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Regulations Seek To Crack Down On Medical ID Theft
New regulations seek to crack down on a little known form of identity theft -- medical identity theft, according to Kaiser Health News. "Armed with as little as a stolen name, Social Security number and date of birth, an imposter can walk into a doctor"s office or hospital and receive services billed to the victim or the insurance provider. Although few statistics are available, the Federal Trade Commission reports that medical identity theft accounts for 1.3 percent to 3 percent of all identity theft crime -- about 250,000 cases each year."
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New Jersey Senate Passes Bill Requiring Pharmacists To Tell Consumers If Generic Drugs Can Replace Brand-Name Prescriptions
The New Jersey Senate on Thursday unanimously passed legislation (A 2030) that would require pharmacists to inform consumers when they have substituted generic drugs for brand-name prescriptions, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. The General Assembly approved the legislation in February and it now moves to Gov. Jon Corzine (D).If Corzine signs the bill, the law would take effect within 180 days, making New Jersey the first state in the U.S. to have such a requirement. State Sen. Christopher Bateman (R) said, "We"re hoping that other states will follow our lead" (Megerian, Newark Star-Ledger, 5/22).
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Inner Ear Balance Disorders Common, Associated With Falls Among Older Americans
An estimated 35 percent of U.S. adults age 40 and older have vestibular dysfunction (inner ear balance disorders), and those who do may have a higher risk of falling, according to a report in the May 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
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Advocacy Group, N.D. Abortion Clinic File Lawsuit To Block State Ultrasound Law

The Red River Women"s Clinic in Fargo, N.D., went to court on Thursday to block a state law from going into effect that would require the clinic to give women the option to view ultrasound images and hear a fetal heartbeat 24 hours before receiving abortion services, the AP/Bismarck Tribune reports. The suit was filed in East Central District Court by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of the clinic, which is the only abortion clinic in North Dakota. In the lawsuit, the clinic asked the court to issue a temporary injunction to prevent the law from taking effect on Aug. 1. A hearing has been scheduled for July 30.Suzanne Stolz, an attorney for CRR, said the law is "unconstitutional"” because it "creates an undue burden on a woman"s right to have an abortion." In a statement, CRR said that the law requires an audible fetal heartbeat consistent with "standard medical practice in the community." However, the Center said no such standard exists. In addition, Stolz said that the North Dakota law is less clear than laws in other states with ultrasound mandates that include a fetal heartbeat provision, including Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Furthermore, CRR said that the equipment needed to provide the audible heartbeat would be expensive for the clinic, although it did not say what the cost would be.Tammi Kromenaker, director of the clinic, said it has offered women the option of viewing an ultrasound image since 2008. She said that the issue with the law is that it is not clear about whether a woman who chooses to view the image must also listen to the fetal heartbeat -- which sometimes cannot be heard in the early stages of pregnancy -- and about the level of technology the clinic must provide.Mary Spaulding Balch, a spokesperson for the National Right to Life Committee, said that the law is not burdensome to women seeking abortions and that it would only require the clinic to use "a simple device used by obstetrician[s] that amplifies" a fetal heartbeat. State Rep. Bette Grande (R), a sponsor of the law, said that the law does not require the Red River clinic to perform the ultrasound. She added that a woman seeking an abortion could receive the image and audio from another clinic prior to the procedure. Grande also noted that the law does not require women to view the ultrasound image and hear the fetal heartbeat -- it "just says they will have this opportunity" (MacPherson, AP/Bismarck Tribune, 7/24). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women"s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women"s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company. © 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.


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