News Briefs: Week of Aug. 23-27

This roundup includes the following news briefs:

CMS recently gave physicians and other health care stakeholders a heads-up regarding approaching deadlines for compliance with a new generation of diagnosis and procedure codes sets and updated standards for electronic health care transactions.

In an Aug. 24 news release, CMS highlighted the need for physicians and others to prepare for the 2013 compliance date for the transition to ICD-10 codes sets.

In addition, CMS is hosting a national provider conference call titled "ICD-10 Implementation in a 5010 Environment" from 12-1:30 p.m. EDT on Sept. 13 to review basic information and answer questions on ICD-10 and 5010 standards for electronic health care transactions. Registration is now open for this free event. Registration closes at 12 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10 or when available space has been filled.

The FDA is notifying physicians that patients with Parkinson's disease who are taking the combination drug marketed as Stalevo (carbidopa/levodopa and entacapone) may be at an increased risk for cardiovascular events compared with those taking only carbidopa/levodopa, which is marketed as Sinemet.

However, the FDA said in an Aug. 20 safety announcement that its review of Stalevo is ongoing, and patients should not stop taking the medication unless told to do so by their physician.

Entacapone also is available as a single-ingredient medication marketed as Comtan. The FDA said physicians should follow the recommendations in the drug label when prescribing Stalevo or Comtan.

The agency also said physicians should regularly evaluate the cardiovascular status of patients who are taking Stalevo, especially if they have a history of cardiovascular disease.

Physicians should report adverse events associated with use of the medication to the FDA's MedWatch program.

HHS has released more than $32 million in fiscal year 2010 funds to increase access to health care services for rural residents by funding programs to recruit and retain more rural health care professionals.

"The grants will strengthen partnerships among rural health providers," said Mary Wakefield, R.N., Ph.D., administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, in a prepared statement. "Funds will be used to recruit and retain rural health care professionals and modernize the health care infrastructure in rural areas."

The funds include more than $3 million for the rural Health Workforce Development Program, which supports the development of rural health networks; more than $2 million for the Telehealth Network Grant Program, which helps communities build capacity to develop sustainable telehealth programs and networks; nearly $1 million for the Flex Rural Veterans Health Access Program; and nearly $800,000 for the Frontier Community Health Integration Demonstration Program, which is designed to develop and test new models for the delivery of health care services.

Although the nation's medical schools have well-established tenure systems for clinical medical faculty, the proportion of clinical faculty on tenure-eligible tracks has plummeted, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC.

In its April Analysis in Brief (2-page PDF; About PDFs), the AAMC says the percentage of medical schools with tenure systems has remained steady since 1994, with 111 of 126 schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education offering tenure to at least some of their clinical faculty.

However, the proportion of clinical faculty on tenure-eligible tracks has dropped substantially. Since 1984, the percentage of tenured or tenure-eligible clinical M.D. faculty has declined from about 60 percent to about 33 percent.

"As medical schools and clinical enterprises have expanded over the past decades, they have increasingly incorporated appointments to nontenure-eligible positions, resulting in a substantial redistribution of tenured and nontenured faculty over time," the AAMC says.

HHS has awarded $46 million in grants to 45 states and the District of Columbia to help them improve oversight of proposed health insurance premium increases and to take action against insurers seeking dramatic and seemingly unjustified rate hikes.

According to an HHS news release, the funding, which was provided as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is intended to create a more level playing field by improving how states review proposed health insurance premium increases and by giving states more resources to hold insurance companies accountable for what are considered unjustified premium increases. The $46 million represents the first installment of $250 million that will be awarded during the next five years for the purpose of improving state oversight of health insurance premium increases.

The states and the District of Columbia have proposed using the funding in a variety of ways, including to create more robust programs to review proposed premium increases.

Massachusetts has enacted legislation intended to make it easier for small businesses and individuals to obtain health insurance coverage.

The new law (63-page PDF; About PDFs) requires health insurance plans that participate in the state's health insurance exchange to cover at least a 12 percent price differential between plans to reduce the overall cost of insurance.

The legislation also is designed to improve health care quality and promote wellness programs within small businesses. For example, it calls for establishing a standard quality measure set to facilitate uniform reporting of health care quality endpoints to be used by all health professionals. It also establishes a program to provide subsidies and technical assistance to small employers so they can implement evidence-based health and wellness programs.

The FDA has taken additional steps in a process that will require chain restaurants to post calorie information on their menus and menu boards.

The agency released two draft guidance documents Aug. 24 that outline steps to help industry comply with Section 4205 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which sets new federal requirements for nutrition labeling at restaurants with 20 or more locations.

No timeline has been set for when the FDA will begin enforcing the new regulations. The agency is seeking public comment (3-page PDF; About PDFs) on implementation of the provisions.

One of the draft guidance documents answers questions related to implementing provisions of the law, including the requirement to provide nutritional information in writing and to clearly post on menus and menu boards that such information is available. (Editor's Note: This draft guidance document was withdrawn on Jan. 21, 2011.)

A second document offers guidance on the effect the new labeling requirements will have on state and local laws.