News in brief - May 17, 2004

Physician group welcomes foreign doctors as observers - Calif. doctors to get cash from Blues settlement - Signatures for stem cell initiative - Task force wants physicians to prescribe fluoride supplements - Geriatricians in short supply - Prescription monitoring fails again in Florida

Physician group welcomes foreign doctors as observers

The American College of Physicians is starting an international program to give seven scholarships each year to internists or subspecialists of internal medicine from outside the United States and Canada to observe and study with U.S. doctors.

John Tooker, MD, executive vice president and CEO of the ACP, said, "Through this program the American College of Physicians and the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative [which is funding the program] hope to make a positive impact on the practice of medicine throughout the world."

The first recipient, Dr. Norah Olubunmi Akinola, an internist and hematologist from Nigeria, will study the diagnosis and management of HIV/AIDS patients at New York's Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Calif. doctors to get cash from Blues settlement

California physicians who are part of a $4.2 million class-action settlement reached between the California Medical Assn. and Blue Cross of California should start receiving checks this month.

The CMA sued Blue Cross over 1993-96 retroactive fee reductions, arguing that the company breached contracts and breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Blue Cross agreed to settle the lawsuit, which was filed in 1997, after the court said the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 did not preempt the claim and that the lawsuit could be arbitrated on a class-action basis.

The checks mailed to physicians will vary, based on each physician's 1099s and other documentation and proof of claims filed.

Signatures for stem cell initiative

More than 1 million signatures were collected by organizers of the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, which seeks to ask the state's voters to approve a $3 billion stem cell research plan.

The Secretary of State's Office will announce by June 24 if there are enough valid signatures to get the initiative on the November ballot.

If voters OK the plan, the state would issue bonds and use the proceeds to fund $295 million of stem cell research annually for 10 years.

Task force wants physicians to prescribe fluoride supplements

Primary care clinicians who practice in areas where the water supply is deficient in fluoride should prescribe oral fluoride supplements to preschool children older than 6 months, a task force said. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation is in the May American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Dosage recommendations are based on the fluoride level of the local community's water supply and are available online (www.ada.org/public/topics/fluoride/facts/tables.asp).

Additional task force recommendations and other materials for clinicians also are available online (www.ahrq.gov/clinic/3rduspstf/dentalchild/dentchrs.htm).

Geriatricians in short supply

Senior citizens in 2030 are going to have a much harder time finding a geriatrician than today's seniors do, according to a new report from the American Geriatrics Society and the Assn. Of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs.

There are 7,500 certified geriatricians in the United States, while the current elderly population merits 14,000 such physicians, the report said. By 2030, some 36,000 geriatricians will be needed, as the baby boomer population ages. The report did not estimate how many geriatricians would actually be practicing in this field by then. However, it noted that on average only 75% of the 350 residency positions are filled each year, due to a lack of geriatric academicians and the lack of financial incentives for practicing geriatricians.

Prescription monitoring fails again in Florida

For the third year in a row and despite strong support from Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida state legislators failed to pass a bill which would have created a prescription-monitoring database.

State officials report that there were 3,324 deaths related to prescription drug abuse in 2002, and Bush and others said the database would help reduce that number.

"There are more people that die in Florida from prescription drug abuse than die from cocaine and heroin abuse combined," said state Rep. Gayle Harrell, sponsor of the database bill and the spouse of a physician.

Others, however, argued that the plan was too broad and constituted a breach of privacy. These opponents included Harrell's fellow Republican from Stuart, state Rep. Joe Negron, who called the plan a "sweeping threat to civil liberties" and told the Gainesville Sun, "There's a reason when you go to the doctor's office they shut the door."