News in brief - March 22/29, 2004

Appeals court upholds rejection of first CIGNA settlement - AAPS wants Limbaugh warrant deemed illegal - AMA Foundation OKs new scholarship - Medical society for concierge doctors - Mass. groups work to simplify credentialing - Harvard scientists giving free access to new stem cell lines

Appeals court upholds rejection of first CIGNA settlement

A federal appeals court in February ruled that U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno was correct in stopping a settlement agreement between an Illinois physician and CIGNA Corp. from going forward in December 2002.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Moreno did not "abuse his discretion" because the settlement would have impacted all of the class-action lawsuit claims against CIGNA that Moreno was overseeing.

Illinois physician Timothy N. Kaiser, MD, was the first physician in the country to receive class-action status for a lawsuit he filed against CIGNA challenging the way the company reimburses physicians. A state court in Illinois made that ruling before federal lawsuits in Moreno's Miami court received nationwide class-action status.

AAPS wants Limbaugh warrant deemed illegal

The Palm Beach County State's Attorney's decision to seize Rush Limbaugh's medical records will hurt physician-patient relationships, the Assn. of American Physicians and Surgeons said in a friend-of-the-court brief in a case claiming that the local search warrants to obtain Limbaugh's medical information had violated state law.

"Doctors will reasonably fear 'Big Brother' scrutiny of what they include or omit from the medical charts of patients," the AAPS brief states. "To avoid professional risk, doctors will further refuse to treat pain patients adequately."

AMA Foundation OKs new scholarship

The American Medical Association Foundation is giving out its largest single scholarship in its 50-year history. The National Scholarship will award $10,000 to a student enrolled in a U.S. medical school. The winner will be selected from a pool of candidates submitted by their medical school deans. Criteria for the award are outstanding academic achievement or financial need.

The scholarship is being offered in addition to the Foundation's yearly distribution of financial assistance to medical students nationwide. Last year, the Foundation distributed nearly $1 million to students at medical schools in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

Medical society for concierge doctors

Several physicians and medical practices have launched a new professional organization to provide support for doctors who practice concierge medicine: the American Society of Concierge Physicians.

The nonprofit group is open to any physician who has or is looking to establish a practice in concierge medicine. The roles of the ASCP include education on the role and benefits of concierge medicine, advocacy to legislators and others, and professional support to the medical community.

The group plans to hold the first National Conference on Concierge Medicine May 27-28 in Denver. The conference will address legal, ethical, regulatory and social issues concerning retainer-based medical practices. For more information visit the ASCP's Web site (www.conciergephysicians.org).

Mass. groups work to simplify credentialing

In an effort to reduce the amount of time and paperwork physicians face in joining health plan networks and hospital staffs, several medical organizations have endorsed principles to simplify the credentialing process for all physicians in Massachusetts.

On April 1, physicians and participating hospitals and health plans will begin using a uniform application for initial credentialing and an abbreviated uniform version for re-credentialing. The two applications will serve as the sole forms for credentialing activities, although participating health plans will retain their own standards for evaluating the information. The uniform application will enable physicians and their office staffs to use the same information and application for all participating health plans, reducing the amount of time they spend on credentialing, organizers said.

The effort has been endorsed by the Massachusetts Medical Society, BlueCross and BlueShield of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Hospital Assn. and the Massachusetts Assn. of Health Plans.

"Patients deserve our best efforts to reduce unnecessary administrative barriers," MHA President Ron Hollander said in a statement. "Every step we take to reduce paperwork and bureaucratic duplication helps hospitals and physicians dedicate more resources, time and attention to their primary mission, healing patients."

Harvard scientists giving free access to new stem cell lines

News that 16 of the 78 human embryonic stem cell lines eligible for federally funded research may be useless to scientists was tempered somewhat by the announcement in the New England Journal of Medicine that Harvard University will be giving scientists free access to 17 new stem cell colonies developed by Harvard natural sciences Professor Douglas A. Melton, PhD. Obtaining stem cells from the approved list can cost up to $5,000.

Dr. Melton, whose 16-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son have juvenile diabetes, developed the 17 new lines without federal dollars using excess fertilized eggs obtained from in vitro fertilization clinics with the egg owners' permission.