News in brief - Sept. 13, 2004

More Americans lack health insurance - "Partial-birth abortion" ban loses in court again - No second term for HHS' Thompson - Drug firm settles New York lawsuit over Paxil data - HIPAA privacy law nets first conviction - N.C. physician-hospital group settles antitrust charges

More Americans lack health insurance

The number of Americans without health insurance grew by 1.4 million, reaching 45 million last year, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. Analysts attributed the trend to the recession.

The new figures highlight the need for action, said AMA President-Elect J. Edward Hill, MD. "Tragically, without insurance, many Americans do not seek medical attention until their health problem reaches crisis proportions," he said. The AMA has called for tax credits for the purchase of insurance, individually selected and owned coverage, and a wide range of new, affordable insurance options.

The number of people with health coverage grew by 1 million last year, fueled largely by an extra 3.2 million people covered by government programs. Nearly 77 million people were covered by public programs.

Employment-based insurance lost ground. The number of people with such coverage dropped by 1.3 million to 174 million. The Census Bureau report can be found in pdf form online (www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p60-226.pdf).

"Partial-birth abortion" ban loses in court again

A second federal judge has ruled that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is unconstitutional. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in August said the law did not "provide for an exception to protect the health of the mother," so it could not be enforced.

The National Abortion Federation and others filed the lawsuit in New York federal court challenging the act, which bans physicians from performing intact dilatation and extraction. It is one of three lawsuits filed in federal court.

In June, a federal judge in San Francisco also said the law was unconstitutional. A federal judge in Nebraska has yet to rule on the case in his courtroom. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to ultimately decide the issue.

No second term for HHS' Thompson

In a CNN interview during the National Republican Convention, Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said he had told his boss that he would not serve a second term if President Bush is re-elected in November. The former Wisconsin governor had a rocky start at HHS after he was overheard griping that he had not been named to head the Dept. of Transportation.

Drug firm settles New York lawsuit over Paxil data

GlaxoSmithKline in August agreed to pay New York $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit in which the state attorney general accused the pharmaceutical company of concealing information that would have alerted doctors that the antidepressant Paxil could be harmful to children or adolescents.

In an Aug. 26 statement, GlaxoSmithKline said the accusations were "unfounded" and that it had agreed to settle the lawsuit to "avoid the high costs and time required to defend itself."

Amid public concern about what studies showed, the company on June 10 posted the full results from all of its Paxil trials that involved children and adolescents. On June 18, GlaxoSmithKline announced plans to provide open Internet access to clinical trial data on all of its medications, something the company said had been under way for months.

HIPAA privacy law nets first conviction

The first person has been convicted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's privacy provisions, which took effect in April 2003. Richard W. Gibson, 42, of SeaTac, Wash., was charged with identity theft and in August pleaded guilty to wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information for economic gain.

Gibson admitted that while he worked at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance he had used a patient's name, date of birth and Social Security number to get four credit cards in the patient's name, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington. He then used the cards to make more than $9,000 in purchases.

Gibson agreed to a 10- to 16-month prison term, to pay back the credit card companies, and to pay expenses that the patient incurred because Gibson used his identity.

N.C. physician-hospital group settles antitrust charges

A North Carolina physician-hospital organization and 10 of its physicians in August reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The agreement resolves accusations that the group improperly had used the messenger model for contracting with payers in a way that fixed prices and increased consumers' health care costs.

Piedmont Health Alliance is one of more than a dozen physician groups that have settled price-fixing allegations since 2000. Federal antitrust laws prohibit independent physicians from collectively bargaining. The government alleged that Piedmont's 450 physician members signed agreements binding them to participate in all contracts that Piedmont entered into with insurers and other third-party payers and agreed to accept only Piedmont-negotiated prices.

Under the settlement, Piedmont and the 10 named physicians, who were voting members of the organization's board, cannot facilitate agreements among doctors in the area and cannot negotiate with payers on any physician's behalf. The settlement is not an admission of guilt.

"We have been dealing with the FTC for more than two years, and it was important to put this issue behind us," Piedmont CEO Sharon J. Alvis said in a statement.