1998 top stories and features

Articles from past years can be looked up in the Archives indexes or via the site search.

Dec. 28: Delegates cement E&M opposition The AMA house expressed outrage at HCFA's evaluation and management guidelines
Dec. 28 Feature: Spin doctors How physicians balance PR for marketing with ways to maintain credibility
Dec. 21: Delegates endorse AMA revamp The AMA house largely approved the committee's report on governance changes
Dec. 21 Feature: Wisdom of history Medical historians encourage doctors who don't know much about history to look ahead
Dec. 14: FSMB oversight proposals Plans to regulate residents are raising concerns in medical education
Dec. 14 Feature: Painful realities The business of pain management has become as complex as treating pain itself
Dec. 7: PROs on payment error A draft contract enables them to curb improper Medicare payments
Dec. 7 Feature: Ouchless medicine Will needleless drug delivery work, and how will it impact care and compliance?
Nov. 23/30: Specialists sue over practice expense rule Facing lower Medicare pay, 11 societies sue HCFA, reopening debate
Nov. 23/30 Feature: Medical business acumen The growing number of physicians seeking business skills can find MBA programs tailored to their needs
Nov. 16: New Medicare practice expense rule A four-year transition will boost pay for office-based doctors and lower them for specialists
Nov. 16 Feature: Blood, Sweat & Hemoglobin The long, halting search for artificial blood takes some new twists
Nov. 9: Patient death prompts use of new Texas HMO law First case citing the pioneering HMO liability law involves discharge of suicidal patient
Nov. 2: Ruling advances HMO liability A Pennsylvania appeals court has made it easier for patients to sue HMOs for malpractice
Oct. 26: Reaction to HMO flight A bill and a White House initiative aim to protect Medicare HMO enrollees
Oct. 19: Challenging the new transplant rules HHS plans to de-regionalize organ transplants are blocked by last-minute injunction
Oct. 12: Offshore school expansion an issue Wyoming officials seek to derail Dominica-based Ross University's Casper campus
Oct. 5: Slow start for Medicare MSAs As adjournment nears, the Starr report distracts congressional attention
Sept. 28: Time running out on patient protection A short time-frame for applications and seniors' fears cited in lack of interest
Sept. 21: Consensus eludes Medicare reform panel Hearing spotlights an array of conflicting perspectives from 31 interest groups
Sept. 14: Insurance reform law falls short Lack of education among consumers and regulators may have thwarted its effectiveness
Sept. 7: Ruling muddies off-label waters A U.S. judge finds the FDA's rules on off-lable promotion needlessly limiting
Aug. 24: Redefining discipline The FSMB calls on state boards for more aggressive action against substandard care
Aug. 17: Sunbeam lawsuit settled The AMA has paid $9.9 million to resolve the controversial marketing dispute
Aug. 10: Medical devices and year 2000 Many manufacturers have still not disclosed if devices are Y2K compliant
Aug. 3: Zero hour for patient protection As Congress winds down, efforts intensify to pass one of several competing bills
July 27: Aid suicide, lose DEA license Opposition mounts to a bill to strip DEA licenses of doctors who give suicide aide
July 20: FTC warning on group mergers Single and multispecialtly group practice mergers face increased antitrust scrutiny
July 13: GOP goal: Affordable insurance Consumer and insurance groups fear mandate exemptions could further erode small-group market
July 6: HCFA reveals Medicare+Choice details Massive Medicare reform rules may be biggest change in program's history
June 29: House rejects E&M checklist AMA delegates voted against the government's evaluation and management methodology
June 15/22: United buys Humana The $55 billion purchase will create the largest U.S. managed care company
June 1: New quality panel Three national accreditors agree on performance measures
June 1: AMA's new chief executive Former Air Force Surgeon General E. Ratcliffe Anderson Jr., MD, take the helm
May 25: Federal health EDI guidelines Rules would create new identifiers, standard formats for electronic transactions
May 18: Assisted reproduction guidelines A boom in fertility treatments prompts recommmendations from a New York panel
May 11: Indefinite delay on E&M At AMA fly-in, HCFA pledges cooperation, improvement on Medicare guidelines
May 4: Transplant patient noncompliance Suprisingly, this little-discussed problem is gaining in importance
April 27: Corporate product endorsements In the wake of Sunbeam, professional medical organizations are still finding partnerships
April 20: GOP works on insurance affordability But consumers question if tax incentives would benefit many
April 13: Assisted suicide begins in Oregon The first two legal physician-aided deaths stir reactions from both sides
April 6: E&M audit leads to payment denials An ongoing Medicare audit cites poor documention in reducing or denying 60% of claims
March 23: Clinton addresses medicine's leaders
- Clinton pledges to work for teen tobacco curb
- President pushes his proposal for patient rights
- Medicare panel's near-elderly buy-in proposal stirs debate
March 16: Physician acquited of murder Charges of criminal negligence were dismissed in the death of a California infant
March 9: FDA reform Agency faces challenge implementing off-label promotion provisions
March 2: AMA acts on E&M flap The AMA has launched a plan to address "evaluation and management" coding concerns
Feb. 23: Human cloning bills Two major bills in Congress differ on whether cloning would be allowed for research
Feb. 16: HHS 1999 budget released Physicians can expect some new Medicare user fees in the $317 billion package
Feb. 9: Opposition mounts to visit code guidelines AMA pledges a redoubled effort to refine the document, educate physicians
Feb. 2: MedPac report goes to Congress The panel's first annual report calls for delay in certain practice expense cuts
Jan. 26: Stark II rules unveiled The government moves closer to implementing the complex 1993 self-referral law
Jan. 19: Medicare private contracting Right to opt out of Medicare at issue in lawsuit filed by seniors group. Medicare private contracting Doctor pay issues top Medicare agenda for new HCFA chief
Jan. 12: Lawsuit over prenatal screen patent A patent on a common test for Down syndrome is being challenged as a method patent
Jan. 5: Columbia empire shrinking Spin-offs leave some physician practices and hospitals in limbo

Vote refines AMA stance on health reform
The AMA House of Delegates rejected attempts to rescind support of a U.S. House health reform bill and any new government-sponsored health insurance plan during the 2009 Interim Meeting.
Story - AMA House - Slideshow