News in brief - May 2, 2005

Physician groups earn risk-management awards - Commission creates advisory councils - Visa rule confusion grows - Ariz. governor vetoes pharmacist "rights of conscience" bill

Physician groups earn risk-management awards

Medical liability insurer American Physicians Assurance Corp. recently named two Ohio physician groups the winners of the company's first annual Excellence in Risk Management Award.

Partners in Family Practice, located in Massillon, and Indian Creek Family Health, located in Oxford, won the contest based on how effectively they were able to manage risk through information systems and their ability to educate their staff. Groups from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio entered the contest.

Straith Clinic in Bingham Farms, Mich., and Grand Rapids Allergy in Grand Rapids, Mich., earned special recognition in the contest.

The contest comes at a time when the AMA lists 20 states in a liability crisis that has physicians retiring early, giving up high-risk procedures or moving out of state.

Commission creates advisory councils

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recently established two advisory councils to give ambulatory care and office-based surgery professionals a chance to offer advice and insight on the accreditation process.

The 12-member Medical/Diagnostic Advisory Council represents a portion of the ambulatory care industry that includes organizations providing medical care, rehabilitation and imaging services. The Ambulatory Surgery Advisory Council addresses the viewpoints and accreditation needs of the freestanding surgery marketplace.

JCAHO will seek feedback from the councils, including suggestions for improving the accreditation process, enhancing standards to improve patient care and patient safety, and making legislative and regulatory changes. Both councils will meet three times a year.

Visa rule confusion grows

The next batch of medical residents are set to be on the job July 1, and if they are coming from another country, they'll need a visa before then. But there's a good deal of confusion regarding the additional 20,000 H-1B visas for fiscal year 2005 that were supposed to be released March 8.

At press time, the government had not issued the visas, and the criteria for who will qualify for them was still unclear, immigration lawyers said. The confusion is affecting about 300 to 400 of the roughly 9,000 IMGs who need visas annually.

The H-1B is the most popular visa among international medical graduates because it allows them to apply for permanent residency. This year the annual 65,000 cap was reached in October 2004. Medical residents at hospitals associated with a research institution are exempt from the cap. IMGs who landed residencies at hospitals without university ties still will be able to come to the United States, but they will need to enter the country under the less desirable J-1 visa. That visa requires them to return to their home country for two years after their U.S. training is finished.

Lawyers said some hospitals are considering setting up nonprofit organizations to employ their IMG residents so they can qualify for the exempt H-1B visas. Otherwise, lawyers say, residents risk losing their most qualified IMG applicants to programs that can offer access to the H-1B visas.

Ariz. governor vetoes pharmacist "rights of conscience" bill

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a "rights of conscience" bill that would have allowed pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptives without referring the patient to another pharmacist or pharmacy.

The Arizona Pharmacy Assn., Arizona Public Health Assn. and Arizona Hospital Assn. opposed the measure.

The Arizona Medical Assn. did not take a position on the bill because the state's medical practice act already contains language allowing physicians to opt out of certain procedures on moral grounds if they refer the patient to another physician, ArMA spokeswoman Andrea Smiley said.

Napolitano mentioned the opposition of health care associations in her April 13 veto message and noted that "it is unwise to pass laws opposed by the leading associations of professionals whom the bill purports to protect."

She also said most pharmacies already have internal policies in place that accommodate the customers' medical needs and employees' individual rights. She said the legislation failed to strike a similar balance. Consequently, Napolitano said the bill put a particular burden on women and that it could be vulnerable to legal challenges.

The Arizona House of Representatives passed the bill 35 to 24; the Senate passed it by a 17-11 vote.