Ex-FDA Chief Crawford Guilty
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester M. Crawford, D.V.M., has pleaded guilty to lying about stock he held during his tenure, in violation of federal conflict-of-interest and stock ownership rules. Dr. Crawford was charged with two misdemeanors and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 22 in Federal District Court in Washington. He could receive a year in prison and could be fined $200,000. According to the plea, Dr. Crawford failed to sell shares in Sysco, Pepsico, and Kimberly-Clark, all of which have products that are regulated by the FDA. Federal rules require senior officials to divest shares in companies that their agency regulates. Dr. Crawford also did not disclose his wife's ownership of Wal-Mart stock. Dr. Crawford was charged with conflict of interest for owning the Pepsico and Sysco shares while chairman of FDA's Obesity Working Group. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) said he will push for a completion of an Office of Inspector General inquiry into Dr. Crawford's resignation and financial holdings. “Based on Lester Crawford's apparent disregard for the law, we must find out what other improper actions he took while leading the FDA, which may not necessarily have been illegal, but were inappropriate or unethical,” Rep. Hinchey said in a statement.
Pilot P4P for Small Practices
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is seeking 800 solo and small- to medium-sized group practices to participate in a 3-year pilot pay-for-performance project. The Medicare Care Management Performance Demonstration is limited to practices in Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, and Utah that are the main providers of primary care to at least 50 Medicare beneficiaries. Physicians will be required to submit data each year on up to 26 quality measures in diabetes, heart failure, coronary artery disease, and preventive care. During the first year, participating physicians will be paid for reporting baseline information. In the 2 succeeding years, practices will submit quality data; they can earn up to $10,000 per physician or up to $50,000 per practice for meeting benchmarks endorsed by the National Quality Forum. The measures are similar to those being used in Medicare's Physician Voluntary Reporting Program. At the end of the 3-year project, CMS and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will review the impact on patient outcomes and Medicare expenditures. For more information, go to
www.cms.hhs.gov/DemoProjectsEvalRpts/MD/list.asp
CMS Curbs Improper Claims
Medicare is on track in 2006 to further reduce the number of fraudulent and inappropriate claims being submitted. CMS is reporting that 4% of claims were improper in 2006, down from 5% the previous year and from 14% in 1996, leading to $11 billion less in improper payments over the last 2 years. To determine the error rate, CMS randomly sampled 160,000 claims submitted from April 2005 to March 2006. Since it has been able to more closely identify errors, CMS has been providing more accurate information to contractors, resulting in improved system edits and updated coverage policies, the agency said in a statement. “I welcome the news that the government's increased attention to oversight of Medicare payments has paid off,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the committee charged with Medicare oversight, said in a statement. He added that CMS has work to do, as it is “still paying for medically unnecessary services and undocumented or poorly documented services.”
Wal-Mart Expands Generic Access
Wal-Mart has expanded its $4 generic drug program to an additional 14 states. The program, which was launched in September in Florida, covers 30-day supplies of generic drugs at commonly prescribed dosages and includes 314 generic drugs including 143 compounds in 24 therapeutic categories. Wal-Mart had originally planned to pilot the program in Florida and roll it out to additional states sometime next year, but accelerated expansion due to consumer demand. The move by Wal-Mart is likely to be good for the company's bottom line, according to the results of a Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive poll. The poll of 2,493 adults found that currently only 13% of adults most often purchase drugs from a discount store like Wal-Mart or Target. However, when told about the availability of discounted generic drugs, 50% of respondents said they would be likely, very likely, or absolutely certain to fill their prescriptions with generic drugs purchased on discount retailers. The program is now available at Wal-Mart stores in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Vermont.
McClellan Accepts Think Tank Post