I have a patient who has been noncompliant for several years and I have sent him a letter of dismissal. I still have not heard back regarding where he wants his medical records sent and he is on several medications that must be refilled soon. I'm sure he's going to try to request refills again after 30 days. One of his medications needs to be monitored closely and cannot be discontinued for any length of time if it is to remain effective. Can I be held liable in any way if I deny his request for refills after the 30 day period?

I have a patient who's been prescribed Warfarin. She has been asked repeatedly to go for PT-INR testing but refuses. The last testing several months ago required us to change her dose and I'm sure it will need adjusting again, but there is no way of knowing until I get results from the refused tests. I would think that I'd be held liable if I refill the medication and it causes bleeding or if it's ineffective, but I would think that I could be held liable for not refilling the medication, too! What do I do?

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey held August 8 that the plaintiff-physician?s payment claims against an insurer were not completely preempted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and thus remanded the case back to state court.

The Supreme Court of California held August 18 that the federal and state constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of religion do not exempt a physician from complying with the California Unruh Civil Rights Act's prohibition on sexual orientation discrimination.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held plaintiffs asserting medical malpractice in wrongful death actions could recover for "loss of chance" where defendant physicians' negligence reduced or eliminated their decedents? prospects for achieving a more favorable medical outcome.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has introduced new payment provisions to reduce so-called "never events" that occur in hospitals.

Increasing transparency in healthcare pricing could play an important role in reducing healthcare costs, Peter R. Orszag, Director, Congressional Budget Office (CBO), told the House Budget Committee.

The overall performance of the U.S. health system continues to lose ground, despite investing more resources than any other industrialized nation, according to a new 2008 National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance issued by the Commonwealth Fund this week.

Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations saw profits of $1.14 billion above their initial projections in 2005 while, on average, spending less on medical expenses (85 percent of total revenue) than they anticipated (90.2 percent), the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a recent report.