Archive for Friday, June 09, 2006
Group Sues Blue Cross Over Payment Policy
A hospital trade group sued Blue Cross of California over the health plan’s new policy of paying doctors higher rates when they perform colonoscopies at their offices or ambulatory centers as opposed to hospitals.
The California Hospital Assn. alleges that the policy, which will take effect in July and underscores a larger industry trend, will jeopardize patients’ safety.
“Health plans shouldn’t force doctors to make patient-care decisions based upon money,” hospital association President C. Duane Dauner said in a written release.
Health plans want to move many minor medical procedures such as colonoscopies – examining the colon with a scope for abnormal growth – away from expensive hospital settings.
The move threatens many hospitals, which already struggle financially.
– Daniel Yi
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