Physicians with patients on pain medication regimens are often attuned to signs of drug abuse. Multiple-drug interactions and simple overuse should also be a concern.

There will always be noncompliant patients. Physicians treating those patients need to foster a heightened sense of danger.

In a colorful and blunt opinion, the California Court of Appeal spared few words in saying what it thought about a hospital’s legal strategy to defeat a suit brought by a physicians group alleging unfair competition. Physician-hospital policy wonks, read on.

The California Court of Appeal has ruled that a psychologist who failed to appear for a licensing board-ordered psychiatric exam has no grounds to challenge the subsequent suspension of his license.

Physicians and their staff have a hard enough time getting their patients to understand the urgency of undergoing follow-up testing.  When the condition looks serious and a frequently traveling patient has a history of noncompliance, getting him or her to a specialist – or to the ER – may be what’s called for.