News in brief - Dec. 13, 2004

U.S. Supreme Court hears medical marijuana arguments - First person convicted of HIPAA violation gets jail time - Virginia medical society focuses on tort reform - Texas physician group loses appeal of antitrust complaint

U.S. Supreme Court hears medical marijuana arguments

The U.S. Supreme Court in late November heard oral arguments in a case that questions whether states can adopt laws that allow residents to use medical marijuana despite federal laws banning the substance. Ten states have passed medical marijuana laws: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

California residents Diane Monson and Angel McClary Raich filed a lawsuit that seeks to make it unconstitutional to prosecute patients growing and using medical marijuana upon the recommendation of a physician. Raich has been diagnosed with more than 10 serious medical conditions, including an inoperable brain tumor and several chronic pain disorders. Monson has severe chronic back pain and constant, painful muscle spasms.

First person convicted of HIPAA violation gets jail time

A federal judge in November sentenced the first person to be convicted under the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 to 16 months in prison and three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Western District of Washington.

Richard W. Gibson, 42, of SeaTac, Wash., also will have to pay more than $9,000 in restitution for wrongfully disclosing an individual's identifiable information for economic gain. Gibson, while employed at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, used a patient's name, date of birth and Social Security number to get four credit cards.

He used the cards to buy more than $9,000 worth of video games, jewelry, groceries and other items.

Virginia medical society focuses on tort reform

State tort reform is high on the Medical Society of Virginia's list of priorities for the 2005 legislative session, which starts in January. MSV plans to pursue measures that would create a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages awarded in medical liability cases, limit what attorneys can collect and put in place several other reforms, according to its recently released 2005 legislative agenda.

Texas physician group loses appeal of antitrust complaint

An administrative law judge in November upheld a Federal Trade Commission administrative complaint issued last year against a group of almost 600 physicians in Texas.

North Texas Specialty Physicians challenged allegations that the doctors were involved in price-fixing while negotiating health plan contracts. But Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell said the government proved its case and that the physician group must stop the way it had been negotiating contracts.

The FTC alleges that North Texas Specialty Physicians negotiated agreements among its participating physicians on price and other terms, refused to deal with payers except on collectively agreed-upon terms, and refused to submit payer offers to participating physicians unless the terms met the group's minimum-fee standards. The decision is not final. The FTC still needs to review it, and the physician group could still challenge the judge's decision.