N.Y. Law Raises Issues of States' Reach in Patient Care
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NEW YORK -- Susan Wezel had been committed to the city's hospital wards more than a dozen times in 10 years. Her psychosis was so deep and debilitating that she lost her career and her relationship with her son, as she refused to take her medication or follow treatment.
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The state of Illinois is about to become a federal lawbreaker - and proud of it. Last week, it announced that in September it will help residents buy medicine from pre-screened pharmacies in Canada and Europe.
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According to a report by a hospital trade group, the cost of medical malpractice insurance in New York City, Westchester County and on Long Island has risen by nearly 150 percent since 1999.
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New Yorkâs attorney general is looking into if insurers forced patients to overpay for out-of-network doctors.
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Winnipeg - A lawyer whose client won a landmark court ruling on abortion rights says the decision could impact other areas of health care.
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New York and Connecticut state officials said they are investigating whether improper behavior by insurance companies has been a factor in the rapidly rising cost of malpractice insurance for lawyers and doctors.
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By The Stamford Advocate, Conn.  Feb. 5--It's human nature to play for time when big issues need to be resolved. But big issues -- like eminent domain reform -- are what state lawmakers were elected to confront.
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State efforts to transform the nationâs health care system appear to be on a collision course with the Bush administrationâs latest budget proposal.
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New treatment guidelines for breast cancer patients in the United States could spark changes to management of those with the disease in Australia.
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The institutions that are to close or be merged under an effort to shrink New Yorkâs hospital industry will receive public funds to cover legal costs associated with closing and to pay off debts, state health officials said.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. needs new medical privacy rules as the country moves toward greater use of IT to store health records, a group of health-care experts said Wednesday. "Thousands" of databases that contain U.S. residents' health records exist, and patients don't have any way to keep their personal information from being shared with third parties, said Dr. Deborah Peel, a psychiatrist and founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation. Private companies have been data-mining prescription records for years, she added. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996, sets security standards that health-care providers must follow, but the law leaves major gaps in privacy, Peel said at an electronic health-records privacy forum sponsored by public relations firm Dittus Communications. HIPAA gave many organizations with ties to health-care vendors, including offshore transcription vendors, insurance brokers and credit bureaus, authorization to use health care-records, she said. "Because of this confusion that HIPAA engendered, data is being exchanged and used for reasons that have nothing to do with people getting well," she said. "People think this is the wild west because of HIPAA, and every piece of data that's not nailed down can be used for some other purpose." While panelists at the forum seemed to agree that some type of privacy policy for e-health records is needed, they did not agree on how to accomplish it. Peel called for the U.S. government to create a national standard, but David Merritt, project director at the Center for Health Transformation and the Gingrich Group, called for private groups to develop privacy standards. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed moving a privacy commission to the private sector, but a bill sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, would keep that commission in the federal government. In addition, Kala Evelyn Ladenheim, program director for state health policy leadership at the National Conference of State Legislators, called on the federal government to allow states to develop their own privacy policies. Some states may create stronger protections than a national effort would, she said. But 50 state privacy policies would be difficult for health providers to comply with, countered Tom Wilder, senior regulatory counsel for America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group representing health insurance providers. In most other industries, private organizations have developed privacy policies, Merritt said. He called on a public and private partnership to create privacy standards. "The government is really good at creating commissions and creating advisory boards ... and studying an issue," he said. "What the government is not good at, and what we shouldn't ask it to do, is to lead and to act." Peel disagreed, saying health-care providers would have conflicts when creating privacy standards, and HHS employees may not have the public's best interest in mind. "We would actually say the problem is that the government is not in the lead," she said. "Unelected officials, bureaucrats and conflicted industry representatives shouldn't be making decisions about privacy."
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UnitedHealth Group Inc., one of the largest providers of health insurance in the United States, has paid $20 million to 37 states in order to settle claims processing problems, according to the New York State Department of Insurance.
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New York state regulators are looking into WellCare Health Plans Inc's  activities related to the state's Medicaid program, a person familiar with the investigation said on Tuesday.
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At issue is whether makers of medical equipment approved by the federal government may be sued under state law by patients injured by those devices.
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday considers how New York and Michigan have regulated out-of-state shipments.
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Hospitals across the country grapple with infringement of patients' privacy caused by employees using camera phones.
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The Legislature is again considering a bill that would require health providers in Massachusetts to obtain a patient's consent before treating them with reprocessed medical devices and instruments that are designed to be used once. Senate Bill 1338, which is being pushed by the state's medical device industry, is scheduled to be heard by the joint legislative Committee on Public ...