News: Medical Malpractice Insurance and Physician Practices

Bernadette Tansey
http://www.sfgate.com
Drug companies shower medical school faculty members with pens, pricey dinners, free samples and other inducements to influence their prescribing patterns, an organization of U.S. medical students says.
The med students are now trying to erase that pattern by grading their teachers. The American Medical Student Association issued its second annual report card Tuesday on [...]

By Tom Hester Jr. - Associated Press
http://www.philly.com
TRENTON – Advocates yesterday said the governor’s plans to require copayments from low-income New Jersey residents for prescription drugs and some emergency room visits would hurt the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.The Mental Health Association in New Jersey highlighted research showing copays in other states made it difficult for as [...]

David Gulliver
http://www.heraldtribune.com
A pulmonologist snaked a tube through the nose and into a man’s lungs.
A nurse inserted a needle into a man’s arm and started an intravenous drip of a medicine.
A otolaryngologist made a small incision in the fold behind the ear of a man with persistent hearing problems, the first step in a delicate surgery.
The procedures, all performed [...]

Physicians Total Care
http://www.pr.com
Tulsa, OK, May 27, 2008 –(PR.com)– Due to decreased reimbursements from managed care companies, Hickory Family Practice in Hickory, N.C., began looking for different avenues to increase profitability. Integrating physician medication dispensing through Physicians Total Care allowed Hickory Family Practice to generate additional revenue for the practice.
The five-physician practice installed the PTC9000 software [...]

By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/
WASHINGTON – Legislation that would require prescription drug makers to disclose payments to doctors got a boost Tuesday when Eli Lilly and Co. broke ranks with the industry and endorsed the bill.
Lawmakers gained Eli Lilly’s support after they agreed to raise the payment limit requiring disclosure from $25 to $500. [...]

http://www.prweb.com
San Francisco, CA (Vocus/PRWEB ) March 25, 2008 – A new network to deliver drug safety alerts online to U.S. physicians was launched today, replacing a widely criticized and decades-old system based upon paper and U.S. mail. The Health Care Notification Network (HCNN) is the result of a three-year effort and an unprecedented collaboration between [...]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
The Supreme Court on Monday voted 4-4 in a case related to whether FDA approval of medications protects manufacturers from product liability lawsuits filed in state courts, the New York Times reports. The tie vote will allow a product liability lawsuit against Warner-Lambert, which Pfizer acquired in 2000, to proceed (Greenhouse, New York Times, [...]

By Tim Christie
http://www.registerguard.com
Dr. Gail Hacker still remembers the pitch she got from a pharmaceutical sales representative early in her medical career.
“If I put my next five hypertensive patients on his drug, he would send me and my husband out to a nice dinner,� she said.
Hacker, a family physician who now works at Lane Community College’s [...]