CALIFORNIA: HMO CZAR ABRUPTLY RESIGNS

      California's chief HMO regulator abruptly resigned Friday
 only months after winning "a bruising confirmation fight" in the
 state Legislature.  Los Angeles Times reports that Keith Bishop,
 state commissioner of corporations, will step down from the
 position effective September 30.  In his resignation letter to
 Gov. Pete Wilson (R), Bishop "cited the 'financial obligations of
 rearing and educating three children.'"  In an interview, Bishop
 said he plans to return to private law practice.  Sean Walsh, a
 Wilson spokesperson, said that no successor will be named
 immediately.  He said, "We need to do some searches."
      BAD TIMING
      Bishop, who served as acting director of the Corporations
 Commission since 1996, was criticized during confirmation
 hearings last spring for "failing to act on consumer complaints
 against" HMOs, including not enforcing a rule "requiring HMOs to
 publicize a toll-free consumer hotline."  Upon his resignation,
 Bishop said that the department is "in real good shape," but the
 Los Angeles Times notes that his departure comes as "Wilson and
 the Legislature are struggling to create an updated regulatory
 system for the managed care industry."  Click here to read an
 American Health Line interview with Bishop about these efforts.
      SO LONG, FAREWELL
      Jamie Court of the Los Angeles-based Consumers for Quality
 Care criticized Bishop's record as "unremarkable" and said "he
 was not aggressive in pursuing quality-of-care offenders."  Myra
 Synder, executive officer of the California Association of Health
 Plans, said she is concerned that Bishop's unexpected and abrupt
 departure will harm the department and impede efforts to develop
 HMO regulatory reforms.  She said, "The department definitely
 benefits from continuity and leadership.  We were at the
 beginning stage of developing a working relationship with him"
 (Ingram, 9/17).