State Roundup: Attorney general in New Jersey wants industry gifts to stop

The NEW JERSEY Attorney General's Office issued a report in December that urged lawmakers to forbid most financial relationships, gifts, and free meals between physicians and pharmaceutical and medical device companies. "Such financial relationships threaten to bias medical decision-making and compromise patient health," the report states.

In a trial that began in December, the FLORIDA Pediatric Society is suing the state to increase its Medicaid payment rates to at least Medicare levels for physicians and to the 50th percentile of what is customary for dentists who treat children aged up to 21 years via Medicaid. The group also wants to eliminate administrative barriers that prevent children treated via Medicaid from having the same access to medical and dental care as children on private insurance.