STAT LAW February 2009

Medical License Renewal

	The licenses of half of Florida's medical doctors expired on January 31, 2009.  The Board of Medicine has cautioned medical doctors that have not renewed their licenses to discontinue practicing until they have renewed their licenses.

USF PharmD Program Approved

	The Florida Board of Governors unanimously approved the establishment of a PharmD Program at the University of South Florida.  The program will be under the USF College of Medicine.  The University expects the program's inaugural class to begin in 2011.  

Proposed Change To Workers Compensation Rule

	The Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Workers Compensation has proposed changes to Rule 69L-7.602 of the Florida Administrative Code.  One of the proposed changes to the rule would require physicians providing multiple services to a single injured worker on the same date of service to include all those services on the same bill.  The proposed change is likely to significantly impact physicians that dispense pharmaceuticals or medical supplies to their workers compensation patients.

AMA And Medical Societies File Suit Against Aetna and Cigna 

	The American Medical Association, along with the Medical Societies of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas and North Carolina filed suit against Aetna Health, Inc. and Cigna Corp. alleging the companies used a "corrupt system" to underpay out-of-network physicians.  The complaint alleges Aetna deleted valid high charges from the data it provided to the Ingenix database, while Cigna concealed serious flaws in the database.  The complaint alleges payments to physicians were artificially reduced by the faulty database.

UCF Medical School Received 4,000th Application

	The University of Central Florida College of Medicine, set to begin classes in August 2009, received its 4,000th application in November 2008.  The initial class of 40 students will receive full tuition scholarships with living expenses for all four years.  The UCF College of Medicine is reportedly the first medical school in the U.S. to provide full scholarships for an entire class.  

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