2003 Legislative Initiatives
1. PROTECT & STRENGTHEN TORT REFORM. Trial lawyers seek to weaken Maryland's successful tort reforms by revoking the contributory negligence defense and removing or circumventing the cap on "pain and suffering" damages. 
4MedChi will fight to protect Maryland's successful reforms and to strengthen them with new provisions to help control liability costs.

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Patients Have Rights Too! flyer for office

Senate Bills

House Bills

Legislative Committee Agenda

Legislative committee members

2. PHYSICIAN DISCIPLINE & MEDICAL ERRORS. A media drumbeat of misinformation about physician discipline in Maryland has generated proposals to facilitate more disciplinary actions against physicians. 4MedChi will fight to assure that medical errors are reduced and patients are protected from substandard practice and that physicians are treated fairly.
3. NON-PHYSICIAN PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. Proposed bills would empower HMOs to use nurse practitioners as primary care providers with virtually no physician oversight, allow psychologists to prescribe medications, and otherwise extend ability of non-physicians, in effect, to practice medicine. 
4MedChi will fight to assure that the practice of medicine is the preserve of physicians, and that non-physician practice is consistent with appropriate training and physician oversight.
4. CAREFIRST CONVERSION & SALE. CareFirst managers seek to enrich themselves by converting the company to a for-profit enterprise and selling it to a big California-based HMO, all without any valid business justification and at great peril to the stability of Maryland's health care economy. 
4MedChi will fight to block conversion and sale of CareFirst and to re-establish the role of Blue Cross Blue Shield as a non-profit, locally based, responsive and responsible insurer.
5. MEDICAID & THE UNINSURED. Last year MedChi won increased Medicaid funding for primary care, with a pledge for future help for other services, but the State budget is a shambles and Medicaid is a huge target. Meanwhile, Maryland still has 700,000+ uninsured in need of care. 4MedChi will fight to bring creative and effective solutions for Medicaid funding and administering and assistance for the uninsured.

 
6. ACCOUNTABILITY & JUDICIAL RECOURSE. Health plan personnel who make medical decisions are practicing medicine with no real accountability or liability, and even most health plan reimbursement decisions cannot be challenged in court. 
4MedChi will fight to establish that all persons who practice medicine are accountable equally to regulators and tort lawyers, and that payment disputes with payers can be pursued in the courts.
7. HEALTH INSURANCE OPTIONS & PROCEDURES. Maryland's small group health insurance market is inflexible and increasingly unaffordable. Plus, secondary payers' rigid rules for Medicare patients cheat physicians and patients alike. ü MedChi will fight for small group market reforms, including promoting Health Reimbursement Accounts.
4MedChi also will fight to allow physicians to collect co-payments and deductibles from HMOs that are secondary insurance and to bar payers from preventing physicians from collecting co-payments and deductibles from Medicare patients.
8. SAFE-PLAY DRUG FEE ZONES. Kids need to know that they're safe and that everyone is involved in the fight to keep illegal drugs out of Maryland's neighborhoods. 
4MedChi will support legislation on state and local levels that would improve safety for all parks, playgrounds, and and recreation areas by establishing that such areas be declared "Drug Free Zones".

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