July 5, 2004: Table of Contents

American Medical News vol. 47 no. 25
Top stories - Government - Profession - Business - Opinion - Health - 2004 index

"People said I'm a hero. I just found an opportunity to do something good," said Eugene Lazowski, MD, who saved thousands of fellow Poles during WWII by injecting them with a killed form of typhus, which led to their quarantine instead of Germans sending them to death camps.

Greener acres
Giving up the city life for a practice in a rural area can be clinically and financially rewarding -- as long as you realize exactly what you're getting into.
In Business

Diagnosis X
Physicians have known about fragile X syndrome in children for years, but researchers now have discovered a related genetic disorder that doesn't emerge until late in adulthood.
In Health

Government & Medicine

Drug reimportation dilemma: Drug safety vs. access
As more patients get their medications from across the border, doctors are caught between a rock and a hard place.

AMA seeks separate Medicare drug funding
Doctors also addressed trouble with Medicare billing policies for skilled nursing facility patients, mammograms and sepsis.

Physicians want HSA access for Medicare recipients
The AMA policy supports fine-tuning of the tax-advantaged accounts.

AMA to help states on programs for uninsured
Meanwhile, a Families USA study finds that nearly 82 million Americans were without health insurance at some point in the past two years.

Government news briefs:

Physicians want naturopaths dropped from Medicare coverage committee
AMA to study a separate Medicare for the disabled
Physicians seek answers on exclusive credentialing
Health plans should shorten doctors' phone wait times, AMA says
Physicians request duty-free status for medical equipment donations
AMA to study new EMTALA rules
Doctors oppose self-referral law changes regarding imaging
Use of DEA numbers should be tightened, doctors say

Professional Issues

AMA backs review of presumed consent on organ donations
African-American physicians say the policy would increase minority distrust of health care.

2 doctors used typhus to save thousands in wartime
The AMA honored a physician who created a fake epidemic that spared many of his Polish countrymen from German labor and death camps.

Common ground sought on pain
Participants hope for more open dialogue between doctors and the DEA.

AMA takes aim at skills exam
Although the NBME is not now contemplating such testing for relicensure, physicians have registered their opposition to the idea.

Ethics Forum: Considering costs and coverage in treatment

Professional Issues news briefs:

JAMA editorial independence reaffirmed
Science drives AMA adoption policy
AMA seeks to simplify CME logistics
Student work-hour limits to be studied
Distribution of disaster training program gets approval
Updates to med ed suggested
Gift restrictions reaffirmed
AMA condemns prisoner abuse

Business

Greener acres: Some physicians bid goodbye to city life
Giving up the urban landscape for a practice in a rural area can be clinically and financially rewarding -- as long as you realize exactly what you're getting into.

AMA to study establishing coding combinations, modifiers
Standards could help ease the controversy over bundling and downcoding.

AMA policy encourages national infotech standards
The Association plans to work with lawmakers and insurers to examine the cost impact on physicians.

Contract Language: New Stark regs refine "same building" rules

Business news briefs:

Delegates define hospital day
Tenet raises $1 billion
Ex-lender gets jail time
MedQuist delisted from NASDAQ

Opinion

Doctors need to take a leading role on electronic medical records
With EMRs becoming an inevitability, it's essential for the physician's voice to be heard in how the technology gets implemented.

AMA Leader Commentary: Know your worth: A few last words from AMA chair

Letters:

Better ways to address self-referral than impugning integrity of physicians
Anthem contract clause underscores weak bargaining position of physicians

Health & Science

Diagnosis X: Zeroing in on a new condition
Physicians have known for years about fragile X syndrome in children. But researchers have now uncovered a related genetic disorder that emerges late in adulthood.

Physicians sharpen focus in addressing obesity epidemic
New AMA policies balance societal action with personal responsibility, but stop short of defining obesity as a disease.

Health news briefs:

AMA opposes FDA action on Plan B
Smoking deserves an "R" rating
AMA votes to support research on violence and abuse
Improvements in prison health care needed

The doctors are in the house
The AMA's House of Delegates is holding its Interim Meeting Nov. 7-10 in Houston, addressing issues such as health system reform and physician payment.
AMA House - Slideshow - Updates