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AMA Wins Appeal to Blind Consumers’ Checkbook
[By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] does not have to turn over physician-specific Medicare claims data requested by not-for-profit Consumers’ Checkbook under the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in an opinion delivered January 30th.
AMA and DHHS
According to Gregg Blesch of Modern Healthcare, on 2/2/09, the American Medical Association [AMA] joined the Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS] in appealing a 2007 decision that the data should be subject to disclosure, but the appeals court concluded the physicians’ privacy interest outweighs the consumer group’s assertions that the data would be used in the public interest.
Three Decade DHHS Legal Conundrum
DHHS, meanwhile, was not concerned so much with privacy as with its own legal conundrum involving a 1979 federal injunction barring the release of Medicare data that identifies individual physicians. A 2008 statement explaining the decision to appeal said the department “recognizes and shares the goals of Consumers’ Checkbook” and was seeking a legal way for the government to share Medicare claims data as part of its own quality initiatives.
Link: http://www.ama-assn.org
About Consumer’s Checkbook
Consumers’ Checkbook/The Center for the Study of Services is an independent, nonprofit consumer organization founded in 1974 with the help of funding from the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs. Its’ purpose is to provide consumers information to help them get high quality services and products at the best possible prices. The organization is supported entirely by subscription payments and donations from individual consumers who subscribe to its magazines, and by fees for surveys, and information services and books. They do not accept donations from businesses and their publications carry no advertising.
Link: http://www.checkbook.org
About the AMA
The home page of the AMA website states the organization is “helping doctors help patients.” Is this really the case; or mere rhetoric? Is it true that less than 20% of the nations MDs are members?
Assessment
Consumers’ Checkbook said it would use the data to show the frequency with which physicians performed certain procedures; expose how much Medicare pays physicians who have disciplinary histories or poor evaluations; and determine whether they were fulfilling standards of recommended care. The court found each argument wanting.
Industry Indignation Index Rating: 85
Conclusion
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Filed under: Breaking News, Career Development, Health Economics, Industry Indignation Index, Op-Editorials, Practice Management, Quality Initiatives, Research & Development | Tagged: AMA, CMS, Consumers’ Checkbook, DHHS, FOIA, Gregg Blesch, Modern Healthcare | 6 Comments »
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