News in brief - July 10/17, 2000

Measure would stop Medicare pay reductions to teaching hospitals

Legislation has been introduced in Congress to freeze Medicare pay reductions for indirect medical education payments to teaching hospitals. Under the Teaching Hospital Preservation Act of 2000, IME cuts required by the Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 would be frozen from their current level of 6.5% to 6.25% for fiscal 2001 and 5.5% in fiscal 2002 and beyond.

"IME payments are absolutely critical for teaching hospitals to be able to appropriately care for the sickest patients, provide an environment in which clinical research can flourish, and train new physicians," said Jordan J. Cohen, MD, president of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges.

Since the budget act went into effect, total margins of major teaching hospitals have dropped to 2.3% in 1998 from 5.1% in 1997, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee reported.

Cambridge, Mass. -- Harvard Medical School long has been known for having the most stringent conflict-of-interest rules in the country. And after a review of the 10-year-old rules, Joseph B. Martin, MD, PhD, dean of the faculty of medicine, has decided that they will remain that way.

Dr. Martin said the faculty committee's finding that conflict-of-interest policies vary considerably nationwide prompted them to push for a dialogue on the issue involving universities, government and industry.

"I believe that the most important role academic medicine can have in clinical research today is to try to bolster the public's faith in the veracity and ethical underpinnings of this noble endeavor," he said.

Washington -- By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Nebraska's ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortion unconstitutional. The law lacks the requisite exception to preserve a woman's health and imposes an "undue burden" on a woman's ability to choose an abortion, the court said. This decision is a victory for LeRoy Carhart, MD, the Nebraska physician who challenged the law. "These criminal abortion bans are a violation of the right of all Americans to obtain medical care without government intervention in the doctor-patient relationship," he said. At press time, it was unclear whether the court's opinion would preempt similar laws in other states. "We're in the midst of determining whether it's a victory for other American physicians," said a spokeswoman for Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health.