News in brief - Aug. 23/30, 2004

Yale physicians win lawsuit - Horizon Blues lawsuit gets class-action status in N.J. - Tenn. Rx problems fail to materialize - National Medical Assn. names new president - AAMC honors diversity advocate

Yale physicians win lawsuit

A Connecticut jury in July awarded $5.5 million to three doctors who sued Yale University claiming that the institution had violated their right to free speech in the workplace.

Radiologists Arthur Rosenfield, MD, Morton Burrell, MD, and Robert Smith, MD, said Yale University officials had cut their salaries and removed them from leadership positions after they had complained about poor patient care and mismanagement in the radiology department at Yale-New Haven (Conn.) Hospital.

At press time, Yale University officials planned to appeal the verdict.

Horizon Blues lawsuit gets class-action status in N.J.

New Jersey physicians who treat patients insured through Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey can be part of a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company violated prompt payment laws, a New Jersey state court judge ruled in late July. The class includes an estimated 40,000-plus physicians.

The judge certified a second class of physicians that includes about 3,000 doctors who alleged that capitated payments from the health plan were delayed or otherwise paid inappropriately. Pediatricians were certified as a third class who can go forward with allegations that the insurer downcoded and bundled claims and failed to recognize modifiers. That class includes about 2,000 doctors. Other specialties will be allowed to apply for injunctive relief, the judge ruled.

Clifton, N.J., pediatrician John Sutter, MD, filed the proposed class-action lawsuit in April 2002.

"We look forward to immediately adding additional physician specialties as class representatives and moving this case along swiftly to conclusion and obtaining the best possible relief for our state's physicians," said Eric D. Katz, Dr. Sutter's attorney.

Tenn. Rx problems fail to materialize

A new Tennessee law requiring prescriptions to be "comprehensible" by the pharmacist who fills them seems to have generated little trouble for doctors in the state.

The Tennessee Medical Assn. asked its members to report any incidents of pharmacists refusing to fill incomprehensible prescription orders. Much to the surprise of Director of Government and Legal Affairs Yarnell Beatty, the TMA has not received any complaints since the new law took effect July 1.

"I thought there would be repercussions and I think our members did, too," Beatty said. "There was a potential for pharmacists turning down prescriptions in droves, but that hasn't happened."

He said pharmacists are always encouraged to telephone doctors if there is any question about a prescription and this practice has continued to work well.

National Medical Assn. names new president

The National Medical Assn. recently installed New York physician Winston Price, MD, as its 105th president at its annual assembly in San Diego. Dr. Price succeeds Randall M. Maxey, MD, and will serve a one-year term.

Sandra Gadson, MD, a Gary, Ind., physician, was chosen as president-elect, and Albert Morris, MD, a Memphis, Tenn. physician, was elected chair of the board of trustees.

Dr. Price is chief medical consultant for VCASTI International, a medical information systems and technology company that he founded. He is also an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at SUNY Health Science in Brooklyn.

As NMA president, Dr. Price said his priorities would be addressing the impact of health disparities, implementing programs and initiatives to eradicate disparities and strengthening the NMA infrastructure. He said the association must more aggressively embrace technology as a critical component in its overall goal of eliminating health disparities.

"To attack the problem of disparities, we must use all the weapons in our arsenal -- and to date, technological systems have been sorely underused," he said. "We need to change that."

AAMC honors diversity advocate

Michael V. Drake, MD, an ophthalmologist and vice president of health affairs for the University of California system, will be presented with an award in November honoring his efforts to improve racial diversity within the medical profession.

Dr. Drake is the fifth recipient of the Herbert W. Nickens, MD, Award given by the Assn. of American Medical Colleges for outstanding contributions to promote justice in medical education and health care.

During his 35-year career, Dr. Drake co-authored a widely-cited study establishing that physicians from underserved populations tend to serve people from those populations.

In his current position as vice president of health affairs for the university system, Dr. Drake leads a federal grant project at University of California San Francisco in which he has initiated a series of bi-national research and student exchange agreements with Mexican universities and government officials.

He also is leading the creation of a dual-degree program that will train physicians specifically to meet the health care needs of California's underserved populations. In addition to his activities at the university level, Dr. Drake was appointed in 2002 to join the California Health Manpower Policy Commission, and to serve on the federal Institute of Medicine committee that produced the 2004 report "In the Nation's Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce."