For Immediate Release

Contact: John M. Martino
Phone Number:  (215) 895-1186
Date: 06/25/00

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia Professor To Write Column For MedConnect Website

Medical professionals who need to keep abreast of current judicial proceedings and government regulations will be able to access this pertinent information through a monthly column on the MedConnect web site (http://www.medconnect.com), authored by noted health policy expert Robert I. Field of the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP).

Beginning July 1, Dr. Field, director of USP’s graduate program in health policy, will assess current health policy and legal developments impacting primary care physicians. The column, Health Policy Updates, is a unique resource for busy professionals seeking to understand legislation, regulations, and court cases affecting their professional lives. It will appear on the site’s Managed Solutions journal. Dr. Field’s first column analyzes issues in physician collective bargaining legislation and federal fraud and abuse enforcement. Future columns will address managed care reform, patients’ rights and prescription drug benefits.

Dr. Field has written and spoken widely on health policy topics, focusing on managed care and ethical conflicts. His comments have been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and on National Public Radio.

He is also a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and teaches health law at the Wharton School. He is trained as a lawyer, psychologist, and healthcare researcher.

With more than 90,000 subscribers, MedConnect, a completely free site, contains concise, insightful analyses of clinical, scientific, and health policy topics not available on other medical websites. It offers four on-line journals: Managed Solutions, the Interactive Journal of Managed Care; iPeds, the award-winning Interactive Journal of Pediatrics; Prime Connection, the Interactive Journal of Primary Care; and STAT, the Interactive Journal of Emergency Medicine. MedConnect is offered by healthAtoZ.com, a free health information web site that provides top-quality content, personalized services, and interactive community events for consumers and healthcare professionals. Last year, healthAtoZ.com partnered with USP’s Philadelphia College of Pharmacy to jointly develop continuing education (CME) programs for pharmacists and nurses, create an electronic journal of pharmacy, and provide educational programs for families.

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia is a private, coeducational institution founded in 1821 as Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, the first college of pharmacy in North America. USP specializes in educating students for rewarding health and science careers through its ten bachelors, ten masters, and four doctoral degree programs in the health and related sciences.

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