News in brief - Aug. 4, 2003

Damage cap gets public support in Fla. - AMA spearheads professionalism effort in medical schools - AHRQ budget may freeze at 2003 level - Texas Medical Assn. Foundation picks new leadership

Damage cap gets public support in Fla.

A Florida Medical Assn. survey found that 75% of the state's voters say they support a $250,000 cap on the noneconomic damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits, according to survey results released in July.

Support is more than 70% in every region of the state. Support is high among both genders and all age groups, with more than 70% of men and women and more than 70% of voters in every age level.

There is less support for a higher cap or no cap at all. The survey said 45% of Florida voters supported a $1.5 million noneconomic damages cap, and 38% said they would rather leave the system the way it is. At press time, the Florida Legislature was discussing tort reform in a special session.

AMA spearheads professionalism effort in medical schools

The American Medical Association is moving forward with an initiative focused on finding fresh ways to integrate professional and ethical issues into medical school curriculum.

Ten schools were selected to partner with the AMA in its Strategies for Teaching and Evaluating Professionalism project. The schools will be developing educational programs incorporating such issues as end-of-life care, rationing of expensive medical technologies, potential conflicts of interest and disclosure of medical errors.

The AMA will help make available the teaching and evaluative tools that are developed to all medical educators to establish consistency across medical education.

The 10 participating schools are Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis; Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Ill.; McGill University Faculty of Medicine, Montreal; Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing; New York University School of Medicine, New York City; University of Buffalo State University of New York School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences; University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis; University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks; University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia; and University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

AHRQ budget may freeze at 2003 level

Congress may freeze the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's budget at its 2003 level of $303.7 million for next year, despite a plea from a coalition of medical societies to increase funding to $390 million and a Bush administration request to reduce it to $279 million.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved a $353 billion fiscal 2004 appropriation for the Dept. of Health and Human Services that included the $303.7 million for AHRQ.

Jon Lawniczak, director of government relations for the Coalition for Health Services Research, said the Senate's proposed budget had the same amount set aside for AHRQ, so he didn't think the number would change.

"It would have been nice to get a little more out of them, but given this current budget climate, we ended up pretty well," said Lawniczak, whose organization coordinates the Friends of AHRQ coalition, which includes the AMA and 129 other organizations.

AHRQ spokeswoman Karen Migdail, however, warned that House approval was only the first step in a long process. She also noted that, even though the total funding amounts in the House and Senate budgets were the same, individual program amounts were different. For example, the Senate earmarked $84 million for patient safety studies, while the House set aside $75 million.

Texas Medical Assn. Foundation picks new leadership

New officers have been named to the Texas Medical Assn. Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the TMA that raises funds for TMA initiatives to improve the health of Texans.

Phil H. Berry Jr., MD, an orthopedic surgeon from Dallas, is the new president. Dr. Berry is past president of the TMA, Dallas County Medical Society, Texas Society of Sports Medicine and Texas Orthopaedic Assn. He is the founder of the TMA's Live and Then Give, a Texas organ donor campaign that the AMA adapted for use as a national organ donor program.

Austin anesthesiologist Earl L. Grant, MD, is the new vice president. He is past chair of the TMA board of trustees, past president of Travis County Medical Society and a member of St. David's Foundation board of trustees.

Sandy Currie, of Canyon, is the new secretary. She is past president of the TMA Alliance, which consists of spouses of TMA members.

Nick Shroff, MD, a Midland urologist, is the new treasurer. He is past chair of the TMA International Medical Graduate Section.