"Health & Medical News"

Physicians say a Missouri Supreme Court ruling, though narrow, recognizes the significance of medical staff bylaws and offers doctors some recourse in the face of unfair discipline.

Breaking with a 43-year-old precedent, a unanimous high court opened the door for medical staff members to sue hospitals over privileging disputes if the facilities fail to follow staff bylaws. Justices departed from a long-held principle that hospital privileging decisions were not subject to judicial review, noting that was the “nationwide majority rule” at the time of the high court’s 1965 decision.

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Washington — Although the HIV/AIDS epidemic is decades old and preventive measures have been widely promoted, another 40,000 people become infected each year. And, despite considerable progress in reducing the disease’s impact among populations hardest hit initially — gay men and intravenous drug users — other populations, especially racial and ethnic minorities, continue to bear a disproportionate burden, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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… at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma … with early exposure to pets were less likely to develop allergies in later life …

Carole Schatz - Myths vs Truths About Those “Dog-gone” Pet Allergies
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Honolulu — Frustrated by Medicare pay cuts, representatives to the AMA House of Delegates directed the American Medical Association to call for national legislation to allow physicians to bill patients for costs Medicare doesn’t cover.

At its Interim Meeting last month, the house adopted policy directing the AMA to devote its political and financial resources to initiate a measure at the appropriate time that would allow Medicare balance billing. The policy calls for introducing legislation that would end budget-neutral restrictions inherent in a Medicare physician payment structure that interferes with patient access.

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Honolulu — The American Medical Association House of Delegates adopted 12 detailed principles aimed at easing strained physician-hospital relationships, protecting medical staff self-governance and improving health care quality and patient safety.

Until last month’s Interim Meeting, the AMA had no house policy outlining the organization’s stand on physician-hospital relations.

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Honolulu — The AMA House of Delegates said physicians should get a full, refundable tax credit to help them buy and use health information technology such as electronic medical record and prescribing systems.

While private and government payers have asked doctors to implement quality initiatives that are highly dependent on EMRs, they do little to help cover those costs. Physicians’ reimbursement — often tied to pay-for-performance programs — should not be contingent on their ability to pay for EMRs, the house said at its Interim Meeting here last month.

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