Two House subcommittees sought input from doctors and quality experts. The AMA pitched patient protections and physician involvement in policy-making. In the past, doctors got off with fines or restitution and big guns aimed at administrators or marketers.
Prosecutors say they're holding doctors to a higher professional standard.
Opening up peer review Medical boards in California and Massachusetts are seeking access to private peer review records, and others may follow. The legislature refused to repeal a state law that guarantees choice of physicians. The 1994 law, challenged by Blue Cross of Alabama, forces health plans to pay for any doctor, even those not on their list. Back to top. A long-simmering debate between medical and surgical specialties is heating up again, as HCFA considers a single conversion factor to translate the relative values of variou services into dollars.