Singularity Health Law Blog

Comment on "Eight Reforms To Medical Peer Review Post."

Until my retirement three years ago I was Associate Director for Research and Disputes for HRSA's National Practitioner Data Bank.  For over 10 years I read every Secretarial Review request, assigned every case to staff reviewers, and approved every decision before forwarding it for final approval and signature by the Director.  In other words, I have great familiarity with this matter. 

Before turning to the eight suggestions, I must take issue with the implication that a report to the NPDB can destroy a career.  It is the underlying actions that hurt careers, not reports to the Data Bank.  Applications for licensure, privileges, etc., require physicians to disclose more than is required to be reported to the Data Bank.  For example, the Data Bank does not require reporting of pending cases; applications do.  Honest physicians have nothing to fear from Data Bank reports; they have to disclose the same information regardless of the Data Bank.

It also should be noted that there are thousands of physicians with multiple reports in the Data Bank who continue to practice and, often, to have even more actions taken against them and reported.  If the Data Bank ended careers, physicians would not continue to have action after action taken against them.

A COMPREHENSIVE REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE PLAN

 To those who are struggling to understand what any of the Republican candidates embrace as to principles of health care reform other than the mantra of repeal of Obamacare: here is a Republican Plan that merits consideration.

FOURTH CIRCUIT FINDS OBAMA CARE TO “TAXING" TO DECIDE.

A panel of the 4th Circuit Court of appeals has weighed in on the issue of the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act (the “Act”) colloquially known as Obamacare in the case of Liberty University et al. v. Geithner et al., 10-2347.  The panel ordered the dismissal of the complaint seeking to render the Act unconstitutional under the Anti-Injunction Act (“AIA”) of the Tax Code. Justice Davis in giving the majority opinion found that the AIA stripped the federal courts of jurisdiction to render pre-enforcement decisions regarding the constitutionality of the Act. Interestingly, both the government and the plaintiffs were in agreement that the AIA did not apply.

 

Stem Cell Research on Again, Time to Celebrate [Guest Editorial]

Among many other things that the Obama administration addresses --one of the most important far reaching actions in my opinion is the go-ahead to stem cell research. This was important scientific research that can help prevent diseases and in the development of better medicine to give a second chance at life to millions of human beings alive today.