News in brief - March 15, 2004

Singers and musicians sought - Study reveals impact of Medicare cuts on teaching hospitals - Drug detail deductions done for? - "Roe" again asks to reopen landmark abortion case

Singers and musicians sought

The VA-National Medical Musical Group is recruiting new members for its chorus and orchestra.

The group is open to health care professionals and their families and friends. Concerts for 2004 include the Ninth Congressional Flag/Independence Day Concert on June 17 in Washington, D.C.

For more information, call 202-797-0700, write VA-National Medical Musical Group, P.O. Box 7712, Gurnee, IL 60031, or visit the group's Web site (www.medicalmusical.com).

Study reveals impact of Medicare cuts on teaching hospitals

A new analysis of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 shows that more than a third of teaching hospitals operated in the red after the implementation of lower Medicare reimbursements for graduate medical education.

According to the research done by the Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care and published in the January/February issue of Annals of Family Medicine, Medicare support for education fell $350 million from 1997 to 1999 while costs rose $675 million for Medicare patients.

The study also found that teaching hospitals' total operating margins fell from 5.2% to 2.5% between 1996 and 1999.

Hospitals with only one residency program, which was in family medicine, saw the sharpest decline in profitability during this period. Of these hospitals, the number that were losing money jumped from 12% in 1996 to 30% in 1999.

Drug detail deductions done for?

A bill that would eliminate drug company tax deductions for marketing expenses to physicians has been introduced by U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D, Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.

Stark, who represents California's "East Bay" region between Oakland and San Jose, links marketing expenses to the rising cost of prescription drugs.

"It is wrong that taxpayers are footing the bill for drug companies to lavish doctors with these perks," Stark said in a press release. "Instead of fancy dinners and weekend trips, this legislation would encourage drug companies to dedicate funds to actually improving the health of Americans through pharmaceutical research and manufacturing cheaper drugs."

Jeff Trewhitt, spokesman for the 80 drug and biotechnology companies represented by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, noted that the PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals went into effect in July 2002 forbidding the excesses that Stark talks about.

Trewhitt also said many pharmaceutical sales representatives have nursing or pharmacy backgrounds and are trained to answer a doctor's technical questions regarding medication characteristics and side effects.

"When a sales rep meets with a doctor, it's a form of marketing, but it's also a form of education," Trewhitt said, adding that drug companies spent $31 billion on research and development in 2002, compared with $5.3 billion spent on marketing to doctors, nurses and other health care professionals.

"Roe" again asks to reopen landmark abortion case

The woman who was "Jane Roe" in the Roe v. Wade lawsuit that legalized abortion is asking a federal appeals court to allow her to reconsider her case. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, originally scheduled to hear oral arguments on the issue, is now considering briefs from the two sides.

Roe, Texas resident Norma McCorvey, argues that the case should be re-opened and reversed because new evidence shows that women could be harmed by the procedure. She is appealing the case to the 5th Circuit after the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division in July 2003 denied her request to reconsider the 31-year-old-ruling.