News in brief - Jan. 10, 2011

Redirecting anti-tobacco funds constitutional, Ohio high court rules

A ruling by the Supreme Court of Ohio gives state officials the right to divert funds from a tobacco prevention trust fund into a stimulus package designed to create jobs.

The decision stems from a debate that started in 2008, when Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland announced a $1.5 billion stimulus plan that would be partially funded by reallocating $230 million from the state's then-$264 million Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Trust Fund. Tobacco fund trustees and two former smokers who had participated in Ohio cessation programs filed a complaint challenging the constitutionality of the action.

A trial court in 2009 agreed with the plaintiffs, finding that the endowment fund was an "irrevocable trust" and that transferring the funds violated the United States and Ohio constitutions. But the appellate court overturned that ruling.

The Supreme Court on Dec. 22 upheld the Ohio Court of Appeals decision that transferring the money did not violate the state's constitution (www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2010/2010-ohio-6207.pdf).

"The question whether it is wise to enact legislation is not the same question as whether the legislation is constitutional," the court said.

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California wait-time rule takes effect

A first-of-its-kind regulation setting maximum times for how long California HMO patients must wait before receiving care from a physician will take effect Jan. 17.

HMOs will be required to have a 24-hour triage service to help determine how urgently patients need care, and they must return patient calls within 30 minutes. Those needing urgent care should get appointments within 48 hours, and those with nonurgent problems must get doctor's visits within 10 business days. The maximum wait time for specialist visits under the rule is 15 business days.

Patients requiring emergency care will be directed to emergency departments. A 2009 study found that new patients in California wait an average 59 days for an appointment with a family physician.

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Women with diabetes, depression have increased death risk

Women age 54 to 79 with diabetes and depression are at least twice as likely to die from heart disease and other causes, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health studied 78,282 women between those ages who participated in 2000 in the Nurses' Health Study, a long-running women's health study started with National Institutes of Health funding in 1976 (archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/1/42/).

Of those, 4,654 women died within six years. Women with depression were 44% more likely to die, and women with diabetes were 35% more likely to die than other women. Women with both illnesses were twice as likely to die than women with neither illness.

The print version of this content appeared in the Jan. 17 issue of American Medical News.

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