Healthcare Initiatives
Providers Launch 'Boston Tea Party' Protest
More than 1,000 healthcare professionals tossed bags of phony money and corporate annual reports into the Boston Harbor last week to protest what they deem to be a profit-obsessed healthcare system. Organized by the Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care, a Boston-based healthcare reform advocacy group, the demonstrators represented the angst of more than 2,000 doctors, nurses and medical students who signed an article titled "For Our Patients, Not For Profits," published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The mock Tea Party was strategically timed before Congress recessed for the year leaving several healthcare reform bills in limbo.
Wooden crates labeled "bonuses for denying care," "rushed hospital stays," "nursing cutbacks" and "corporate greed" were thrown overboard as metaphoric symptoms of what's ailing the national healthcare system.
Since the article didn't offer any specific healthcare solutions, representatives of managed care plans and for-profit hospitals dismissed it as the work of radicals whose real agenda is to push a Canadian style government health plan. Tom Scully, president of the Federation of American Health Systems, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group of investor-owned hospitals, told reporters that there is no evidence that patient outcomes have diminished under managed care. (Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care, 617/576-7741; http://www.amsa.org)
Managed Care
AMA Calls Aetna/U.S. Healthcare Contracts Unfair
The American Medical Association (AMA) along with the Florida Medical Association is slamming Aetna/U.S. Healthcare's physician contracting policies with Florida doctors, alleging that the nation's second largest managed care company can override medical decisions about what care is necessary. Florida physicians asked the AMA to review the contract after Aetna refused to discuss its policies with the FMA, citing antitrust laws.
The AMA wrote Aetna a critical letter last week outlining its contract concerns regarding gag clauses, health plan termination and patient confidentiality. At press time, the AMA had not received a response to its letter. To help physicians better understand their contracts, the AMA unveiled a model managed care contract Dec. 6 during its Interim Meeting in Dallas.
Aetna is countering the AMA's claims in a press release that emphasizes its "high quality" inspired provider contracts and the fact that its provider agreements are on file with and approved by state regulators as well as the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Aetna says it is reviewing the AMA's comment letter and will review its proposed model managed care contract. (AMA, Brenda Caine, 202/789-7447; Aetna U.S. Healthcare, 860/273-0123; http://www.aetna.com)
Online Ventures
AIDS Vaccine Web Site Launches
When a worldwide AIDS vaccine is developed, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) Web Site will be among the first to spread the online word. Designed by Paramax Productions, a multimedia development provider based in Red Bank, N.J., the new site (http://www.iavi.org) was developed to provide international updates on the scientific progress of developing a safe and effective HIV vaccine and call global attention to the need for such a vaccine.
Immunization is the best weapon for AIDS prevention and slowing the spread of the disease, according to New York-based IAVI, which is providing content for the site. IN Jersey, a regional online services provider, hosts the site and also will raise funds for it.
By the year 2000, 30 million to 40 million people may be infected with HIV worldwide and AIDS will cost world healthcare providers $514 billion, according to the World Health Organization. (Paramax, Bill Wicklem, 732/224-1048; [email protected]; IAVI, 212/377-2700)
HPRMN Clarification:
In the Oct. 16 case study ("Marketing a New, Complex Financial Option for Terminally Ill"), we implied that the American Hospital Association and the Case Management Society of America gave "halo" endorsements to Viaticus Inc. Instead, the two groups make their members aware of Viaticus as an option for receiving viatical services.