News in brief - May 10, 2004

CIGNA settlement gets final OK - "Conscience clause" bills advance in Michigan, vetoed in Wisconsin - Medical schools land 45% of federal research dollars - N.Y. society names new president

CIGNA settlement gets final OK

A federal court in late April dismissed the appeals standing in the way of the court's final approval of the settlement agreement between CIGNA HealthCare and the nation's physicians. The action clears the way for the company to implement the settlement that addresses doctors' concerns about how the company paid them.

As a result of the settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, CIGNA will, among other things, follow standard CPT codes, use standard clinical definitions of medical necessity, limit physician fee schedule changes to one per calendar year, establish an e-mail procedure that lets physicians ask questions about fee schedules and claims coding, and contribute $15 million to a state medical society-run foundation established for public health improvement.

This case was one of a number that physicians filed against the nation's largest health plans. The cases were all transferred to the same federal court judge. Aetna also settled with physicians. Similar class-action lawsuits are still pending against Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Coventry Health Care Inc., Humana Inc., Prudential Insurance Co. of America, United Healthcare Inc. and WellPoint Health Networks Inc.

"Conscience clause" bills advance in Michigan, vetoed in Wisconsin

On the same day the governor of Wisconsin vetoed his state's "conscience clause" bill, similar bills were approved 69-35 in the Michigan House of Representatives.

The Wisconsin bill would have maintained the state's health care professionals' right to opt out of participating in abortions and sterilization procedures, and extended the right to refuse into embryonic stem cell research and end-of-life care.

The bill was opposed by the Wisconsin Medical Society because it would have allowed health care workers to ignore advance directives without referring the patient to a physician who would honor requests for limited end-of-life treatment.

Michigan's "Conscientious Objector Policy Act" is a four-bill package that would protect health care workers from being fired or not being hired if they object to providing or participating in a health care service on ethical, moral or religious grounds.

David Fox, the Michigan State Medical Society's director of public relations and federation planning, said the society is "strongly opposed" to the bill.

Medical schools land 45% of federal research dollars

Medical schools captured the bulk of federal research dollars in fiscal year 2002, with the nation's 126 allopathic medical colleges receiving $9.6 billion or 45% of the $21.4 billion awarded.

Federal spending on research and development at colleges and universities soared to $21.4 billion in 2002 from $12.8 billion in 1996 -- a 67% jump in current dollars, according to the report released by Rand Corp. a nonprofit research organization

"Our analysis gives the first clear picture of how the nation spends its research and development money in the higher education sector," said Donna Fossum, PhD, the report's lead author. "With this information in hand, decision-makers are in a better position to consider whether the overall allocation of funds to various substantive fields -- which occurs agency by agency -- is consistent with national priorities."

Nearly 800 separate campuses of U.S. colleges and universities received some federal research and development funding in 2002.

The 20 osteopathic medical programs were not included in the study.

N.Y. society names new president

William B. Rosenblatt, MD, a plastic surgeon in Manhattan, recently was elected president of the Medical Society of the State of New York at its 198th annual House of Delegates meeting in Rye Brook, N.Y.

Dr. Rosenblatt received his medical degree from New York Medical College in 1973 and earned board certification in both plastic surgery and otolaryngology. He has practiced plastic and reconstructive surgery in Manhattan since 1979.

He served as president of the New York Regional Society of Plastic Surgery and the New York County Medical Society. His commitment to MSSNY has included serving as a member and then officer of its political action committee and as a member of the society's federal legislative committee and medical liability defense board. He is also a New York delegate to the AMA.