Primary Arterial Hypertension News - Menu ALM's The American Lawyer Examines Fen-Phen Settlement and Finds a Mass Tort Mess NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 2005--ALM's The American Lawyer(R) reports that the fen-phen class action, approved in 2000 and once expected to represent a model for resolving mass torts equitably, has instead become a prescription for alleged legal and medical fraud. Expected settlement costs have soared to $21 billion, some uninjured people have been paid to go away and thousands of claimants alleging real injuries still wait for compensation. Lawyers have been accused of attempting to fleece a victim trust fund, while hotel room echocardiogram assembly lines have been used to mass process patient heart examinations, with questionable results. The complete story is available in the March issue of The American Lawyer and online at www.americanlawyer.com and www.law.com. "At a time when national attention is focused on tort reform, and as pharmaceutical cases involving Vioxx and Celebrex advance, this story by reporter Alison Frankel makes it clear that fen-phen has become a casebook on how mass tort claims should not be handled," said Aric Press, editor in chief. "From a corporation that threw money at plaintiffs to cap its liability to lawyers and doctors who allegedly enhanced medical test results to justify claims, fen-phen has demonstrated the pitfalls of attempting settlements on a grand scale, where there are simply too many opportunities for greed to trump justice." After reports that the popular diet drug fen-phen caused damage to heart valves, American Home Products, now Wyeth, pulled its two fen-phen products off the market in 1998. In an effort to cap its damages and avoid huge punitive awards, Wyeth negotiated a court-approved class action settlement that conceded the drug's causation of the problem and structured generous claimant payouts based on the severity of damage, as verified by physicians and cardiac examination results. Wyeth aggressively settled claims with those who did not initially participate in the settlement, creating a feeding frenzy among tort lawyers and the illusion that fen-phen cases were "easy money." Claims to the settlement trust fund poured in, in record numbers, with severity levels that far exceeded all projections. Some law firms held mass cardiac examinations in offices and hotel rooms. Entire companies were formed, simply to provide screening to potential claimants, including one traveling company that performed more than 60,000 examinations. Audits of examination results approved for payment revealed that 70% of the sample did not qualify and that there was strong evidence that equipment controls, in some cases, had been adjusted to "enhance" the appearance of cardiac damage. Almost 50 law firms, all of them high-volume filers in the trust, had more than half of their claims rejected, based on audits ordered by the supervising judge. At one point, in the flurry of accusations, motions, suits and countersuits, the settlement trust virtually stopped paying claims, with the audit backlog reaching 40,000 cases. Outside of the settlement, 50,000 cases remained unresolved. After two years of negotiation, it now appears that additional amendments to the settlement may finally bring a resolution, and aggressive motions that have been filed against suspect lawyers and doctors will likely be dismissed. Perhaps most disturbing, however, is the apparent mis-diagnosis of some victims whose serious heart damage was overlooked in the rush to file low-level claims. In one horrifying case, a patient whose condition was overstated for the sake of obtaining payment through the trust ended up having unnecessary heart valve replacement surgery. The American Lawyer is the legal industry's leading monthly magazine. Read by partners at corporate law firms, in-house counsel, government lawyers and litigators at firms of all sizes, its trailblazing features about attorneys and the work they do has led to 23 National Magazine Award nominations and five coveted awards for general excellence, essays and criticism, and single-topic issues. In 2004, The American Lawyer was named the winner of two 2004 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards. The magazine is published by ALM.
Headquartered in New York City, ALM is a leading integrated media company, focused on the legal and business communities. ALM currently owns and publishes 35 national and regional legal magazines and newspapers, including The American Lawyer(R), Corporate Counsel(R) and The National Law Journal(R). ALM's Law.com(R) is the Web's leading legal news and information network. ALM's other businesses include book and newsletter publishing, court verdict and settlement reporting, production of legal trade shows, conferences and educational seminars, market research and distribution of content related to the legal industry. ALM was formed by U.S. Equity Partners, L.P., a private equity fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP. More information on ALM's businesses and services is available on the Web at www.alm.com.
Contacts
Peters & Feldman for ALM
Lee Feldman, 401-848-5494
lfeldman@amlaw.com
American Healthways Receives High Marks On NCQA Review; Accreditation Renewed, Initiated on 7 Disease Management Programs
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2005--American Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMHC) today announced it has received full, three-year renewal of accreditation status by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for its diabetes, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and 11 chronic impact conditions programs. Additionally, NCQA has granted initial accreditation for the Company's renal program.
NCQA is a leading non-profit organization created to improve patient care and health plan performance in partnership with managed care plans, purchasers, consumers and the public sector. American Healthways' disease management programs were initially accredited by NCQA in June of 2002 and were the first of their kind to receive the organization's Full Patient and Practitioner Oriented Accreditation.
"NCQA's review process was designed to ensure that the enormous promise of disease management would be fulfilled. As such programs have grown in recent years, we have remained dedicated to helping purchasers make informed decisions that will benefit the health of their members," said NCQA president Margaret E. O'Kane. "We congratulate American Healthways on successfully completing the accreditation process and continuing its dedication to quality outcomes in disease management."
"We are proud of our ability to live up to the high standards NCQA has set for quality and excellence in disease management," said Dr. James Pope, chief medical officer of American Healthways. "Validation from such a respected organization further demonstrates our commitment to deliver the highest quality service to our customers and the highest quality care to the 1.6 million members we serve."
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and manages the evolution of HEDIS(R), the performance measurement tool used by more than 90 percent of the nation's health plans.
About American Healthways
American Healthways, Inc. is the nation's leading and largest provider of population health management services proven to improve the quality of health care and lower costs. As of May 31, 2005, the Company had more than 1.6 million lives under management nationwide. For more information visit www.americanhealthways.com.
Contacts
American Healthways Inc., Nashville
Kriste Goad, 615-263-7524
kriste.goad@amhealthways.com
www.americanhealthways.com
|
