8/13/07

Vol. VI, No. 29

Health Information Technology Team
Brought to you by Thomas Jefferson University’s Department of Health Policy

Bill Calls for Drug Makers to Report Doctor Payments

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation requiring
drug makers to disclose to a public registry the payments they make to doctors for services like
consulting, lectures and attendance at seminars. Several other lawmakers also support such a federal
registry of payments, and several states including Minnesota, Vermont and Maine already have
similar state-level registries. The proposals are a response to growing concerns that payments from
drug makers can affect doctors’ prescribing habits, increase the cost of health care and, in some cases,
endanger patients’ health. The drug industry opposes such registries, saying payment disclosures
may be misinterpreted and that they would be a burden to the industry. In a speech on the Senate
floor, Senator Grassley cited as an example the case of Melissa DelBello, a prominent child
psychiatrist, who said AstraZeneca paid $180,000 over two years for her work on the antipsychotic
drug Seroquel, which is now used widely in children. (New York Times, 8/4)

VA, Pentagon Make Progress Sharing Medical Information

A new feature in the Bidirectional Health Information Exchange (BHIE) program launched last week
allows physicians at the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to access patient records
created by their colleagues at the other agency. The interface allows physicians to view medication
and allergy profiles, as well as laboratory, radiology and pathology reports. All 135 military
hospitals and 155 VA medical centers now have access to BHIE. In the future, additional types of
patient information such as problem lists, vital signs, diagnostic images and family history will
become available through BHIE. (GovernmentHealthIT, 8/3)

Online Matching Software Targets Nursing Shortage

A nursing coalition in Berkeley, CA has developed an online computer system to help alleviate the
growing shortage of nurses. The Centralized Clinical Placement System, which is being offered to
regions across the country, matches nursing school students with clinical placements in hospitals and
clinics in a region serving nine counties in an effort to alleviate the growing shortage of nurses.
According to a recent report in Health Affairs, the current nursing workforce shortfall is now in its
ninth consecutive year, and will triple to a shortage of approximately 340,000 nurses by the year
2020. (Modern Healthcare, 8/7)

Survey: EHRs Can Aid Defense in Medical Malpractice Cases

According to a survey of 115 physicians conducted by the Medical Records Institute and Professional
Risk Associates, 45% of respondents said they think EHRs can reduce physician practices’
vulnerability to malpractice cases. The survey also found that 20% said their malpractice insurer
offers a discount for having an EHR system; 20% said they have had a malpractice case in which
documentation was based on information from their EHR systems, while 55% of those respondents
said the technology was helpful in the case; and 62% of respondents said they have an EHR system,
and two-thirds of those respondents said they were standalone systems deployed for more than one
year. (Health Data Management, 8/9)

Any questions regarding this newsletter can be directed

to Albert Crawford at albert.crawford@jefferson.edu or
Erin Whitesell at erin.ehitesell@jefferson.edu.