A delayed inheritance: the Medical Board of Victoria's 75-year wait to find doctors guilty of "infamous conduct in a professional respect".

The Medical Board of Victoria (Board) was created in 1844 to register "legally qualified medical practitioners". It was not until 1933, however, that the Board attained the power to remove from its register a doctor who had engaged in "infamous conduct in a professional respect" (the power), even though the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom on which the Board was modelled had been granted the power 75 years earlier. This article argues that the delay in the Board's inheritance was attributable to successive Victorian Parliaments' distrust of the Board and that this attitude was unwarranted, at least from early in the 20th century. The article maintains that the granting of the power to the Board was a crucial event in the history of the regulation of the Victorian medical profession. This is illustrated both by the difficulty encountered by the medical profession in dealing with doctors' unethical conduct before 1933, and the Board's concern to use its new authority responsibly and appropriately to protect the public and the profession in the three years after it attained the power.

Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS); TRICARE uniform health maintenance organization (HMO) benefit--Prime enrollment fee exemption for survivors of active duty deceased sponsors and medically retired uniformed services members and their dependents. Final rule.

This final rule creates an exception to the usual rule that TRICARE Prime enrollment fees are uniform for all retirees and their dependents and responds to public comments received to the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on June 7, 2013. Survivors of Active Duty Deceased Sponsors and Medically Retired Uniformed Services Members and their Dependents are part of the retiree group under TRICARE rules. In acknowledgment and appreciation of the sacrifices of these two beneficiary categories, the Secretary of Defense has elected to exercise his authority under the United States Code to exempt Active Duty Deceased Sponsors and Medically Retired Uniformed Services Members and their Dependents enrolled in TRICARE Prime from paying future increases to the TRICARE Prime annual enrollment fees. The Prime beneficiaries in these categories have made significant sacrifices for our country and are entitled to special recognition and benefits for their sacrifices. Therefore, the beneficiaries in these two TRICARE beneficiary categories who enrolled in TRICARE Prime prior to 10/1/2013, and those since that date, will have their annual enrollment fee frozen at the appropriate fiscal year rate: FY2011 rate $230 per single or $460 per family, FY2012 rate $260 or $520, FY2013 rate $269.38 or $538.56, or the FY2014 rate $273.84 or $547.68. The future beneficiaries added to these categories will have their fee frozen at the rate in effect at the time they are classified in either category and enroll in TRICARE Prime or, if not enrolling, at the rate in effect at the time of enrollment. The fee remains frozen as long as at least one family member remains enrolled in TRICARE Prime and there is not a break in enrollment. The fee charged for the dependent(s) of a Medically Retired Uniformed Services Member would not change if the dependent(s) was later re-classified a Survivor.

Constitutional limits on federal legislation practically compelling medical employment: Wong v Commonwealth; Selim v Professional Services Review Committee.

A recent decision by the High Court of Australia (Wong v Commonwealth; Selim v Professional Services Review Committee (2009) 236 CLR 573) (the PSR case) has not only clarified the scope of the Australian constitutional prohibition on "any form of civil conscription" in relation to federal legislation concerning medical or dental services (s 51xxiiiA), but has highlighted its importance as a great constitutional guarantee ensuring the mixed State-federal and public-private nature of medical service delivery in Australia. Previous decisions of the High Court have clarified that the prohibition does not prevent federal laws regulating the manner in which medical services are provided. The PSR case determined that the anti-overservicing provisions directed at bulk-billing general practitioners under Pt VAA of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (Cth) did not offend the prohibition. Importantly, the High Court also indicated that the s 51(xxiiiA) civil conscription guarantee should be construed widely and that it would invalidate federal laws requiring providers of medical and dental services (either expressly or by practical compulsion) to work for the federal government or any specified State, agency or private industrial employer. This decision is likely to restrict the capacity of any future federal government to restructure the Australian health care system, eg by implementing recommendations from the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission for either federal government or private corporate control of presently State-run public hospitals.

For Now, Public Unions Can Continue to Collect Fees from Nonmembers.

A four-four Supreme Court decision may lead to a rehearing.

Federal Employees Health Benefits program: direct payment of FEHB premiums for annuitants--OPM. Final rule.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is adopting its previously issued interim regulation that implements section 1 of Public Law 101-303. This section of law allows all annuitants to make direct payment of premiums for their Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage when their annuity is too low to cover the insurance premiums. Previously, only annuitants in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) were allowed to make direct payment of their FEHB premiums.

Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS); TRICARE prime enrollment procedures--DOD. Proposed rule.

This proposed rule modifies the TRICARE Prime enrollment for active duty families by specifying that the enrollment period is continuous rather than a 12 month enrollment period and it allows monthly installment payments of enrollment fees for those beneficiaries required to pay an annual fee in order to enroll in TRICARE Prime. These modifications are being made because TRICARE will soon be available wordwide for active duty family members.

Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: contributions and withholdings--OPM. Interim regulations with request for comments.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing interim regulations to describe procedures for OPM's annual determination of the weighted average of subscription charges in effect for self only and for self and family enrollments under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB)Program. The determinations are a requirement under recent amendments to the FEHB law which authorize a new Government contribution toward FEHB enrollment charges effective with the contract year beginning in January 1999, which generally pays 72 percent of the weighted average of subscription charges.

Medical care collection or recovery. Department of Veterans Affairs. Final rule.

This document amends VA's medical regulations concerning collection or recovery by VA for medical care or services provided or furnished to a veteran: (1) For a non-service connected disability for which the veteran is entitled to care (or the payment of expenses of care) under a healthplan contract; (2) For a non-service connected disability incurred incident to the veteran's employment and covered under a worker's compensation law or plan that provides reimbursement or indemnification for such care and services; or (3) For a non-service connected disability incurred as a result of a motor vehicle accident in a State that requires automobile accident reparations insurance. Previously, by statute VA was authorized to charge "reasonable costs" for such care or services. However, amended statutory provisions now authorize VA to charge "reasonable charges." Accordingly, this document establishes methodology for charging "reasonable charges" consistent with the statutory amendment. The charges billed using this methodology, as appropriate, consist of inpatient facility charges, skilled nursing facility/sub-acute inpatient facility charges, outpatient facility charges, physician charges, and non-physician provider charges. Reasonable charges for outpatient dental care and prescription drugs not administered during treatment will continue to be billed using the existing cost-based methodology. Pursuant to statutory authority, VA has the right to recover or collect the charges from a third party to the extent that a provider of the care or services would be eligible to receive payment therefore from that third party if the care or services had not been furnished by a department or agency of the United States. With respect to a third-party payer liable under a health plan contract, consistent with the statutory authority, the third-party payer continues to have the option of paying, to the extent of its coverage, either the billed charges or the amount the third-party payer demonstrates it would pay for care or services furnished by providers other than entities of the United States for the same care or services in the same geographic area. Also, the regulations are clarified to state specifically that billing methodology based on costs will continue to be applied to establish charges for medical care furnished in error or on tentative eligibility, furnished in a medical emergency, furnished to certain beneficiaries of the Department of Defense or other Federal agencies, furnished to pensioners of allied nations, and furnished to military retirees with chronic disability.

Professionally exempt nurses & the fee basis of payment.

Within the home health industry, per-visit pay has long been used by agencies to compensate nurses. This "fee-based" system of compensation has been subject to scrutiny by the Department of Labor (DOL), which claims that this is not an appropriate method to compensate professional nurses who would qualify as "exempt" employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Recent court decisions have disagreed with the DOL's position on the issue, but home health agencies need to be careful about employee compensation statutes at both the federal and state level so as not to open themselves up to potentially devastating penalties.

NMC fee increase to be debated in parliament.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council's proposed registration fee increase to £120 is likely be debated in parliament after a petition against the rise reached 100,000 signatures.

NMC fees increase moves closer after ministers fail to change law.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has been dealt a 'hugely disappointing' blow after the government abandoned proposals to transform healthcare regulation.