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Mass. seniors fear that GOP plan would raise their costs Last month, members of Congress took the Medicare reform debate home, courting seniors at a series of town meetings. AMNews [...]

Private medical schools try to slow soaring costs of tuition in a highly unusual move, the Washington University School of Medicine cut tuition by $700 in 1988. But the next [...]

Health reform may push academic medical centers onto the stormy seas of the marketplace with too small a life preserver, academics say. The Assn. of American Medical Colleges wants to [...]

Medicare pay cuts to hit teaching hospitals in '90s Most teaching hospitals withstood the financial storms that put many community hospitals out of business in the 1980s, but the 1990s [...]

* Physician groups say the state's new solvency standards might put them out of business, but state officials say they simply want basic accounting principles followed. AFTER YEARS OF HELPLESSLY [...]

HMOs are de-emphasizing capitation in the face of physician resistance. But even some doctors say that might not be a good idea. AFTER YEARS OF TRYING TO KEEP PHYSIcians under [...]

IF reimbursement increases result, physicians hope Medicaid health plans will pass some of the money on to them. PROPOSED FEDERAL CHANGES IN Medicaid HMO payments could help stabilize a shaky [...]

* Although the state's new requirements for prescription drug coverage give physicians more freedom to prescribe, plans warn this may raise health care costs. NEW REGULATIONS ON PRESCRIPtion drug coverage [...]

Governor says payment disputes between physicians and health plans should be left to courts, but doctors disagree. MICHIGAN Gov. JOHN ENGLER'S Jan. 2 veto of a prompt-payment bill thwarted physicians' [...]

* The state's largest medical group failure of the year brings renewed calls for tighter regulations, but HMOs and state officials say the system will survive. KPC MEDICAL MANAGEMENT, which [...]

Contradictory and complex definitions of a 'clean claim' help explain why claims payments still drag out even as 39 states set deadlines for reimbursement. EVEN THOUGH 39 STATES HAVE ENacted [...]

* Tired of continual IPA closures, many California physicians seek direct negotiations with HMOs, even though they may lose some leverage. AFTER YEARS OF INDEPENDENT practice association failures -- including [...]

New funding has made the Tennessee program more attractive to outside HMOs, but doctors are still skeptical. AFTER SECURING MORE THAN A half billion dollars a year in extra funding, [...]

The state appeals decision requires insurers to reveal reimbursements and payment methodologies in advance, so doctors can make an informed decision. IN WHAT IS THOUGHT TO BE THE first court [...]

* Tennessee unveils its most ambitious plan yet to revamp TennCare, just as the ailing program's second-largest HMO hits the skids. FACING A JULY 1 DEADLINE THAT could mean the [...]

Paying physician specialists via a capitation system -- even one designed with them in mind -- is tricky and fraught with controversy. WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA SPECIALISTS' struggles against Highmark Blue Cross [...]

AT A GLANCE TennCare averts a crisis by getting the Blues to remain involved, but the program's long-term funding problems haven't yet been solved TWO MONTHS BEFORE BLUECROSS BlueShield of [...]

The pressures of managed care may end up cutting down on charity care, but efforts are under way to make it easier for physicians to consider working on more free [...]

AT A GLANCE A medical practice in Tennessee tries to maintain its commitment to the poor and its Christian faith, while staying above water financially. CHRIST COMMUNITY MEDICAL Clinic in [...]

AT A GLANCE Doctors will see little of double-digit premium increases this year, and many blame the gap on reduced negotiating clout. HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES are getting double-digit premium increases [...]

Tow powerful California pension funds are trying to find a new alternative to HMOs in an old idea: direct contracting with physicians. IN CALIFORNIA, WHERE THE PUBLIC DISTRUST OF HMOs [...]

AT A GLANCE The governor proposes spending more than one-third of the state's allocation on health insurance subsidies for the working poor. NEW JERSEY Gov. CHRISTINE Todd Whitman has a [...]

AT A GLANCE Physicians and other providers are increasingly fed up with Tennessee's Medicaid substitute -- which may collapse now that the state has failed to save it. EVEN AS [...]

When 70 physicians opened a hospital in Wichita Falls, Texas, it intensified a schism between two groups of doctors KELL WEST REGIONAL HOSpital is more than just the latest attempt [...]

AT A GLANCE The state's program rescinds previous rate cuts and courts more HMOs, but that may not be enough to retain doctors. AFTER OHIO MEDICAID SLASHED HMO reimbursements by [...]

AT A GLANCE Physicians are receiving checks from the former PPM for the first time since August -- but they have to waive their rights to sue the company. IF [...]

AT A GLANCE While HMOs report a small rise in premiums, Texas doctors suspect plans aren't reporting indirect costs from relaxed utilization review. WHEN TEXAS PASSED THE NATION'S first HMO [...]

AT A GLANCE The California Medical Assn. calls the failures an 'epidemic' and hosts a conference to discuss solutions. Sacramento, Calif. ONE IN 10 CALIFORNIA physician groups that capitate directly [...]

AT A GLANCE Washington state's rocky insurance market and tight-paying public programs are catching up with a doctor-run health plan. AN HOUR'S FERRY RIDE ACROSS Puget Sound from Seattle, Bremerton, [...]

AT A GLANCE A Massachusetts HMO walks away from a provider contract for the first time. But area doctors and hospitals are proving to be just as formidable. MASSACHUSETTS-BASED TUFTS [...]

Chicago As MANAGED CARE RATCHets down reimbursements, doctors no longer can afford uncompensated care and need an income tax credit to support such activities, delegates from New Jersey argued at [...]

Physicians in rural Tennessee are hopeful but skeptical that an overhaul of the troubled Medicaid managed care plan will keep their struggling practices afloat. Fayetteville, Tenn. As THERESA MORrison, MD, [...]

AT A GLANCE Legislators OK the largest pay increase in the program's troubled history but wait until next year to identify new source of funds. TENNESSEE PHYSICIANS ARE elated by [...]

AT A GLANCE Physicians are asked to accept a third of what's owed them or watch a troubled HMO go out of business. SCHUYLER NEWMAN, MD, A MIDdletown, N.Y., pathologist, [...]

The Mississippi State Medical Assn., wary of HMOs' recent growth in the state, is charging that the industry is losing millions and spending too little on patient care. The association's [...]

NEW YORK -- After a two-year delay, federal authorities have approved New York state's plan to begin mandatory managed care for Medicaid recipients. The state met federal concerns about enrollment [...]

Republican Gov. David Beasley of South Carolina opposes any new taxes, but that didn't stop him from asking doctors and hospitals for new money to extend Medicaid coverage to 50,000 [...]

When Republicans began putting together their plan to overhaul Medicare, they paid very close attention to public opinion. Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican National Committee, wrote a memo last [...]