ABLEnews MedNotes

                AMERICAN MEDICAL NEWS (March 9, 1992)

Clinical Lab Regulations Issued (1)

  Regulations for physician office clinical labs published in Federal
  Register. Comments due April 28.

Doctor Sullivan Hit Hard Backing Bush Reform Plan (1)

  "Distrust is so great on both sides, nothing is likely to happen."
  --Representative Willis Gradison.

First Federal Practice Guidelines on Pain Management (1)

  "Pain from surgery is too often underestimated and undertreated."
  --Health and Human Services Secretary, Louis Sullivan.

Surgeons Accept Work Standards for Residents (2)

  "The ratio of hours worked and on-call time will vary, particularly at
  the senior levels, and, therefore, necessitates flexibility."

No Implant Conclusion (3)

  "I do not find the evidence convincing, but I do find it disturbing."
  --Doctor Jules Harris, medical oncology director, Rush Presbyterian

Surgeons Decry Different Standards (3)

  "It's a paradox. They're either okay or they're not okay." --Doctor
  Eugene Worton, plastic surgeon.

As Medical Technology Advances, So Does Septicemia (3)

  In the 1980s, invention may have been the mother of infection.

Drug Firm to Offer Free Access to AIDS Drug (4)

  To enroll patients in Hoffman-LaRoche open label D D C protocol,
  physicians should call 800-332-2144.

Report: More Hospitals Do Poorly on Quality Measures (5)

  One-third of the more than 5,000 hospitals surveyed by the Joint
  Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations from 1987
  through 1989 failed to meet several key quality standards.

Delays and Costs Are Growing in Malpractice Courts (6)

  Do defense attorneys drag their feet because their meter's running?

High Costs Stall Drive for Infant Hepatis B Immunizations

  "It's difficult enough to convince parents to spend $4 on a T B test."
  --Doctor Michael Hansen, family physician.

Samaritans of the Air (7)

  Volunteer pilots deliver patients in need to physicians who can help.

Feds Cancel Plan to Open V A Hospitals to the Public (9)

  "I did not think...(it) would draw such a huge furor." --Veterans
  Affairs Secretary, Edward Derwinski

Bill Would Protect Some Student Loan Deferments (9)

  Senate version contains grandfather clause for deferment of student
  loan payments by medical residents.

State Seeks to Bring Back Certificate of Need (9)

  Virginia bill would require government approval of health care
  providers' purchases of equipment for costly services like cardiac
  catherization, radiation therapy, and organ transplants.

Oregon Budget Woes Seen Threatening Medicaid Overhaul (10)

  "We can't afford to give Oregon a sweetheart deal." --Thomas Scully,
  Office of Managment and Budget.

Economic Factors Hamper Nurse Training (10)

  Nursing students face two-year wait to begin training, while hospitals
  cry for trained professionals.

Organized Approach Key to Salary System (11)

  Medical practice trends feature.

Oregon Blues First Private Insurer to Adopt R B R V S Approach on
Payment

  "Many of their surgical payments are lower than Medicare." --Bonnie
  Rosenfeld, Oregeon Medical Association

New Column Gives R B R V S Advice (11)

  Answers readers' questions on resource-based relative value scale.

Study: Two-Thirds of Doctors Give Charity Care (15)

  Study excludes Medicaid which pays as little as 25 cents on the
  dollar, a figure that may be less than the collection cost.

7 Public Health Service Executives Suspended in Corruption Probe (16)

Physician Awaiting Sentencing Gets Stress Disability Payments (16)

  "What we've shown is that crime does pay. In fact, it pays $266 a
  week." --Richard Rosenthal,Deputy District Attorney, Los Angeles.

Last Patient Awaits Transfer; Kansas Hospital Closing (15)

  "I just can't imagine why they've let this lovely place go to pieces.
  It's not fair." -- 85-year-old patient Wilma Cotton, who is blind.

Standard Equipment Cleaning May Not Protect Dental Patients (18)

  "I just think they should ask their dentist if he [heat-sterilizes
  the hand-piece between patients]."  --James Sharpe, 46, believed to
  have contracted AIDS in his dentist's office.

New York Group Suggests Detaining T B Patients (19)

  T B Task Force for Non-Compliant Patients recommends detaining
  tuberculosis patients likely to become contagious in drug or alcohol
  treatment facilities, psychiatric institutions, or AIDS nursing homes.

Study Shows Many Hispanics Lack Insurance (20)

  In 1989 12% of whites, 19% of blacks, and 33% of Hispanics lack health
  insurance.

Help Coming on New Office Lab Rules (21)

  Sit tight. There's plenty of time. Wait for instructions. (editorial)

Media Must Accept Responsibility to Patients (22)

  Does the public have the right to know everything? (op ed)

Solutions--Good and Bad--to Reform Health System (24)

  Overview of options from Missouri Medicine. (op ed)

Sparing the Rod (27)

  School corporal punishment is "legalized, institutional abuse."
  --Doctor Vincent Fontana, pediatrician.

Once Ridiculed, Choice of Geriatrics Seems Visionary (30)

  "One of the last islands of gratitude lies in the oceans of elderly
  patients." --Dr. A. Mark Clarfield, director of geriatrics, Sir
  Mortimer B. Davis Jewish Hospital. (op ed)

Questions and Answers From H H S on New Lab Rules (32)

[The above listing, prepared for ABLEnews by CURE, includes all major
articles in the cited issue and a representative selection of the rest.]

...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen Street, Berkeley
Springs, West Virginia 254511 (304-258-LIFE/5433).
