News in brief - Aug. 1, 2005

Senate approves FDA chief - Conn. governor signs tort reform bill - Texas med school pays $1.7 million for overcharging government programs

Senate approves FDA chief

The Senate in July confirmed Lester Crawford, DVM, to serve as the permanent commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Crawford had been the acting FDA commissioner for more than a year. He took on that position after Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, left the agency to head up the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Although President Bush tapped the former food safety and animal health adviser to serve as chief in February, lawmakers' concerns about the FDA's product approval process held up his nomination for months.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D, N.Y.) and Patty Murray (D, Wash.) blocked Dr. Crawford from receiving a Senate vote because the agency had not decided whether to allow over-the-counter sales of the contraceptive known as Plan B. The senators lifted their hold after they were assured that the FDA would issue a ruling by Sept. 1. Sen. Tom Coburn, MD (R, Okla.), also removed his hold on the vote, which was motivated by concerns that the agency had not updated warning labels on condom packaging.

Several Republicans and Democrats spoke out strongly against Dr. Crawford's nomination based on accusations that the FDA has a record of stifling scientific dissent when it comes to drug safety. Sixteen senators voted against approval.

Conn. governor signs tort reform bill

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell in July signed a medical liability reform bill into law. The new provisions do not include a cap on noneconomic damages that physicians say is necessary to temper medical liability insurance rates, but the law does change the way some things will be handled inside the courtroom and out.

Among the changes set to take effect Oct. 1:

The court must review any noneconomic damage award of more than $1 million to determine whether it "shocks the sense of justice."
Defendant physicians can inform the jury about any awards or damages a plaintiff recovered from other health care professionals.
Plaintiffs cannot in court use any statements, affirmations, gestures or other conduct that expresses apology, sympathy or compassion as a physician's admission of guilt.

The law also requires that the Connecticut Dept. of Insurance commissioner by Jan. 1, 2006, develop a plan to keep the medical liability insurance industry viable. Also, if physicians' insurance rates do not reasonably decrease by Oct. 1, 2008, the state must establish a working group to look at the problem.

Texas med school pays $1.7 million for overcharging government programs

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston will pay the federal government $1.7 million for overcharging Medicare and Medicaid for care some patients received during a six-year span. Overbilling accounted for $1.1 million of that sum; the remaining $600,000 is a penalty.

UTMB officials said they overbilled the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services for services provided in its department of ophthalmology and visual sciences between 1995 and 2001.

UTMB spokeswoman Jennifer Reynolds-Sanchez called the discrepancy a result of "billing errors." She said once UTMB discovered the errors, it disclosed them to the HHS Office of Inspector General, which conducted an investigation.