Doctors Contracts

After completing their training at UC San Diego's School of Medicine, Drs. Nwachukwu and Vicki Anakwenze opened a medical clinic in a renovated former nightclub across the street from the poverty-stricken Nickerson Gardens housing project in Watts. "We wanted to have an impact," Nwachukwu Anakwenze said. "We felt that Watts had the greatest need and the largest collection of sick people."

Facebook Inc. fired back at a New York pellet salesman who claims he's entitled to part of Mark Zuckerberg's stake in Facebook. In a court filing, the Palo Alto company alleges that Paul Ceglia doctored a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg that he says entitles him to as much as half of Zuckerberg's stake in Facebook. Last month, Ceglia filed an amended complaint in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, N.Y., that included excerpts from alleged email exchanges between him and Zuckerberg that he said supported his claim.

In the fast-changing health-care business, many worried physicians in the region are banding together and forming medical groups in the hope that being bigger will help them attract more patients. The mergers reflect an effort by physicians to tap into the surging number of patients who have signed up with health-maintenance organizations, which contract with a select list of hospitals and doctors. HMOs typically don't contract with sole practitioners or physicians in small practices.

A federal jury in Memphis on Tuesday ordered a Medtronic Inc. subsidiary to pay about $110 million in a dispute between the company and a Los Angeles doctor who invented some of its spinal fusion technologies. The jury found that Memphis-based Medtronic Sofamor Danek Inc. breached some parts of its agreements with Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon Gary Michelson and that some of the company's products infringe his patents. The company may have to pay additional damages on those products.

The California Medical Assn. plans to announce today the filing of a lawsuit that accuses the state's biggest health maintenance organizations of failing to ensure that doctors are paid for treatment provided to HMO patients. The lawsuit is the latest action in the CMA's months-long efforts to force health plans to pay doctors separately when medical groups go bankrupt--even if the health plan has already paid the groups it contracts with.

The state's influential teachers pension fund voted Thursday to develop a model under which public school teachers could receive health benefits directly from doctors, rather than buying insurance through a traditional health plan.

The House early today approved legislation to grant doctors, dentists and other medical professionals the right to bargain collectively with insurers and HMOs, a measure that proponents claimed would help improve quality of care for patients but critics said would do little more than raise their premiums. The 276-136 bipartisan vote represented a significant victory for the legislation's chief sponsor, Rep. Tom Campbell of San Jose, the Republican nominee for Senate in California.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. reported first-quarter earnings of $2.5 million and said it is trying to renegotiate lower-cost contracts with physicians and hospitals because of the lack of a Medicare rate increase this year. Wayne B. Lowell, chief financial officer of the Cypress-based health maintenance organization, said the company's profit margins will be slimmer this year because of the flat Medicare payments.

The U.S. Justice Department has warned five groups of Orange County anesthesiologists that they would stifle competition by forming an organization to negotiate contracts with managed-care outfits. The proposed organization, which would represent about a third of the anesthesiologists in the county, also could bring needlessly high health-care costs, according to a letter by Assistant Atty. Gen. Anne K. Bingaman.

Facebook Inc. fired back at a New York pellet salesman who claims he's entitled to part of Mark Zuckerberg's stake in Facebook. In a court filing, the Palo Alto company alleges that Paul Ceglia doctored a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg that he says entitles him to as much as half of Zuckerberg's stake in Facebook. Last month, Ceglia filed an amended complaint in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, N.Y., that included excerpts from alleged email exchanges between him and Zuckerberg that he said supported his claim.

Simi Valley Hospital officials voted this week to replace the facility's nine emergency-room physicians, ending a 10-year contractual relationship on the heels of a yearlong state and federal investigation of the hospital's handling of patient transfers. At an executive meeting Thursday, the hospital's board of directors decided against renewing a contract with the doctors who operate the hospital's emergency department. The physicians are part of Equality Emergency Medical Group.

An Ontario-based medical company has acquired the management contracts of seven independent doctor groups in Los Angeles and Orange counties, making it one of the largest managers of physician groups in California. The deal announced Tuesday will give North American Medical Management ownership or management responsibilities over doctor groups serving 517,000 patients in California.

The House early today approved legislation to grant doctors, dentists and other medical professionals the right to bargain collectively with insurers and HMOs, a measure that proponents claimed would help improve quality of care for patients but critics said would do little more than raise their premiums. The 276-136 bipartisan vote represented a significant victory for the legislation's chief sponsor, Rep. Tom Campbell of San Jose, the Republican nominee for Senate in California.

The state's influential teachers pension fund voted Thursday to develop a model under which public school teachers could receive health benefits directly from doctors, rather than buying insurance through a traditional health plan.

The California Medical Assn. plans to announce today the filing of a lawsuit that accuses the state's biggest health maintenance organizations of failing to ensure that doctors are paid for treatment provided to HMO patients. The lawsuit is the latest action in the CMA's months-long efforts to force health plans to pay doctors separately when medical groups go bankrupt--even if the health plan has already paid the groups it contracts with.

The U.S. Justice Department has warned five groups of Orange County anesthesiologists that they would stifle competition by forming an organization to negotiate contracts with managed-care outfits. The proposed organization, which would represent about a third of the anesthesiologists in the county, also could bring needlessly high health-care costs, according to a letter by Assistant Atty. Gen. Anne K. Bingaman.

A federal jury in Memphis on Tuesday ordered a Medtronic Inc. subsidiary to pay about $110 million in a dispute between the company and a Los Angeles doctor who invented some of its spinal fusion technologies. The jury found that Memphis-based Medtronic Sofamor Danek Inc. breached some parts of its agreements with Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon Gary Michelson and that some of the company's products infringe his patents. The company may have to pay additional damages on those products.

In the fast-changing health-care business, many worried physicians in the region are banding together and forming medical groups in the hope that being bigger will help them attract more patients. The mergers reflect an effort by physicians to tap into the surging number of patients who have signed up with health-maintenance organizations, which contract with a select list of hospitals and doctors. HMOs typically don't contract with sole practitioners or physicians in small practices.

After completing their training at UC San Diego's School of Medicine, Drs. Nwachukwu and Vicki Anakwenze opened a medical clinic in a renovated former nightclub across the street from the poverty-stricken Nickerson Gardens housing project in Watts. "We wanted to have an impact," Nwachukwu Anakwenze said. "We felt that Watts had the greatest need and the largest collection of sick people."