Court Shields Billing Records
An appeals court has ruled against the release of Medicare billing records, which was sought by the group Consumers' Checkbook so that it could grade physicians on quality. The nonprofit had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all 2004 Medicare claims from physicians in several locations, and the group won in a lower court in 2007. But the Department of Health and Human Services, joined by the American Medical Association, appealed, and the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that HHS does not have to release the information. Disclosure of the requested data would constitute an invasion of physicians' privacy, the appeals court said. The AMA praised the decision. “The court clearly found that the release of personal physician payment data does not meet the standard of the Freedom of Information Act, which is to provide the public with information on how the government operates,” Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, AMA board member, said in a statement.
IOM Report: HIPAA Is Inadequate
The government's main health-privacy rule doesn't adequately protect people's health information, yet it hinders important health research, a report from the Institute of Medicine concluded. The privacy rule, stemming from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), is difficult to reconcile with other federal regulations governing research and personal information, the IOM report said. In addition, organizations that collect and use health data vary greatly in how they interpret and follow HIPAA, leading to potential privacy problems, the report said. Congress should create an entirely new approach to protecting personal health information in research, separate from the HIPAA rule, an IOM panel recommended. “We believe there is synergy between the goals of safeguarding privacy and enhancing health research,” said panel chairman Lawrence Gostin, a professor of health law at Georgetown University, Washington.
Many People Go Without Drugs
More children and working-age adults are failing to take needed prescription medications because of cost concerns, according to a national study by the Center for Studying Health System Change. In 2007, 1 in 7 Americans under age 65 years reported not filling a prescription in the previous year because they couldn't afford the medication, up from 1 in 10 in 2003. Rising prescription drug costs and less-generous drug coverage probably contributed to the change, the report said. Uninsured, working-age Americans saw the biggest jump in unmet prescription needs between 2003 and 2007, with the proportion going without medications rising from 26% to almost 35% in that time, the report said. However, a growing proportion of working-age Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance also reported going without prescription medications.
FDA on 'High-Risk' List
The Food and Drug Administration faces significant challenges that compromise its ability to protect Americans from unsafe and ineffective products, the Government Accountability Office said in adding the FDA to its biennial “high-risk” list. The GAO gives that label to government programs or agencies that need to address internal mismanagement. In its 2009 report, the GAO said the FDA needs to beef up its foreign-drug inspection program, better manage its reviews of companies' promotional materials, and ensure that drug makers properly present clinical data.
Poll: Affordability Is Tops
Making health insurance more affordable trumps improving quality and expanding coverage among the public's priorities for health care reform, according to a new poll. The survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health found that most people believe that action on health care is important to help the nation out of recession. But when respondents were asked to choose between coverage expansion, cost reduction, and delivery-system change, 4 in 10 named affordability as most important, followed by 3 in 10 who said that expanding coverage is the top priority. Roughly 2 in 10 picked improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of the health care delivery system. Two-thirds of those surveyed favored requiring all individuals to have health insurance, but when told that some people may then have to buy health insurance they consider too expensive or don't want, support for the mandate dropped to 19%.
Humana Supports ID Cards
Humana has become the first health insurer to publicly support the Medical Group Management Association's drive to get standardized, machine-readable insurance cards into people's wallets by next January. “Our goal is to continue working with MGMA and the industry to eliminate waste, create efficiencies, and reduce the hassle factor for providers,” Humana Senior Vice President Bruce Perkins said in a statement. Adopting readable cards is part of an overall drive by the company to simplify health insurance administration, he said. MGMA estimates that machine-readable insurance cards could save physician offices and hospitals as much as $1 billion a year by reducing paperwork and avoiding denial of many claims.