California HealthCare Foundation Releases Articles Examining Solvency of State’s Medical Groups
The California HealthCare Foundation has released three articles this month examining the financial condition of physician groups in California and the effect failing medical groups have on the health system. A brief summary of each article follows:
- "Cash Matters: Results From a Survey of California Physician Groups": Written by Christopher Ohman of CapMetrics and Paul Gertler of the University of California-Berkeley, this brief "attempts to assess the current state of solvency among California's risk-bearing physician groups" and estimates the cost of complying with SB 260, a 1999 law that established a set of solvency standards for medical groups. This paper also "identif[ies] characteristics associated with better liquidity" and offers recommendations for improving the law's solvency measures. This paper is available at http://admin.chcf.org/documents/chcf/SolvencyPolicyBrief.pdf.
- "Health Plans and Physician Organizations in California: Mutual Dependence or Mutually Assured Destruction?": Written by James Robinson of UC-Berkeley's School of Public Health, this article "examines the divisions and aggravated tensions between health plans and medical groups." This article is available at http://admin.chcf.org/documents/chcf/SolvencyRobinsonArticle.pdf.
- "Smart Remarks: Commentary on the Physician Solvency Issue in California": This paper includes four commentaries on physician group failures written by Howard Arkans, senior medical director of medical management at Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield; Jeff Goldsmith, president of Health Futures Inc.; Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough); and Bart Wald, CEO of Physician Associates IPA. This paper is available at http://admin.chcf.org/documents/chcf/SolvencySmartRemarks.pdf (CHCF release, October 2001). Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download the studies.
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.