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The administration is busy. First they finalized a phase out of the procedures that must be done in a hospital leaving the choice to the physicians. The hospitals are not happy campers. This brings Medicare into compliance with the commercial payors. This rule also preserved the 22% cut to the 340B program and updated the hospital star rating system.
In another action the administration has increased the payments for the office EM services to catch disease earlier. To keep this budget neutral they decreased the payments for specialists.
President elect Biden has chosen Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the chief of infectious diseases at MGH as the new Director of the CDC. She seems well qualified. Not so for Biden's pick for HHS Secretary. Xavier Bacerra has no qualifications for this position. His only claim to medical knowledge is filing suits against the Trump administration regarding Ocare.
Indiana and now New Mexico has suspended all elective surgeries in their states.
California has suspended all Medicaid payments to the Borrego Community Health Foundation, a federally qualified health center. This happened one month after the clinic was raided by federal agencies. Top
Donald Willis has surrendered his medical license after being charged by the California Medical Board with negligence. He had earlier surrendered his Alaska license and had agreed to restrictions on his Oregon license. He had done some abortions at a FPA Woman's Health Clinic and caused one person's death.
Dr. Steven La Tulippe of Dallas, Oregon, has had his license suspended for free speech activities. He has railed against the use of masks and so the police say he is morally impure. The Board went to his clinic and found to their horror that no one was taking temps and there was no hand sanitizer in the waiting areas. All know by now that temps are fairly useless and the virus does not live long if at all on surfaces. I may not agree with this physician but he has the right to say it if he wishes. I also know of no law that mandates hand sanitizer in waiting rooms nor the taking of temps. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.