Medical society campaigns to reduce red tape for physicians.

The American Society of Internal Medicine is launching a campaign to attack the "hassle factor" in medicine, which, physicians say, damages patient care and undermines their decisionmaking process. In a white paper titled The Hassle Factor: America's Health Care System Strangling in Red Tape, the society outlines how government and private payer regulations are increasing costs, reducing access, and hurting patient care. The degree to which these regulations are driving physicians out of practice directly affects hospitals.