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Filling Slots Takes 6 Months
Recruiters took an average 180 days to fill an internal medicine or family medicine physician position in 2008, according to the Medical Group Management Association. Since this was the first time MGMA collected such data, it's not clear how 2008 compared to previous years, an MGMA spokesperson said. The cost of filling positions in these and other specialties declined, which the group attributed to the economic downturn and a marked increase in the use of Internet job boards in recruiting. The time to fill positions in nonmetropolitan areas, where the impact of the primary care shortage is greatest, was longer than that needed in large population centers, according to MGMA.
On-Call Pay for Primary Care
More than 43% of primary care providers received some form of additional compensation for on-call coverage, according to another MGMA survey. Family practitioners with and without OB/GYN coverage earned between $100 and $110 per day and $588 on holidays, MGMA said, while internists earned about $200 per day. In comparison, general surgeons earned $905 per day and $3,000 on holidays, the group said. Almost half of nonsurgical specialists responding to the MGMA survey reported no additional compensation for their on-call coverage, while nearly three-fourths of surgery specialists were compensated for on-call services.
Groups Push FDA Drug Enforcement
Two minority advocacy groups are urging the Food and Drug Administration to work harder to remove unapproved drugs from the market. The National Minority Quality Forum and MANA, a national Hispanic-American organization, both asked the FDA to push harder on its unapproved drug initiative, launched in 2006. MANA said that only 400 of what could be thousands of unapproved drugs have been removed from the market since 2006, and NMQF warned that patients and physicians may not know that some drugs are unapproved. “These unapproved drugs, which have not been evaluated by FDA's rigorous approval process, may compromise the health of patients and create increased liability for the physicians who prescribe them,” the NMQF said in its letter.
CDC Urges State Antismoking Effort
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged a 50-state antismoking effort to reduce the more than 400,000 annual tobacco-related deaths in the United States, saying that if all states utilized proven strategies, smoking-related diseases, deaths, and costs could fall substantially. Worthwhile strategies include hard-hitting education and media campaigns, smoke-free air laws, and higher cigarette prices, the CDC said in a report. Nearly one in five American deaths is caused by cigarette smoking, and reductions in adult and teen smoking rates have stalled since 2004, the CDC said. “This report shows that states know how to end the smoking epidemic,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, CDC director, said in a statement. “Smoke-free laws, hard-hitting ads, and higher cigarette prices are among our strongest weapons in this fight against tobacco use.”
Chemical Reforms Introduced
After months of hearings, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), chairman of a Senate environmental health subcommittee, has introduced legislation that would significantly strengthen federal enforcement powers over potentially toxic chemicals and their uses. The Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 would grant the Environmental Protection Agency additional powers to get safety information from chemical manufacturers, to categorize chemicals based on risk, and to remove dangerous chemicals from the market. Laws governing chemical regulation have not been updated in 34 years and currently give the EPA little regulatory authority, according to the group Health Care Without Harm. “The EPA has been able to require comprehensive testing on just 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals produced and used in the U.S., and only five chemical groups have been regulated under this law,” the group said in a statement.
Liability Fund Shift Was Illegal
Pennsylvania should not have sought help from state budget difficulties by diverting funds from compensation of victims of medical malpractice, the state's Commonwealth Court ruled in two separate cases. Between 2003 and 2007, Pennsylvania officials failed to transfer up to $616 million to a fund that pays malpractice awards beyond what health providers' insurance covers. The state also wrongly transferred $100 million from the fund to the state's general fund, the court found. The Pennsylvania Medical Society and the Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania filed the two lawsuits, arguing that the money was intended to control the cost of malpractice coverage. State officials have said they will appeal the two decisions.
Filling Slots Takes 6 Months
Recruiters took an average 180 days to fill an internal medicine or family medicine physician position in 2008, according to the Medical Group Management Association. Since this was the first time MGMA collected such data, it's not clear how 2008 compared to previous years, an MGMA spokesperson said. The cost of filling positions in these and other specialties declined, which the group attributed to the economic downturn and a marked increase in the use of Internet job boards in recruiting. The time to fill positions in nonmetropolitan areas, where the impact of the primary care shortage is greatest, was longer than that needed in large population centers, according to MGMA.
On-Call Pay for Primary Care
More than 43% of primary care providers received some form of additional compensation for on-call coverage, according to another MGMA survey. Family practitioners with and without OB/GYN coverage earned between $100 and $110 per day and $588 on holidays, MGMA said, while internists earned about $200 per day. In comparison, general surgeons earned $905 per day and $3,000 on holidays, the group said. Almost half of nonsurgical specialists responding to the MGMA survey reported no additional compensation for their on-call coverage, while nearly three-fourths of surgery specialists were compensated for on-call services.
Groups Push FDA Drug Enforcement
Two minority advocacy groups are urging the Food and Drug Administration to work harder to remove unapproved drugs from the market. The National Minority Quality Forum and MANA, a national Hispanic-American organization, both asked the FDA to push harder on its unapproved drug initiative, launched in 2006. MANA said that only 400 of what could be thousands of unapproved drugs have been removed from the market since 2006, and NMQF warned that patients and physicians may not know that some drugs are unapproved. “These unapproved drugs, which have not been evaluated by FDA's rigorous approval process, may compromise the health of patients and create increased liability for the physicians who prescribe them,” the NMQF said in its letter.
CDC Urges State Antismoking Effort
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged a 50-state antismoking effort to reduce the more than 400,000 annual tobacco-related deaths in the United States, saying that if all states utilized proven strategies, smoking-related diseases, deaths, and costs could fall substantially. Worthwhile strategies include hard-hitting education and media campaigns, smoke-free air laws, and higher cigarette prices, the CDC said in a report. Nearly one in five American deaths is caused by cigarette smoking, and reductions in adult and teen smoking rates have stalled since 2004, the CDC said. “This report shows that states know how to end the smoking epidemic,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, CDC director, said in a statement. “Smoke-free laws, hard-hitting ads, and higher cigarette prices are among our strongest weapons in this fight against tobacco use.”
Chemical Reforms Introduced
After months of hearings, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), chairman of a Senate environmental health subcommittee, has introduced legislation that would significantly strengthen federal enforcement powers over potentially toxic chemicals and their uses. The Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 would grant the Environmental Protection Agency additional powers to get safety information from chemical manufacturers, to categorize chemicals based on risk, and to remove dangerous chemicals from the market. Laws governing chemical regulation have not been updated in 34 years and currently give the EPA little regulatory authority, according to the group Health Care Without Harm. “The EPA has been able to require comprehensive testing on just 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals produced and used in the U.S., and only five chemical groups have been regulated under this law,” the group said in a statement.
Liability Fund Shift Was Illegal
Pennsylvania should not have sought help from state budget difficulties by diverting funds from compensation of victims of medical malpractice, the state's Commonwealth Court ruled in two separate cases. Between 2003 and 2007, Pennsylvania officials failed to transfer up to $616 million to a fund that pays malpractice awards beyond what health providers' insurance covers. The state also wrongly transferred $100 million from the fund to the state's general fund, the court found. The Pennsylvania Medical Society and the Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania filed the two lawsuits, arguing that the money was intended to control the cost of malpractice coverage. State officials have said they will appeal the two decisions.
Filling Slots Takes 6 Months
Recruiters took an average 180 days to fill an internal medicine or family medicine physician position in 2008, according to the Medical Group Management Association. Since this was the first time MGMA collected such data, it's not clear how 2008 compared to previous years, an MGMA spokesperson said. The cost of filling positions in these and other specialties declined, which the group attributed to the economic downturn and a marked increase in the use of Internet job boards in recruiting. The time to fill positions in nonmetropolitan areas, where the impact of the primary care shortage is greatest, was longer than that needed in large population centers, according to MGMA.
On-Call Pay for Primary Care
More than 43% of primary care providers received some form of additional compensation for on-call coverage, according to another MGMA survey. Family practitioners with and without OB/GYN coverage earned between $100 and $110 per day and $588 on holidays, MGMA said, while internists earned about $200 per day. In comparison, general surgeons earned $905 per day and $3,000 on holidays, the group said. Almost half of nonsurgical specialists responding to the MGMA survey reported no additional compensation for their on-call coverage, while nearly three-fourths of surgery specialists were compensated for on-call services.
Groups Push FDA Drug Enforcement
Two minority advocacy groups are urging the Food and Drug Administration to work harder to remove unapproved drugs from the market. The National Minority Quality Forum and MANA, a national Hispanic-American organization, both asked the FDA to push harder on its unapproved drug initiative, launched in 2006. MANA said that only 400 of what could be thousands of unapproved drugs have been removed from the market since 2006, and NMQF warned that patients and physicians may not know that some drugs are unapproved. “These unapproved drugs, which have not been evaluated by FDA's rigorous approval process, may compromise the health of patients and create increased liability for the physicians who prescribe them,” the NMQF said in its letter.
CDC Urges State Antismoking Effort
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged a 50-state antismoking effort to reduce the more than 400,000 annual tobacco-related deaths in the United States, saying that if all states utilized proven strategies, smoking-related diseases, deaths, and costs could fall substantially. Worthwhile strategies include hard-hitting education and media campaigns, smoke-free air laws, and higher cigarette prices, the CDC said in a report. Nearly one in five American deaths is caused by cigarette smoking, and reductions in adult and teen smoking rates have stalled since 2004, the CDC said. “This report shows that states know how to end the smoking epidemic,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, CDC director, said in a statement. “Smoke-free laws, hard-hitting ads, and higher cigarette prices are among our strongest weapons in this fight against tobacco use.”
Chemical Reforms Introduced
After months of hearings, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), chairman of a Senate environmental health subcommittee, has introduced legislation that would significantly strengthen federal enforcement powers over potentially toxic chemicals and their uses. The Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 would grant the Environmental Protection Agency additional powers to get safety information from chemical manufacturers, to categorize chemicals based on risk, and to remove dangerous chemicals from the market. Laws governing chemical regulation have not been updated in 34 years and currently give the EPA little regulatory authority, according to the group Health Care Without Harm. “The EPA has been able to require comprehensive testing on just 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals produced and used in the U.S., and only five chemical groups have been regulated under this law,” the group said in a statement.
Liability Fund Shift Was Illegal
Pennsylvania should not have sought help from state budget difficulties by diverting funds from compensation of victims of medical malpractice, the state's Commonwealth Court ruled in two separate cases. Between 2003 and 2007, Pennsylvania officials failed to transfer up to $616 million to a fund that pays malpractice awards beyond what health providers' insurance covers. The state also wrongly transferred $100 million from the fund to the state's general fund, the court found. The Pennsylvania Medical Society and the Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania filed the two lawsuits, arguing that the money was intended to control the cost of malpractice coverage. State officials have said they will appeal the two decisions.