THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 24, 1995 TAG: 9505240469
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
As managed care transforms the health care business, doctors are hustling to establish their place and retain some control over their practices.
One of the newest local efforts is Physicians Care Ltd., an affiliation of about 100 local doctors that has signed a contract to provide care for members of Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield's health maintenance organization.
The agreement won't mean any immediate changes for people who get their insurance through Trigon or through Priority Health Care, a local HMO that recent merged with Trigon, said a Trigon spokesperson. And member doctors will continue to see patients enrolled with other insurers.
For doctors in Physicians Care Ltd., however, it means just a little bit more security in a rapidly changing field.
Physicians Care Ltd. was founded this spring to help doctors contend with the complicated business of signing contracts with HMOs, said chairperson Chantal Brooks, a Norfolk doctor specializing in internal medicine.
When a doctor is negotiating to treat an HMO's patients, ``You don't have time to read each contract and analyze each contract so you know what you're signing,'' she said.
The group is restricted to primary-care physicians - doctors specializing in internal medicine, family practice and pediatrics - and includes members from Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Suffolk. Primary-care doctors are being courted by cost-conscious insurers, partly because they're in a good position to emphasize preventive medicine and partly because their work generally costs less than treatment by doctors in high-tech specialties.
Physicians Care Ltd. includes doctors in group practices and those working alone. Doctors who sign on keep their own practices, paying a membership fee to the group.
A volunteer board of doctors, aided by staff people hired by the group, negotiates contracts with insurance companies and helps members understand what the contract offers. The doctors set practice standards, deciding how to care for patients while keeping costs down.
The group signed its first agreement, with Trigon, at the end of last week. They hope to make similar deals with other HMOS.
KEYWORDS: MANAGED CARE HEALTH CARE by CNB