An embarassment of riches: transparency edition
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Recently, Bob wrote about cost-efficiency and claims management. In that post, he said "The more you learn about using tools that are readily available the better equipped you will be to maximize ALL your health care dollars."And he's right [ed: you're surprised?]But it gets better. Knowing my penchant for transparency in healthcare, Bob sent me a handful of relevant links and articles, which I'll share with IB readers in our first "mini-carnival:"First up, Physician Reports is a sort of "self-serve" site that rates (dunh!) physicians. It's a free service, which is nice, but I'm a little turned off by the lack of accountab...
Source: InsureBlog - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Game drives open-source biochemical discoveries
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On Day 1 of the Games for Health conference, Zoran Popovic of the University of Washington gave a demo of his Fold It! game project. This unique effort, produced in partnership with Electronic Arts and others, is a massive multiplayer game that challenges thousands of players to work in competition and collaboratively to answer unknowns about the stucture and design of proteins. I don't know a whole lot about proteins, beyond the fact that they play a big part in many diseases and also can contribute to cures, which is intriguing scientists like Zoran. Ultimately, the answers uncovered through the game pl...
Source: Pioneering Ideas - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Susan Promislo Source Type: blogs
Elizabeth edwards on lack of health insurance in america
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Thinkprogress has a great story on Elizabeth Edwards and her continued attempt to educate everyone about the need for health reform and greater access to health care for all Americans. The story includes testimony from her recent appearance before the... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: HealthLawProf Hodnicki Source Type: blogs
Health of u.s. hospitals
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Firedoglake posts an interesting piece on the state of our nation's hospitals and it isn't pretty. hospitals. Isaiah Poole writes, What I don't get is how all of McCain's free-market fundamentalism on health care is supposed to help make sure... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: HealthLawProf Hodnicki Source Type: blogs
Woman sues norwalk: my son stepped in dog poop
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A New York woman who took her family to visit the Maritime Aquarium has filed a $100 claim against the city, saying her child's shoes, along with the entire outing, were ruined when her 1-year-old stepped in dog feces early last month outside the Maritime Garage.
Norwalk officials will deny the claim, city attorney M. Jeffry Spahr said.
"The official response is her claim is denied and poop happens," he said.
The claim by Mahopac, N.Y., resident, Kelly DeBrocky was filed with the city clerk on April 7. It came across Spahr's desk yesterday.
...
Spahr said he has seen some frivolous claims, but the feces claim reeks.
...
Source: Overlawyered - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Ted Frank Source Type: blogs
Careful what you sue for: "airline bans tips for skycaps at logan"
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When American Airlines instituted a $2 per bag charge for skycap service at Boston's Logan Airport, the workers' tip income dropped, some travelers seeing the change as a reason to stop tipping. A lawyer representing the workers sued American and a month ago a federal jury awarded them more than $325,000. In addition, the Massachusetts legislature recently enacted a law providing that businesses can be hit with triple damages in wage/hour disputes. Now American Airlines has decreed a complete ban on tipping at check-in at Logan, while also ordering its contractor to raise the skycaps' wages from the former nominal $5.15 an...
Source: Overlawyered - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Asbestos podcast with lester brickman
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Yesterday, I had the privilege to do a brief interview with Lester Brickman, a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law in New York. Professor Brickman is one of the nation's leading legal ethicists and the national adacemic expert on asbestos litigation. The discussion is available as a podcast, downloadable here. (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: James Copland Source Type: blogs
Asbestos litigation: foundations
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Asbestos litigation has been around a long time. Early on, nothing like modern product liability law existed (see Richard Epstein's discussion here); lawsuits resided in workplace injury law when filed in the 1920s and 30s, and were soon subsumed in workers compensation reforms.
Modern asbestos litigation began after the Selikoff study was published in 1964. In December 1965, Texas attorney Ward Stephenson filed a case on behalf of Claude Tomplait, who had worked as an asbestos insulator. Four years later, Stephenson extracted a settlement for $75,000 from seven defendants.
Notwithstanding this meager beginning, Stephens...
Source: Overlawyered - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: James Copland Source Type: blogs
The good, the bad, and the different: accessing health care services on vacation overseas
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While on vacation in Israel last month, I had occasion to sample the local health care system. My teenage son needed an antibiotic, to nip in the bud a recurring respiratory issue. Fortunately, I had noticed a neighborhood health clinic a couple of blocks from the apartment we were renting in Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb. My wife took him into the clinic in the late morning (he sleeps like a teenager, regardless of time zone). After a little intake dance (and discussing Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage in a country with national health insurance), a nurse determined that he probably needed an antibio...
Source: HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog - May 9, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: David Harlow Source Type: blogs
Carriers hate to pay
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Here is a thought.Carriers hate to pay claims with their own money.They don’t mind using your money but they really don’t want to use any of their own money unless they absolutely have to. (More on this later).This became quite clear to me several years ago when I worked in the medical stop loss business. I noticed that carriers became quite aggressive in case management if a claim looked like it would become expensive. This was especially true if the claim had the potential to get into their wallet.Want to know something else?Your doc may not know the most effective treatment for your illness.Much of what docs do is t...
Source: InsureBlog - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Comparative effectiveness research
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I was one of several local (aka, “Boston area”) health care participants who had a chance to hear Dr. Steve Pearson, President of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review and Senior Fellow at America’s Health Insurance Plans in Washington, DC speak recently about “CER” (Comparative Effectiveness Research). I’m proud to say that Dr. Pearson is a member of the faculty at the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at the Harvard Medical School — and is, therefore, supported in part by the folks at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care — who support the DACP at HMS as a joint venture with ...
Source: HPHC - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Charlie Baker Tags: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Costs Medicare health care quality Source Type: blogs
Howdy, pardner!
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Ohio is in the vanguard of states offering the new "LTCi Partnership Program." Enabled by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, PP's are the latest signal from the gummint that it wants out of the long term care financing business. Briefly, the Ohio Partnership Program (OPP) allows one to "shelter" more money if and/or when one "spends down" to become Medicaid-eligible.Many folks believe, erroneously, that Medicare will pay for their long term care needs. It doesn't: Medicare pays for medical expenses, which may sometimes include brief stints at a skilled nursing facility. But this is limited to a total of 100 days, which isn...
Source: InsureBlog - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
The platypus genome
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has been sequenced. Some of the cooler details:Sex determination. It has been known that platypuses have not one but five (!) pairs of sex chromosomes. Male platypuses exhibit an XYXYXYXYXY genotype. And those sex chromosomes bear some connection to the ZW sex determination system found in birds. But what the newly sequenced genome reveals is that the platypus's male-determining gene, the monotreme equivalent of primates' SRY gene, is not located on any of those five pairs of sex chromosome. Instead, it resides on an altogether different chromosome, one with no apparent connection with sex determination.The beginnings of ...
Source: BioLaw: Law and the Life Sciences - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Jim Chen Source Type: blogs
The role of a predictive model
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Yesterday’s blog post focused on the value and future of comparative effectiveness analysis; today's second part of our interview with Lynn explores how the Archimedes predictive model has implications for comparative effectiveness research. You’ll remember that last October, Pioneer awarded an $15.6 million grant to Archimedes to support the development of ARCHeS, (ARChimedes Health care Simulator), an online interface and delivery system that will enable many more health experts to use the Archimedes model to answer health care questions with greater speed and precision.
How does ARCHeS and the Archimedes predicti...
Source: Pioneering Ideas - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Pioneer Blog Team Tags: Grants & Grantees Source Type: blogs
Rockin' out!
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At the opening plenary session of today's Games for Health conference, Ben Sawyer introduced modded (modified) guitars that allow Guitar Hero to be played with one arm. The modded guitars followed a discussion with a rehabilitation therapist in North Carolina and a game developer in Wisconsin. The therapist asked for a version of Guitar Hero for her patients who had lost an arm or had limited use of an arm. Guitar Hero provided guitars to Ben Heckendorn who created a modified pedal that allows the player to strum the guitar with her foot. This is a big contribution towards accessible video games, but it also illustrates th...
Source: Pioneering Ideas - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Theresa Kanter Tags: Games Source Type: blogs
Who uses the er?
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The New York Times reports today on a study showing that the overcrowding that occurs in emergency rooms does not result from an increasing number of insured patients. It is often said that emergency rooms are crowded because of the... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: HealthLawProf Hodnicki Source Type: blogs
Politics of health reform
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Ezra Klein has a great piece entitled, "The Elusive Politics of Reform," and writes about the various options to reform our health care system. He starts with a brief statement on why the United States should be focused on reforming... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: HealthLawProf Hodnicki Source Type: blogs
Seidel subpoena aftermath
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As a judge considers whether to impose sanctions on attorney Clifford Shoemaker for hitting investigative blogger Kathleen Seidel with an intimidating subpoena, one of Shoemaker's attorneys asks the court for more time "to gather the material I would need to show the Court the justification for the Subpoena and its scope," which prompts Eric Turkewitz to wonder (May 6): "Why is it necessary to look for justification for the subpoena after it was issued?" And: "Other than talking to Shoemaker, who must have already had justification before the subpoena was issued, why would it be necessary to interview any other witness? It...
Source: Overlawyered - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
At least they spelled our url right
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How many errors can you spot in the Jeannette Borzo/California Lawyer magazine story on legal blogging and its sentence about this weblog?As best as most people can tell, the history of legal blogs began in July 1999 when two lawyers-a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and another attorney from New Jersey-launched Overlawyered (www.overlawyered.com). (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Ted Frank Source Type: blogs
Excited to be here to talk about asbestos
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I can't say how excited I am to be here as a guest at overlawyered -- the first legal blog still in existence! I'll never be the indefatigable blogger that is my colleague Walter, or my friend and fellow legal reformer Ted, but I jumped at the opportunity to come over here to Mr. Olson's "other" blog (he and Ted are also the mainstays of the Manhattan Institute's PointofLaw.com, to which I occasionally contribute).
Overlawyered's long-time readers have doubtless read a lot about asbestos. And we've covered asbestos litigation very extensively over at Point of Law. But there's a lot of new material in the Manhattan Instit...
Source: Overlawyered - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: James Copland Source Type: blogs
Gov. spitzer's career change
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His future in private practice? (NBC Saturday Night Live, dubiously safe for work; via Turkewitz). (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 8, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Cavalcade of risk #51 is up!
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Three-time host Spencer Hill presents this week's Cav. It's chock full of risky posts.You don't have to be a three-timer to host: we have slots available for June and July. Just drop us a line to claim yours! (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
The momscore: how west virginia ranks for maternal health
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While reading this week's Grand Rounds hosted this week at Suture for a Living, I jumped over to an interesting post by Dr. Val on an effort by her and Revolution Health to team up with medical experts and mommy bloggers to create a new health index for Mother's Day.West Virginia ranks 38 out of 51 states on the momScore. As we head into this weekend's Mother's Day, Anna Marie Jarvis would want us to try to raise our ranking. I'm issuing a challenge to all West Virginia health care providers to think about and work on improving these statistics and metrics.West Virginia received a a score of 69 out of a possible 100. The a...
Source: Health Care Law Blog - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Tags: health care moms WV West Virginia Source Type: blogs
Symmetrical and sexy
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Conclusions/SignificanceOur findings support the claim that sexual dimorphism and symmetry in faces are signals advertising quality by providing evidence that there must be a biological mechanism linking the two traits during development. Such data also suggests that the signalling properties of faces are universal across human populations and are potentially phylogenetically old in primates. (Source: BioLaw: Law and the Life Sciences)
Source: BioLaw: Law and the Life Sciences - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Jim Chen Source Type: blogs
Lynn etheredge on comparative effectiveness research
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As Abbey Cofsky told us yesterday, a new feature begins today on Pioneering Ideas: interviews with selected Pioneer Portfolio grantees. We are talking with Lynn Etheredge (see photo at left), an independent consultant working on health care and social policy issues with a long track record in the fields of health finance and health reform (see his bio, below), about his work on comparative effectiveness research.
What is comparative effectiveness research?
Today, there are generally at least several treatment options for most health problems – and many more coming from the R&D pipeline. Comparative effectiveness re...
Source: Pioneering Ideas - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Pioneer Blog Team Tags: Grants & Grantees Source Type: blogs
Bipolar disorder overdiagnosed
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In a bit of a surprise, Eurekalert reports on a recent study by Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University researchers that bipolar disorder may be overdiagnosed by quite a lot (close to 50%). The study is published in the Journal... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: HealthLawProf Hodnicki Source Type: blogs
Mccain's rhetoric on health care
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The New York Times reports and critiques on McCain's discussion of the two Democratic presidential candidates. MIchael Cooper and Julie Bosman write, Senator John McCain has been repeatedly suggesting that his Democratic rivals are proposing a single-payer, or even a... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: HealthLawProf Hodnicki Source Type: blogs
Mccain justice advisory panel
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The presumptive GOP nominee has announced a list of 45 or so names; the academic contingent encouragingly includes Profs. Volokh, Calabresi, Rotunda, McGinnis, and Kerr. (Hotline, May 6). More: the Obama campaign responds (via Kerr @ Volokh): The Straight Talk Express took another sharp right turn today as John McCain promised his conservative base four more years of out-of-touch judges that would threaten a woman's right to choose, gut the campaign finance reform that bears his own name, and trample the rights and interests of the American people. Barack Obama has always believed that our courts should stand up for social...
Source: Overlawyered - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
$40 billion demanded over use of newsworthy names on t-shirt
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An Arizona antiwar activist has been much criticized for selling a T-shirt with the slogan "Bush Lied, They Died" along with the names of the more than 4,000 U.S. servicemen killed in the war. Parents of a soldier killed in action in Iraq are suing, saying the use of their son's name has caused them emotional distress; they want class-action status on behalf of all the parents of other soldiers killed in action, amounting to $40 billion. The suit's Amended Complaint does little to advance the dignity of its cause with assertions like, "Most respectfully, this is a concept that even a mentally-challenged monkey could grasp....
Source: Overlawyered - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Purina vs. "chow, baby"
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"Three years ago, Purina sent a cease-and-desist letter to Chow, Baby!, a Baltimore area pet supply shop and Web site owned by Robin McDonald, asserting that its use of the 'Chow, Baby!' name was likely to cause confusion with Purina's CHOW trademarks and would dilute the distinctive quality of those marks. ... According to the dictionary, 'chow' is defined as food, a meaning that dates back to 1860." (Carolyn Elefant, Legal Blog Watch, May 2). More from Ron Coleman:But companies such as Purina are not interested in discussing the matter. Brand management isn't a seminar. They are interesting in executing and maintaining a...
Source: Overlawyered - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Johnny sac on card check
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Via Kaus, I'm pleased to see someone making this issue crystal-clear:
Earlier on POL: Jan. 24; Jun. 21; Feb. 2, 2007. (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Ted Frank Source Type: blogs
"pants" judge sues over lost job
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You knew it was coming dept.: Roy Pearson wants $1 million for being deprived of his District of Columbia judgeship. (Emil Steiner blog/Washington Post, Kerr @ Volokh, Laconic Law Blog; earlier). (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
New york lottery sued
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According to the would-be class action on behalf of Take Five ticket buyers, those supposed chances of "winning" are inflated by counting a free play as a win. "The lawsuit says merchants who sell the tickets should be held liable since they were in on the fraud." (Thomas Zambito, "A lotto nonsense, says $5M lawsuit", New York Daily News, May 6; Kati Cornell, "You've Gotta Sue To Win", New York Post, May 6; Lottery Post). (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
The asbestos litigation machine
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Yesterday the Manhattan Institute released a new report by my colleague Jim Copland, "Trial Lawyers Inc. -- Asbestos". As I note at Point of Law, even as a longtime observer of asbestos litigation I found it quite an eye-opener. I'm happy to announce that Jim Copland will be joining us tomorrow for a guestblogging stint to explain some of his findings. (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
"minn. driver kills dog, sues owners"
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Maybe it's better sometimes not to stand on all your legal rights? "Jeffery Ely ran over a dog and then sued its owners for the cost of repairing his vehicle. Ely claims in court filings that he suffered $1,100 in damages after Fester, a brain-damaged miniature pinscher, ran in front of his 1997 Honda Civic in January." (USA Today, May 7). (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 7, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Interesting hsa "gotcha"
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I have the privilege of working with some truly great talent here in "Southwest Flyover Country" (aka Dayton, Ohio). One of my favorites is Pete Deist, who runs FlexBank, a local FSA/HRA/HSA administrator. Pete has a long and storied career "in the biz," and so has a unique and helpful perspective for those of us still in the trenches.As part of an FAQ he recently compiled, he posed the following:James enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with family coverage effective February 1, 2007. He contributed the maximum permissible amount of $6,450 ($5,650 plus the $800 "catch-up"). James turned 65 in January, and enr...
Source: InsureBlog - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Grand rounds is up!
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Suture for a Living hosts this week's edition. It's jampacked with interesting posts and beautiful photographs of Arkansas' flora and fauna.David Williams, at the Health Business Blog, has a book review with a twist: the book's on not-for-profit health care providers. (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Dr. nurse
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Doctor shortage. Lack of primary care providers. Aging boomers.What do you do?How about a new kind of PCP? A Doctor Nurse.Doctor nurses are trained in finance, health policy and systems know-how in addition to core clinical expertise. They can do a lot of what many doctors no longer have time to do in an increasingly complex health care environment. This is an idea that makes a lot of sense to me.36 percent of active physicians are older than 55 and most will retire by 2020, said Edward Salsberg, director of workforce studies for the Association of American Medical Colleges. A new generation of physicians is less willing t...
Source: InsureBlog - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Cms proposes 2009 skilled nursing facility prospective payment rule
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On May 1, 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Press Release announcing the release of a display copy of a Proposed Rule that would update the skilled nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system for fiscal year (FY) 2009.
According to the Press Release, the Proposed Rule would recalibrate the case mix weights to reestablish budget neutrality on a prospective basis and recalibrate refinements that accounted for the use of non-therapy ancillary services. For FY 2009, CMS projects that the impact of the proposed recalibration would be a negative $770 million. However, CMS expects...
Source: Medicare Update - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Michael Apolskis Source Type: blogs
Cms to update inpatient psychiatric facility prospective payments
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On May 1, 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a display copy of a Notice that updates the prospective payment rates for Medicare inpatient hospital services provided by inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPF). The updated IPF prospective payment rates are effective for discharges occurring on or after July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. CMS is expected to publish the Notice in the Federal Register on May 7, 2008. (Source: Medicare Update)
Source: Medicare Update - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Michael Apolskis Source Type: blogs
Conversations with today’s pioneers in health and health care
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The programs and projects that Pioneer grantees are leading give all of us here at the Foundation a lot to think about. Their work presents us with new perspectives and new questions, and fosters many great discussions about the role of innovation in health and health care. Some of those discussions have been shared here on the Pioneering Ideas blog and we appreciate the opportunity to have such conversations with you about the work of our grantees, promising ideas for the future, and the importance of innovation in health.
While we all enjoy talking and writing about the work of our grantees, there is something special a...
Source: Pioneering Ideas - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Abbey Cofsky Tags: Grants & Grantees Source Type: blogs
Rhapsodizing further on insects
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This study's specific discussion of insect gigantism offers further insight into the vulnerability of giant species to changes in global temperatures and/or oxygen levels, as well as the heightened vulnerability of such species' to extinction over geological time:Oxygen supply may also have led to insect gigantism in the Carboniferous period, because atmospheric oxygen was 30-35% . . . . The demise of these insects when oxygen content fell indicates that large species may be susceptible to such change. Giant amphipods may therefore be among the first species to disappear if global temperatures are increased ...
Source: BioLaw: Law and the Life Sciences - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Jim Chen Source Type: blogs
10 million children worldwide die from lack of health care
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My Way's Teresa Cerojano reports on the ten million children wordwide who die from lack of health care. She writes, More than 200 million children worldwide under age 5 do not get basic health care, leading to nearly 10 million... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: HealthLawProf Hodnicki Source Type: blogs
Suregon's criminal case continues
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AmNews reports on the Dr. Roozrokh's criminal case. He is the surgeon who has been charged with several felonies after allegedly hastening a patient's death to obtain that patient's organs for transplantation. Bonnie Booth writes, A California Superior Court judge... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: HealthLawProf Hodnicki Source Type: blogs
"on honest engineering discourse"
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What if we are "actively aligning incentives against" having such a thing? (Coyote, Apr. 14).
Separately, Coyote explains why he isn't very active in his own blog's comment section, though he often learns things from it. (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
May 6 roundup
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Raelyn Campbell briefly captured national spotlight ("Today" show, MSNBC) with $54 million suit against Best Buy for losing laptop, but it's now been dismissed [Shop Floor; earlier]
Charmed life of Florida litigators Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt continues as Miami judge awards them $218 million for class action lawsuit they lost [Daily Business Report, Krauss @ PoL; earlier here, here, and here]
Lerach said kickbacks were "industry practice" and "everybody was paying plaintiffs". True? Top House GOPer Boehner wants hearings to find out [NAM "Shop Floor", WSJ law blog]
It's Dannimal House! An "office rife with booze, pro...
Source: Overlawyered - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Rape by fraud, cont'd
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Further discussion of how lying about your past to avoid alienating a romantic partner could become a felony in Massachusetts if a state lawmaker has his way (Volokh, May 5; see Mar. 12). More: Greenfield (feminist law professors' proposals). (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
More lawyer-ad spoofs
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The Damage Control comedy team has done parody ads under the titles Neglect, Nursing Home, Personal Injury, Sexual Harassment, and Sue Somebody. (h/t: Nicole Black). (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
"bill targets drivers with pets on lap"
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But won't California lawmakers have to consider an exception for emotional support animals? (Steve Geissinger, San Jose Mercury News, May 6)(more). (Source: Overlawyered)
Source: Overlawyered - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Cms issues 2009 ipps, takes another look at the "stand in the shoes" rule and solicits thoughts on gainsharing exceptions
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On April 30, CMS published its draft 2009 IPPS regulation. The inpatient prospective payment system reg is loaded down, as usual, with additional regulatory changes.
Among the most highly touted are the quality of care initiatives.
One of the CMS fact sheets on the reg highlights two other standout provisions -- the "stand in the shoes" and gainsharing proposals:The physician self-referral rules prohibit physicians from making referrals for eleven types of designated health services (DHSs) furnished in facilities in which the physician or an immediate family member of a physician has an owne...
Source: HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog - May 6, 2008 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Authors: David Harlow Source Type: blogs
