Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline -- which is actually headquartered in London -- will be handing $750 million in damages to the U.S. government, a settlement for churning out four years worth of "adulterated" prescription drugs. If you prescribed any of these drugs, your patients may have received under-strength versions that were clinically ineffective at best and physically harmful in the worst (read more about GlaxoSmithKline settlement) ...

A survey of medical groups shows two out of every three practices will limit the number of Medicare patients they treat if the sustainable growth rate (SGR) cut hits their payments on Dec. 1 and Jan. 1. Physicians are making the decision to limit access as pending 23.6% and 6.5% Medicare reimbursement cuts draw near, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) says.

"This is a situation that must be dealt with immediately when Congress returns after the elections," said MGMA President and CEO William F. Jessee, MD. "Further congressional delays jeopardize patients and the medical practices that serve them."

The survey shows 49.5% of medical groups indicated that they will take the dramatic step of no longer taking on new Medicare patients. A total of 27.5% of respondents said they would cease treating all Medicare patients.

Read more about this MGMA survey

The AMA is standing firm against growing calls for nurses to play a larger role in patient care. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine in conjunction with the non-profit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) recommends that nurses make full use of their training and scopes of practice, in the context of a greater influx of patients thanks to the health reform law.

Various provisions of the law are expected to increase the demand for healthcare services. Nurses, as the largest segment of the healthcare work force, can help meet the demand as the reform law's provisions gradually take effect between now and 2014, the report says. The AMA counters by arguing the nurses just don't have the same capabilities of doctors (read more about the AMA opposing expansions of nurses' scope of practice) ... 

Peter Orszag likes the health care reforms that he had a hand in negotiating while serving as White House budget director. But he also has some regrets.

"... [I]t does almost nothing to reform medical malpractice laws," Orszag writes in The New York Times. "Lawmakers missed an important opportunity to shield from malpractice liability any doctors who followed evidence-based guidelines in treating their patients."

Physician practices would agree with Orszag, as malpractice reform has widespread support in the physician community. While debating the health care reform bill, even President Barack Obama said he was willing to add malpractice provisions to the reform bill. But the final bill only added state-level malpractice reform pilot projects.

Read more on malpractice reform

The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology (HIT) reports the Drummond Group and Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) have certified 46 electronic health record (EHR) products. Physician practices must use a certified EHR product to meet meaningful use standards under the EHR Incentive Program.

Click here for the list of certified EHR systems.