In an attempt to eliminate a potential conflict of interest, the Health, Hospitals and Human Services Committee passed a bill Wednesday requiring physicians to disclose financial ownership or interest in local medical laboratories. Additionally, the bill prevents physicians from referring patients to those laboratories in which they have an interest.
The committee, which met at the Legislature building on St. John, plans to give the bill more teeth, so to speak, when it reaches the Senate’s Rules Committee.
However, attorney Bruce Bennett, testifying on behalf of St. Croix Clinical Laboratory, argued that the bill doesn’t go far enough. While supporting the bill, Bennett noted that "the disclosure of financial interest doesn’t prevent unnecessary testing," inferring that physicians who have a financial interest in laboratories order more tests than necessary to increase their bottom line.
Additionally, Bennett testified that doctors are not qualified to run medical laboratories because they don’t hold federal and local certification.
In evaluating a provision of the bill that notes that the Board of Medical Examiners may determine that the referral by physicians to medical laboratories where they have an interest does not present a risk of patient abuse, Bennett questioned whether the Board of Medical Examiners was the best group to make this decision since they would be governing themselves.
He suggested an independent board, but Sen. Louis P. Hill said that the territory already has too many boards and commissions.
Bennett agreed but suggested that the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department should be involved in the situation.
Eduardo Dottin, an owner of Cranston Dottin Biomedical Laboratory on St. Thomas, was the only other person to testify. Like Bennett, he also supported the bill.The clerk also read letters of support from Health Commissioner Julia Sheen and four medical laboratory owners.
A suggestion from Sen. Craig Barshinger gained traction with the other committee members and the testifiers. He proposed that physicians give patients a computer-generated list of places in and outside the territory that do the required tests, along with that lab’s prices. Additionally, the list would note if they physician has any interest in any of the laboratories.
"You have to be a smart consumer just like shopping for mangoes," Barshinger said.
In other news, the committee also approved a bill to name the labor and delivery area of the Eugenie T. Ford obstetrics unit at Roy L. Schneider Hospital in honor of Cynthia V. Brown Stapleton, who was the head nurse at the labor and delivery area.
In addition to Sprauve, Barshinger and Hill, Sens. Shawn-Michael Malone and Neville James attended the meeting. All those at the meeting voted yes on the bills.
Sen. Usie R. Richards sand Sen. Alvin Williams were absent.