Doctors and Politics Do Mix?
The American Academy of Dermatology Association is advocating for physicians serving in the U.S. Senate to be allowed to continue to practice medicine.
Senate Rule 37 prohibits senators from affiliating with "a firm, partnership, association, or corporation for the purpose of providing professional services for compensation." Although the rule addresses professional services for compensation, it would prohibit physicians in the Senate from maintaining not-for-profit medical practices, according to the AADA.
The AADA, a sister organization to the American Academy of Dermatology, along with 11 other medical associations, wrote to the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee urging it to change the policy. "Unlike many other professions, physicians require continuing, hands-on experience to maintain their skills," the groups wrote. "This is essential, since a lawmaker returning to the private sector cannot simply 'pick up where he left off.'"
Psoriasis Research Support Urged
Support for federal research on psoriasis seems to be growing. Twenty-five members of Congress recently circulated a letter to their colleagues urging increased psoriasis funding in next year's National Institutes of Health budget. And last month, the House approved language as part of the report that accompanies its NIH appropriations bill calling on the agency to support research on psoriasis.
The language supported increased research within the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and other NIH institutes. At press time, the bill was still being considered in the Senate.
NIH Extends Disclosure Deadline
Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are giving NIH employees more time to report prohibited financial interests and to divest stock. In announcing the extension, HHS wrote it is considering issuing revisions to its current ethics regulations.
In February, the agency issued regulations prohibiting NIH employees from engaging in consulting relationships with organizations that are substantially affected by NIH decisions. And NIH employees who are required to file financial disclosure statements are prohibited from acquiring or holding stocks in these affected organizations. NIH employees now have until Oct. 3 to file financial disclosure reports and until Jan. 2, 2006, to divest of prohibited financial interests. This is the second extension offered to NIH employees.
Sleep Deprivation Dogs Doctors
Residents and medical students are still suffering from fatigue, despite the shorter work hours established in 2003 by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. In a survey of 1,126 medical students and 1,010 residents, the American Medical Association found that 44% of residents and 39% of medical students said they've experienced sleep deprivation about once a week or more often during their most recently completed rotation.
The ACGME work limit is 80 hours per week, but 11%12% of the respondents said their workweek exceeded those hours on their most recent rotation. Nearly half of the respondents thought that sleep deprivation or fatigue may have had a negative impact on the quality of patient care they delivered.
Medicare Drug Benefit Explained
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is requiring all health plans serving Medicare patients to include all drugs in six categories on their formularies starting in 2006, when the Part D drug benefit begins. The agency noted that in earlier guidance on the Medicare drug plan, it stated that "a majority" of drugs in these categoriesantidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, anticancer drugs, immunosuppressants, and HIV/AIDS drugswould have to be on plan formularies and that beneficiaries should have uninterrupted access to all drugs in those classes.
But in training sessions and in answering user calls, "CMS has consistently explained that this meant that access to 'all or substantially all' drugs in these specific categories needed to be addressed by plan formularies," the agency said. "This is because the factors described in our formulary guidance indicated that interruption of therapy in these categories could cause significant negative outcomes to beneficiaries in a short time frame."
DEA Battles OxyContin Abuse
The Drug Enforcement Administration's efforts to stop illegal use of the prescription painkiller OxyContin have "cast a chill over the doctor-patient candor necessary for successful treatment," Ronald T. Libby, Ph.D., a political science professor at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, wrote in a policy analysis for the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
The DEA's campaign includes elevating OxyContin to the status of other schedule II substances and using "aggressive undercover investigation, asset forfeiture, and informers," he noted. "The federal government has made physicians scapegoats for the failed drug war," he wrote. When asked for comment, a DEA spokeswoman referred to a recent statement by DEA Administrator Karen Tandy. "We employ a balanced approach that recognizes both the unquestioned need for responsible pain medication and the possibility … of criminal drug trafficking," Ms. Tandy said, noting that physicians "are an extremely small part of the problem."