New Jersey - Volume VI, Number 8 - August, 1997
New Jersey - Volume VI, Number 8 - August, 1997
FAILURE TO PERFORM DIAGNOSTIC TEST ALLOWS CASE TO GO TO JURY
Establishing precedent that could have a widespread effect in the era of managed care, the New Jersey Supreme Court has overturned a lower court, ruling that, in a medical malpractice case involving a patient's pre-existent condition, a plaintiff can get the case before a jury by demonstrating with a reasonable degree of probability that the physician's failure to order or perform a diagnostic test increased the risk of harm to the patient. Prior to this ruling, a plaintiff had to prove a causal link between the doctor's actual negligent treatment and an increased risk of harm posed by the pre-existent condition. Now, negligence resulting from an omission---the failure to perform a diagnostic test--can be presented to a jury which will then determine whether the omission did, in fact, cause an increased risk and if that risk was a substantial factor in causing the harm. Despite pressure from managed care organizations to limit diagnostic tests, doctors must now--more than ever--rely on their professional medical judgment to determine the need for such tests.
LABORATORY DIRECT BILLING LAW EFFECTIVE
A new state law, effective
July 3, 1997, requires that a clinical laboratory submit a bill
for testing services directly to the patient, or other specified
persons or entities, but not to the practitioner
who ordered the lab test. Besides the patient, a laboratory can
bill: 1) an immediate family member of the patient or other
legally responsible representative; 2) a third party payer,
including an employer who is responsible for paying for the
services, so long as billing these payers is consistent with the
terms of any applicable contract between the payer and the
patient; 3) a hospital or skilled nursing facility in which the
patient is or has been an inpatient or outpatient; 4) a substance
abuse program; 5) a nonprofit clinic; or 6) another clinical
laboratory that requested the lab services. Upon the ordering
physician's request, a laboratory must provide to the physician
the amount of the bill presented to the patient or third party.
And, a clinical lab must annually provide to the physician: 1)
the lab's updated schedule of fees and charges for lab services
rendered to the physician's patients; and 2) the form to be used
by the physician to request such billing information. The
physician can bill the patient or third party payor for the
interpretation of a lab test, but only as part of the physician's
office visit charge to the patient.
SEMINAR TO ADDRESS NEW MEDICAL ASSISTANT INJECTION RULE
As reported in our June 10th Statlaw (Vol. VII, No. 6), the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners adopted a regulation allowing certain Certified Medical Assistants to give IM and subcutaneous injections where specified requirements are met. Kern Augustine Conroy & Schoppmann will present a seminar, LEGAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE EXPANDING ROLE AND TASKS OF THE MODERN MEDICAL ASSISTANT - INJECTIONS: How to Comply with the NJ Board of Medical Examiners' Regulations, Thursday, September 18th, from 10:00 a.m. to noon, at the Medical Society of New Jersey, Lawrenceville. The registration fee is $45 which