News in brief - May 8, 2006

Some minorities more likely to be unhappy with kids' special needs care - Poll: Americans support tort reform - Court says Calif. stem cell agency is legal; group awards grants - MCAT takers face electronic fingerprint check - Most wrong-site surgeries could be prevented, study finds

Some minorities more likely to be unhappy with kids' special needs care

Hispanic and black parents of children with special health care needs are twice as likely as white parents to be dissatisfied with their child's care, according to a study in the April issue of Pediatrics.

Researchers found that 13% of black parents and 17% of Hispanic parents were unhappy with their child's care, in contrast to 7% of white parents. More than one-third of black or Hispanic parents reported problems with how easy it was to use health care services; less than one-fourth of white parents reported problems. Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Center for Advancement of Underserved Children studied outcomes data on 38,886 children with special health care needs in the national survey.

The study said parental interview language was the key factor in Hispanic parents' dissatisfaction with care and ease in use of services. Inadequacy of family-centered care was the key factor in black/white disparities in satisfaction with care.

Poll: Americans support tort reform

Three-fourths of Americans surveyed support medical liability reform legislation, according to an April poll conducted for the Health Coalition on Liability and Access, a national advocacy group of organizations representing doctors, hospitals and insurers, including the AMA.

Of the 1,001 adults surveyed, 76% said they would favor a law that places a reasonable limit on pain and suffering awards in medical liability lawsuits, while providing full payment for lost wages and medical expenses; 18% said they opposed such a measure. The poll also showed that 75% of those interviewed want their elected representatives in Washington, D.C., to support a national comprehensive bill.

A majority of survey respondents, 64%, agreed that medical liability lawsuits are one of the primary causes for rising health care costs. In addition, 74% agreed that their access to care is threatened by medical liability costs that are driving doctors across the country to leave their practices.

The American Medical Association and the HCLA are advocating for federal legislation. HCLA supports a "reasonable" cap on noneconomic damages. The AMA supports a bill that includes a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages, with no limit on economic damages.

The House has already passed a bill that includes the $250,000 cap. The Senate is expected to address the issue this month. President Bush has said that he supports a $250,000 noneconomic damages cap.

Court says Calif. stem cell agency is legal; group awards grants

The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, created after voters approved a ballot measure and responsible for distributing $3 billion in state funds for stem cell research, is constitutional, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in April.

CIRM was in legal limbo after groups that believe stem cell research is immoral filed a lawsuit. The court decision will likely be appealed.

Meanwhile, shortly before the judge's decision, CIRM awarded $12.1 million in grants for human embryonic stem cell research to 16 California nonprofit research groups. Grants ranged from nearly $350,000 to $1.2 million. The money will pay for stem cell training programs for scientists. CIRM sold $14 million in anticipatory bonds, with plans to pay them back once the lawsuit is resolved.

MCAT takers face electronic fingerprint check

As the Medical College Admission Test rolls out computer-based testing, it also will begin using an electronic system to track the identity of test takers.

The new system will capture an examinee's fingerprint electronically instead of on paper, which is the current practice. Test takers will have their fingerprints checked before and after the test and when they arrive at medical school to ensure that the person who took the MCAT is the same as the student arriving at school.

More than 70,000 MCAT exams are administered each year. The computer-based testing and electronic identity verification system are expected to allow for a shorter test day, more test dates each year and faster score results.

Robert Jones, PhD, senior vice president at the Assn. of American Medical Colleges, which manages the MCAT, said the new technology would make checking a student's identity a simple matter of logging onto the Internet.

"We will use the biometric technology not only to improve the security of the MCAT but also to provide U.S. medical schools with biometric tools to verify the identity of newly arrived students," Dr. Jones said.

Most wrong-site surgeries could be prevented, study finds

Wrong-site surgery occurs once in about every 113,000 operations, according to an April Archives of Surgery study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Researchers examined all wrong-site surgeries reported to a large medical liability insurer between 1985 and 2004 and found that of about 1,150 liability claims and nearly 260 surgery-related insurance losses, 40 were due to wrong-site surgery.

Researchers studied 13 of those 40 cases in which medical records were available and found that three-fifths of the errors could have been prevented by following the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' protocol designed to prevent wrong-site surgeries.

Protocols in place at 25 hospitals examined in the study include marking the correct body part, having the surgeon confirm the site with another health professional before the procedure and confirming the surgical site as part of the patient's informed consent process.