Bush officials seek delay in independent medical review case

Dept. of Justice advocates letting lawmakers settle their debate on patients' rights before the Supreme Court weighs in on the issue.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. July 2, 2001.

The Bush administration says this is not the time for the Supreme Court to get involved in a case that could affect patients' bill of rights legislation that the Senate started discussions on in late June.

The Solicitor General's Office in a June brief said the high court should let lawmakers decide if independent medical review should be allowed when physicians and health plans disagree on what is medically necessary. The court had requested the solicitor general's opinion on the matter.

Ironically, in taking that stance, the Dept. of Justice is suggesting that the court turn down a case in which the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a review process included in Texas patient protection legislation that President Bush allowed to become law when he was governor.

But legal experts say despite that twist, the brief is a reasonable position, given the political debate in Congress. The two leading patients' bill of rights measures before Congress include independent medical review.

"It may be unnecessary for the court to get involved, and it could have an effect on the politics," said James F. Blumstein, director of the Center for Health Policy at the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies and a Vanderbilt University School of Law professor. "They're saying don't act now, but they are not saying don't act ever."

Nearly 40 states have already passed their own laws that allow some type of independent review. The laws vary considerably, and so do the lower-court opinions on whether the laws are legal. [...]