News Briefs: Week of March 15-19

This roundup includes the following news briefs:

The AMA has released a 2010 edition of its Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers, saying the resource is intended to protect the lives of older drivers and make America's roads safer.

According to a March 15 press release from the AMA, motor vehicle injuries are a leading cause of injury-related deaths in adults older than 65. Furthermore, the fatality rate for drivers 85 years and older is nine times higher than the rate for drivers 25-69 years of age.

"Physicians play an important role in the safe mobility of their older patients, and we encourage them to make driver safety a routine part of office visits for their senior patients," said AMA President-elect Cecil Wilson, M.D., in the release.

The guide was developed by the AMA in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It is available as a free downloadable PDF file (246-page PDF; About PDFs). In addition, hard copies of the guide will be available for physicians to order in the next four to six weeks.

A new bill in Wisconsin (10-page PDF; About PDFs) requires most health care providers to disclose their average price for 25 of the most common services furnished to patients. The bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle, applies to physician offices with more than three physicians and freestanding outpatient facilities.

Hospitals also are required to disclose average prices for the 25 most common inpatient services and the 75 most common outpatient services based on their contracts with commercial health plans. The new law also requires health plans to provide consumers with estimates of out-of-pocket costs, but specific prices negotiated by insurers with health care systems, physicians and other providers will remain confidential.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, is seeking public comment on draft guidelines for the diagnosis and management of food allergies. A public comment period, which started March 8, ends May 6.

NIAID is part of the NIH, which announced the comment period in a March 8 news release.

Health care professionals and members of the public are encouraged to review the guidelines and participate in the open comment period online.

The guidelines cover the

More information on the development of the guidelines is available online. The final guidelines are expected to be released by the fall of 2010.

The number of middle-income wage earners who obtained health insurance from their employers fell by 3 million from 2000 to 2008 because of two economic recessions that rocked the U.S. economy during the past decade. That's according to a new report, Barely Hanging On: Middle Class and Uninsured, released by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The report found that two economic recessions that occurred during the first part of this century made it much more difficult for people to afford insurance and for employers to offer insurance. For example, 68 percent of individuals in families earning roughly $45,000 to $85,000 are insured through their employer, a decline of seven percentage points from 2000, according to the report.

In addition, the report found that