Dec. 8, 2003: Table of Contents

American Medical News   vol. 46 no. 46
Top stories - Government - Profession - Business - Opinion - Health - 2003 index

"When are we going to do a book on kittens?" jokes Elizabeth Burns, who grew up amid the vintage photos of often grotesque medical oddities and treatments that make up the Burns Archive and now helps produce books from her father's collection.

Data mining There may be gold in your computer systems. Some physicians have learned to refine data collected by EMR or practice management systems to boost reimbursements and improve care. In Business Drug testing in children Which is worse, giving children medications tested only in adults or putting youngsters in drug trials? While the debate continues, the FDA will begin pediatric testing. In Government

Top stories

Doctors get a 1.5% pay hike as Congress passes Medicare reform
Other provisions boost payment to rural physicians and grant regulatory relief.

Tort crisis spreads, few signs of abating
But reforms enacted in some states did provide a few bright spots in 2003.

Back to top.

Government & Medicine

Primary care troubled by coding errors
Medicare officials suggest doctors may have trouble deciphering evaluation and management guidelines in billing.

Congress gives FDA authority to require drug testing in children
Some physicians call the legislation "misguided" and question the ethics of recruiting pediatric patients.

Maryland governor aims to boost insurance access
Medicaid reforms and tax incentives are included in the plan.

Government news briefs:

• Federal government netted nearly $2 billion in fraud settlements
• FTC says MGMA survey isn't price-fixing
• Global AIDS funding in foreign aid package

Back to top.

Professional Issues

Framing history: A photo collection contains a study of our medical past
Vintage medical photographs owned by Stanley B. Burns, MD, help put modern medicine in perspective.

Cutting medical errors means systems, money
IOM panel chair says patients should leave hospitals with fewer medical problems, not more.

Office physicians more open to hospitalists
Most recent findings echo other studies on the issue.

North Carolina physician earns rural doctor award
Hurricanes can't keep family physician Charles Boyette, MD, from caring for his patients.

Professional Issues news briefs:

• No action on organ donation bill
• JCAHO approves strengthened infection-control standards
• N.H. parental notification law challenged

Back to top.

Business

Data mining: Using information to your advantage
There may be hidden gold in your computer systems. Data you've already captured in your practice-management or electronic medical records software can be unearthed and refined to yield improved care -- or even higher reimbursements.

Helping patients become more informed consumers of health care
A Seattle surgeon starts a business delivering talks on how to navigate the health care system.

Personal Finance: Getting the biggest bang from your charity buck

Quick View: How much physicians get paid for being on call

Practice Management: Leaders key to success during organizational change

Business news briefs:

• Pay up for physician executives
• MedCath Corp. reports loss
• Guidant, GE Medical form alliance
• Symbion refiles IPO

Back to top.

Opinion

Supreme Court has chance to hold HMOs accountable.
At issue is a federal statute that health plans have used to protect themselves from state medical malpractice laws.

Letters:

• Want more primary care physicians? Don't force resident matches, just increase the pay
• Electronic prescribing would give medicine a push to legibility
• Office-based surgery study should not be generalized to dermatology
• County exec: Insurer audits result in physicians not giving out samples

Back to top.

Health & Science

"State of the CDC" hits the agency's high notes
A glossy report shows a shift in style that many praise. But some fear a new agency emphasis comes at the cost of disease prevention.

Agreement may boost disease management
Patient-physician collaboration may be key to controlling chronic medical conditions, but achieving it is often a challenge.

Congress told to think globally on disease threat
The United States needs eyes and ears in other nations to detect the outbreak of infectious diseases that are likely to have a global impact.

Health news briefs:

• Wyeth announces delays in pneumococcal vaccine delivery
• Young breast cancer survivors more likely to face problems

Back to top.