News in brief - Nov. 20, 2006

CMA has new leadership - Campaign targeting patients aims to cut surgical errors - Pa. extends liability insurance assistance to doctors - Physician educator wins ACGME award

CMA has new leadership

California state senator Joe Dunn, an attorney who was a key participant in the 1998 national tobacco litigation settlement that led to $200 billion in payments from cigarette companies to 46 states -- including California -- will be the California Medical Assn.'s next chief executive officer.

Dunn, from Orange County, Calif., replaces Jack Lewin, MD, who will become CEO of the American College of Cardiology.

In other appointments, Anmol Singh Mahal, MD, was installed as the CMA's 139th president.

Dr. Mahal, a gastroenterologist, is the first physician of Indian origin to head the CMA. He is on staff at Washington Hospital in Fremont, Calif., and previously served as chief of staff of Washington Hospital Healthcare System.

Richard S. Frankenstein, MD, was chosen as president-elect of the CMA. He is a specialist in pulmonary medicine who has practiced in Garden Grove since 1980.

Campaign targeting patients aims to cut surgical errors

If a new campaign encouraging patients to take a more proactive role in preventing surgical errors hits the mark, surgeons should expect an increase in safety questions from their patients. Through the project, the National Partnership for Women & Families and AARP will distribute tip sheets to patients that contain questions to ask before surgery.

The questions will help patients ensure that doctors are "implementing known measures that will decrease adverse events that are preventable and no longer acceptable," Thomas Russell, MD, executive director of the American College of Surgeons, said in a statement.

The campaign is part of the Surgical Care Improvement Project. The project is a national quality partnership of more than three dozen groups, including the AMA, committed to reducing postoperative complications.

Pa. extends liability insurance assistance to doctors

Many Pennsylvania physicians will continue to get help in paying unaffordable medical liability insurance rates after Gov. Edward G. Rendell in October signed legislation to continue the state's abatement program through 2007.

The program, which was set to expire Dec. 31, pays a portion of the premiums that doctors must pay into the state Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error fund. The contribution varies by specialty and ranges from 50% to 100%.

Under the extension, assistance for emergency department doctors will increase from 50% to 100%.

Physicians receive financial help in exchange for committing to practice in the state for one year from the date of their policy renewal. Doctors must apply for the abatement during their policy renewal period during 2007. The financial assistance would apply to 2008 Mcare fund payments.

Pennsylvania doctors praised lawmakers' actions, which they hope will keep physicians practicing in the state and preserve access to care, said Pennsylvania Medical Society President Mark A. Piasio, MD, an orthopedic surgeon in DuBois.

Physician educator wins ACGME award

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education named Paul B. Batalden, MD, the recipient of its John C. Gienapp Award for his contributions to graduate medical education.

Dr. Batalden, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire and director of the leadership preventive medicine residency at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was nominated by his peers for his work with the residency program. The program combines clinical training with education in health care leadership and measuring health care outcomes.

"He has brought deep experience, enthusiasm and practical wisdom to our community. He always has the patients' best interest at heart and understands that good learning requires good patient care," said David C. Leach, MD, executive director of the ACGME.