News in brief - Feb. 14, 2005

S.C., Tenn. physicians rally for tort reform - MSSNY forms disparities task force - JCAHO enlists employers' aid in reducing medication errors - Web site gives tools for understanding CME standards for commercial support - Health executives give opinions on better care

S.C., Tenn. physicians rally for tort reform

Hundreds of physicians in South Carolina and Tennessee -- listed by the American Medical Association as showing signs of a medical liability insurance crisis -- rallied in January, asking state lawmakers to act before their states experience a full-blown liability crisis.

"We are troubled by the increasing number of reports that Tennessee and South Carolina patients are losing access to care," AMA President John C. Nelson, MD, MPH, said in a statement.

Dr. Nelson gave the keynote address at Tennessee's daylong town hall meeting "Making Liability Reform a Reality" in Nashville on Jan. 21. AMA Immediate Past President Donald J. Palmisano, MD, spoke at a rally at South Carolina's Capitol in Columbia.

Tort reform is the AMA's top legislative priority.

MSSNY forms disparities task force

Educating physicians to recognize and change unequal treatment practices, increasing the proportion of minority physicians, and developing health education campaigns aimed at minorities were some of the goals set at the first meeting of the Medical Society of the State of New York's Task Force to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Healthcare Disparities.

The task force also defined its mission as obtaining the best available evidence of racial and ethnic health care disparities; identifying the causes of those disparities; and proposing effective strategies to reduce or eliminate them.

Chairing the task force are National Medical Assn. President Winston S. Price, MD, and MSSNY Treasurer Anthony A. Clemendor, MD.

JCAHO enlists employers' aid in reducing medication errors

Noting that "employers have a critically important role in developing informed health care consumers" in their work force, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations launched its "Speak Up" campaign to avoid medication mistakes, distributing educational and promotional materials to the nation's Fortune 1000 companies.

Martha Lanning, senior director with the small business division of the Cleveland Area Chamber of Commerce, said at a Jan. 27 press conference that medication errors can add up $16,000 to the cost of a patient's hospitalization, which can be a "devastating" expense to a small business's insurance costs.

She also noted that 7,000 people die from medication errors each year compared to 6,000 from workplace accidents.

Among the materials distributed to businesses were wallet cards in which employees are urged to record every prescription drug, over-the-counter medication, and vitamin or herbal supplement they are taking to help avoid any harmful chemical interactions.

Web site gives tools for understanding CME standards for commercial support

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education has launched a Web page for the CME community. The site aims to give CME providers tools to better understand how to put into practice the ACCME's updated standards for commercial support.

The ACCME said it based the "toolkit" on feedback from CME providers who began asking for help when the updated standards were finalized in Sept. 2004. The toolkit materials to educate CME staff and volunteers, and documents to support implementing the updated standards are available online (www.accme.org/index.cfm/fa/news.detail/news/.cfm/news_id/49baa5bc-b31b-469e-ad3b-507298de1a4e.cfm).

Health executives give opinions on better care

Top health care industry executives say greater use of information technology, practice guidelines, patient safety measures and disease management programs would improve quality care and contain costs, according to a new survey.

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that 40% of respondents believe a combination of IT, practice guidelines and patient safety measures is an effective and desirable way to contain health care costs. Furthermore, 27% listed disease management programs as the second most effective way to better manage costs.

In the survey, 38% said slow adoption of IT poses the most serious threat to the health care industry, closely followed by rising medical costs (37%) and the increasing number of uninsured/or underinsured (34%). More than two-thirds of respondents who work for hospitals, physician practices or health insurers say their organization has increased or accelerated their investments in clinical IT and electronic medical records, and an additional 15% plan to make new investments soon.