News in brief - April 17, 2000

Doctor disciplined for Web sales

An Oregon physician was fined $5,000 and placed on probation for 10 years by the state medical board for prescribing drugs over the Internet to patients he never examined in person.

Steven G. Moos, MD, who practices in the Portland area, advertised and prescribed drugs for impotence, hair loss, weight loss, arthritis and smoking cessation on his Web site.

The Board of Medical Examiners also ordered Dr. Moos to sever ties to Web sites where he has dispensed medicine.

Dr. Moos, 30, responded that "this whole thing will seem pretty absurd, the whole idea of them reprimanding me for doing what everyone will be doing in five years.''

Six large HMOs are developing their own joint Internet venture to reduce administrative hassles for physicians and patients.

The six health insurers seeking to put together the online project called MedUnited are Aetna, Cigna, Wellpoint Health Networks, Oxford Health Plans, Foundation Health Systems and PacifiCare Health Systems.

The proposed consortium would compete with Internet health giant Healtheon/WebMD, which is trying to shift health care transactions such as claims processing, patient referrals and prescriptions to the Web.

The consortium remains in the development stages, so it is still unsure if it actually will be created and what its strategy would be. But analysts say it faces many hurdles, including difficulty with sharing information and gaining physician trust.