European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 3, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes tuesday Noven Ber 4,1987 monitoring plea rejected by justices Washington a the supreme court on monday rejected a. Cagan administration Appeal de signed to tree the government from carefully Monitor ing social Security payments id people unable to Man age their own  justices cited a Lack of jurisdiction in refusing to hear arguments Hal keeping track of such payments will overload the Federal bureaucracy needlessly. In other action he court declined to revive an Indiana school District s plan for protecting the jobs of Block teachers from layoffs. The court left intact a run that South Bend school officials violated the rights of White teachers when they dismissed them rather than Blacks with less seniority killed a suit by the widow of a Man who died alter receiving a heart transplant from a donor with a different blood Type. The justices barred a Missouri woman Fibbi suing in her Home slate a Texas Hospital Hal provided the Organ for transplant. Allowed a transsexual Indiana prison inmate who says he is being denied adequate medical care and Protection to sue state officials. The court let stand a ruling ordering further study in the Case. In the social Security Case Jeanne a. Jonian of the Oklahoma City okla., area sued the government Over 12,456 in benefits she said were spent unlawfully by her  suffers from schizophrenia and the Money went to her sister in her Cape Day As the recipient repro  a scrawl lest Case Barbara Leeds of Provincetown mass., who also suffers from 3 mental impairment said her former Roommate misspent nearly 19,000 of her fed eral benefits. . District judge Lee r. West ruled in 1985 and again this year that Fulcran officials must require an account ing from representatives of such beneficiaries. The administration said his rulings if applied nation wide would affect More than 3 million people who receive the benefits and Are represented by others because hey Are unable to manage their own Abraira. The Justice department said the lower court rulings could generate potentially burdensome and needless paperwork for the social Security administration and for representatives managing the  health and human services department which administers the social Security program proposed a is Lem of random checks of 10 percent of the recipients. West or a cd Hal idea ruling that due process de it " i All representatives of those receiving benefits make an annual accounting. The 10th . Circuit court of appeals threw out the administration s Appeal of the ruling last january Nasa delays contracts for space station Cape canaveral a. Nasa announced monday it is delaying for several weeks Selec Tion of Industry firms for billions of dollars Worth of space station contracts. The contracts were expected to be awarded this week but a space Agency announcement said Nasa administrator James c. Fletcher needed More information from the space station program office before he could make final selections. Contract evaluation boards completed briefing of Retcher last Friday on the four contracts to be awarded. Industry sources who asked not to be identified said they believe the delay is related to the Effort by the administration and Congress 10 find at least $33 Bil lion in budget cuts for the current fiscal year. The Effort could Lead to a reduction in station funding that could delay the project. Nasa divided development of the space station scheduled for Orbital Assembly in the mid-1990s, into four work packages Worth a tout of $9.2 billion. Esti mates for total deployment of the Laboratory Range up to $32 billion. Misdiagnosis and Hospital size stud of sdmsto32heplt�liewnprfriq    in in a o doa Flis in each Hospital Tjw group Mugo to lbs in Ftp. Soura Jam eri�am1anllmbl of Coddon caesarean births criticized by health research group Washington a a Public interest health group said monday that approximately 455,000 babies were delivered by caesarean Section unnecessarily daring 1936 in the United states despite heightened risk to the health of the Mother. Public citizen health research group which is affiliated with us t calculation on a f 906,000, of the Estin were by caesarean Section compared with a study Thi suggests the optimum Rale would be about 12 percent the National a Section rate has More than quadrupled in the last 16 years rising Nikont Rodarty from a rate of 5.5 percent in 1970," said the report bang issued at a news conference monday. It was written by Craig Tanio and drs. Marc Mauley and Sidney m. Wont legitimate concern has been voiced about the rapid increase in a Section rates in the . Because of the increased risks of death and uness to the Mother. The higher Coats involved and the higher psychological toll on the Mother it said. It said the three most important medical causes contributing to toe rapid Rise in a Section deliveries  use of the outdated policy Offutt Mouv  a Section for women who already have bad one Over diagnosis and overuse of a Section for Abnor Mal labor and Over diagnosis of fetal distress. It Ca did for state legislation to require hospitals to Tell maternity patients upon admission their rates of initial and a Section delivery and said obstetricians should be required to attempt seriously a mat of labor in patients who have had a sections As often As it medically  96% of All Hospital Bills in . Have costly errors report says b Ala Cynwyd a. Up analysts say that about 96 percent of All Hospital Bills contain Over charge errors some of them resulting from simple computer input mistakes that can Cost patients and insurance companies hundreds of thousands of Dol Lars analysts say. Marie Constance Ross executive director of med services management co., which analyses Bills for corporations and insurance companies said Over charging averages from 6 to 11 percent of the Bai m most cases. Antyone in so patients gets a Correct fan Tail and one in 50 i a under charged. The total figure of is 7,4 billion in overpayment each year is Lar too much Money to be complacent about Constance Ross said. Overfilling averages $440 per patient and constitutes i Hie chunk of the annual National Hospital Bill of $157.9 Tifton Constance Ross said. She said her estimates Are based on med services management s work in analysing Hospital Bills for corporations and insurance companies m 1986 and on research conducted by hospitals Magazine a Trade publication among culprits in the Ove Bilting Are the computers hospitals use she said. When you err in computer input your error can be duplicated Many times before you discover an error exists Constance Ross said. Simple errors Lute � computer clerk punching a wrong key quietly amount to very urge sums of  take the clerk who hit the wrong figure. Instead of punching in the number 003 the clerk hit just 2, Multi plying the Bill enormously. The error was so simple Constance Ross Aid. The Bill almost $200,000 too High went through the system and was paid by the insurance company before the error was  Margaret Musial manager of medical Billing analysis a firm that defends hospitals in Over toiling cases agreed with Constance Ross that mistake Are made but she said they arc just As Likely to be under Billing As overfilling there Are ample opportunities for error Musial said health care costs total National expenditures $600 500 400 300 200 100 in billions of dollars i 1 97476 78 80 82 84 v estimate 8b Chicago Tribuna Chart source Hoath can fan dog  department d corny to Holn win