Medicare Is Solvent to 2029
The new health care reform law will extend the solvency of the trust fund that pays for Medicare hospital services 12 additional years, the Department of Health and Human Services announced. The law requires Medicare to develop new models of care, reward quality, and ferret out fraud and abuse, and these provisions mean the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will continue to take in more money than it spends until 2029, according to the annual report from Medicare's trustees. Last year, the trustees predicted the fund would begin to run in the red by 2017. The report also projected a balanced budget “for the foreseeable future” for the trust fund that helps Medicare beneficiaries pay for physician services and prescription drugs.
$42 Million for HIV Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded $42 million to 133 community-based organizations to fight HIV among at-risk populations, which include blacks, Hispanics, gay and bisexual men, and illicit-drug injectors. The organizations will receive an average $323,000 per year for 5 years to implement HIV-prevention programs, increase HIV testing, and promote knowledge of HIV status among individuals. The organizations will use small amounts of each grant to measure their effectiveness. According to the CDC, a local organization has community knowledge and perspective that enable it to reach people who might not otherwise get tested for HIV or access preventive services.
Foreign Training Upholds Quality
Foreign-trained physicians provide the same quality of care as do physicians trained at U.S. medical schools, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs. Using data from Pennsylvania, the researchers found no significant difference in the death rates of patients treated by international medical school graduates vs. those treated by graduates of U.S. medical schools. However, the study also found that the patients of U.S.-born doctors who graduate from non-U.S. medical schools had higher rates of in-hospital deaths than do the patients of foreign-born international medical school graduates. “It is reassuring to know that patients of [international graduates] receive the same quality of care that they would receive from a physician trained in the United States,” John Norcini, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research and lead author of the study, said in a statement. Nevertheless, the study's authors said that as U.S. medical schools expand, they must carefully guard the quality of their accepted applicants.
Primary Care Gets Sued Less
More than 5% of physicians surveyed by the American Medical Association reported being sued at least once in the past 12 months, but internists and family practice physicians reported fewer lawsuits than did other specialists. Only 3.1% of physicians in family and general practices had lawsuits filed against them, while 4.4% of general internists and 3.6% of internal medicine subspecialists reported being sued, according to the AMA. However, more than one-third of internists and family physicians told the AMA they had been sued at least once in their careers, and 13% of general internists, 22% of family physicians, and 21% of internal medicine subspecialists had been sued twice or more. Nearly 70% of general surgeons and obstetricians/gynecologists had been sued in their careers, 52% twice or more. The AMA compiled the report from data in its 2007-2008 Physician Practice Information survey. “The findings in this report validate the need for national and state medical liability reform to rein in our out-of-control system where lawsuits are a matter of when, not if, for physicians,” Dr. J. James Rohack, AMA immediate past president, said in a statement.
Med Students Want More Sex Ed
More than half of medical students completing an Internet survey said they had not received enough training on sexual issues to address their patients' sexual concerns clinically, a study in the journal Academic Medicine found. Despite this, four of five of the students said they felt comfortable dealing with their patients' sexuality issues. Students reporting limited sexual experience, being at risk for sexual problems, and feeling that they had not been trained adequately admitted more unease talking about sexual issues than other medical students did. The survey of U.S. and Canadian medical students included 1,343 women, 910 men, and 8 who answered “other” to gender.
Deals Keep Generics Off Market
Branded- and generic-drug manufacturers have made at least 21 deals so far this year that potentially delay the production of cheaper, generic versions of existing brand-name drugs, the Federal Trade Commission said. In three-quarters of the settlements, reported to the FTC, the branded and generic drug makers came to terms without money changing hands. The agency, which is attempting to crack down on “pay-for-delay” deals, told congressional lawmakers that generic and branded drug manufacturers inked 19 such deals in 2009 and 16 in 2008. The 2010 deals protect $9 billion in brand-name drug sales from generic competition, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz told a House subcommittee. The FTC estimated that “pay-for-delay” deals cost consumers $3.5 billion each year.