Staff News Writer

In North Jersey Brain and Spine Center v. Aetna, a physician practice that received assignments of benefits from patients with employer-sponsored health plans sued the insurer for denying and underpaying medically necessary surgeries for three different patients.

Medical students and residents who report higher levels of pharmaceutical marketing interactions were more likely to prescribe brand name drugs and less likely to rely on evidence-based treatment options, according to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Treatment, not stigmatization, should be the priority for addressing substance abuse, AMA Board of Trustees Member Mary Anne McCaffree, MD, told state legislators.

Personally identified data about physicians not publicly available soon could be shared with government agencies, law enforcement and Medicare contractors without physicians’ knowledge, under a new “system of records” announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

While actual payment rates for Medicare services are limited by congressional budget games, the relative values assigned to those services are carefully weighed based on the resources required to provide each service. You might be surprised about who can provide input to shape those values.

More medical schools are moving their learning models toward competency-based assessment, requiring greater collaboration and information-sharing in this relatively new area.