Medicare coverage, Medicare costs, and medical technology

One possible approach to containing Medicare costs involves explicit changes in Medicare's coverage policy with respect to medical technology. This paper first describes the development and diffusion of medical technology in general and then describes how technologies are identified, assessed, and approved for payment by Medicare. Currently, cost is neither a criterion nor an explicit issue in coverage decisions, although coverage policy is an integral part of payment policy. A combination of policies to reduce the rates of adoption and use of certain technologies is needed--including cost considerations in technology assessments for coverage decisions, limiting diffusion of technology to certain providers and sites, limiting utilization to certain indications, and tightening administrative processes. Finally, the interaction between coverage policy and DRG payment needs to be explored more thoroughly.     

District Judges and Possession Proceedings

In this article, we draw on data obtained in interviews with District Judges about the factors which they say influence the exercise of their discretion in possession proceedings. Analysing the data set enabled us to create three ideal types of judicial decision—making which we have labelled 'liberal', 'patrician', and formalist'. We discuss the differences between each ideal type across five different variables: the District Judge role; approach; view of occupiers; the problem; behaviour of occupiers. Our data demonstrate a set of reasons to explain different approaches and outcomes between different District Judges (as well as the perhaps unlikely identification of a 'maverick' or 'idiosyncratic' style of judging). We conclude by suggesting on the basis of our data that, despite calls to structure or remove the discretion from District Judges, any such changes are unlikely to have much effect.     

Of caterpillars and butterflies: The introduction of metamorphosis at the UWA law school

CENTRAL ISSUES IN JURISPRUDENCE: JUSTICE, LAW AND RIGHTS By Nigel E. Simmonds [Sweet and Maxwell, 2002, 2nd ed., 338 pp., £16.95 (paperback)]

JUSTICE, HUMANITY AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER By Ian Ward [Ashgate, 2003, 192 pp., £50 (hardback)]

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF THE EUROPEAN UNION By Sionaidh Douglas Scott [Longman, 2002, xlx + 533 pp., £29.99 (paperback)]

THE ENGLISH LEGAL PROCESS By Terence Ingman [Oxford University Press, 2002, 9th ed., 624 pp., £19.99 (paperback)]

SMITH, BAILEY &; GUNN ON THE MODERN ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM By S. H. Bailey, J. P. L. Ching, M. J. Gunn and D. C. Ormerod [Sweet and Maxwell, 2002, 9th ed., 1,387 pp., £30.00 (paperback)]

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CIVIL LITIGATION By Robert Hill, Helen Wood and Suzanne Fine [Jordans, 2003, 571 pp., £45 (paperback)]

PARTNERSHIP LAW By G. Morse [Blackstone Press, 2001, 5th ed., 280 pp., £14.95 (paperback)]

EMPLOYMENT LAW By Malcolm Sargeant [Longman, 2003, 2nd ed., 499 pp., £26.99 (paperback)]

THE LAW OF CONTRACT By J. C. Smith [Sweet and Maxwell, 2002, 4th ed., 268 pp., £15.95 (paperback)]

CONTRACT LAW By Catherine Elliott and Frances Quinn [Pearson Education, 2003, 4th ed., 353 pp., £17.99 (paperback)]

AQA LAW IN FOCUS: AS LEVEL By Simon Jackson [Causeway Press, 2003, First impression, 233 pp., £12.95 (paperback)]

TORT LAW By Chris Turner [Hodder and Stoughton, 2003, 1st ed., 232 pp., £13.99 (paperback)]

LOOKING AT CRIMINAL LAW By Chris Turner [Hodder and Stoughton, 2003, 1st ed., 114 pp., £9.99 (paperback)]

CRIMINAL LAW By Alan Reed and Peter Seago [Sweet and Maxwell, 2002, 2nd ed., lvii + 597 pp., £22.95 (paperback)]

CRIMINAL LAW: DOCTRINE AND THEORY By William Wilson [Longman, 2003, 2nd ed., lii + 640 pp., £29.99 (paperback)]

BURGLARY By R. I. Mawby [Willan Publishing, 2001, x + 213 pp., £40.00 (hardback), £16.99 (paperback)]

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY By David Bainbridge [Longman, 2002, 5th ed., 710 pp., £34.99 (paperback)]

PARRY AND CLARK: THE LAW OF SUCCESSION By Roger Kerridge Assisted by A. H. R. Brierley [Sweet and Maxwell, 2002, 11th ed., 671 pp., £29.95 (paperback)]

CONSTRUCTION LAW By John Uff [Sweet and Maxwell, 2002, 8th ed., 536 pp., £23.95 (paperback)]

WATER POLLUTION AND WATER QUALITY LAW By William Howarth and Donald McGillivray [Shaw and Son Publishers, 2001, 1212 pp., £85.00 (hardback)]

PROPERTY LAW By Roger J. Smith [Longman, 2003, 4th ed. lxviii + 617 pp., £29.99 (paperback)]

PROPERTY LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS By Roger J. Smith [Longman, 2003, 2nd ed. lv + 836 pp., £33.99 (paperback)]

HOUSING LAW CASEBOOK By Nic Madge [Legal Action Group, 2003, 3rd ed., 1,139 pp., £39.00 (paperback)]

LEGAL MATERIALS FOR SOCIAL WORKERS By Hugh Brayne and Graeme Broadbent [Oxford University Press, 2002, 522 pp., £24.99 (paperback)]