissions on patients’ policy forms after approving treatment.

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A local law making marijuana offenses the lowest law-enforcement priority in Seattle has resulted in fewer drug arrests, but black residents are still being arrested in disproportionate numbers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Jan. 8.

Far more whites than blacks live in Seattle, but more black residents were arrested and charged with marijuana offenses in 2006 than whites, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Review Panel, which is responsible for monitoring implementation of the law.

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Oklahoma will no longer offer a loan repayment program intended to encourage physicians to practice in the state’s rural communities. But health care advocates say it was a small sacrifice because state lawmakers agreed to continue funding three other — much larger — programs that help rural communities attract primary care physicians.

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Four states passed laws mandating the use of ignition-interlock devices for convicted drunk drivers in the past year, and 30 more are considering similar legislation, according to a progress report from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

“In order to keep those first-time offenders from becoming the repeat offenders, ignition interlocks must be implemented in every state nationwide,” said Glynn Birch, national president of MADD. The devices prevent cars from being started by drivers with any detectable level of alcohol in their system.

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BBC reports that “a study published in the Public Library of Science journal by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests the policy has saved Brazil around $1bn between 2001 and 2005.”?  The article itself is available freely online as a part of?  the open access policy of PLoS.

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