California’s largest HMO, Kaiser Permanente, agreed Thursday to make a host of internal changes to settle a lawsuit filed over three years ago by consumer groups. The agreement includes significant public disclosure of its policies and procedures to include fee schedules. Kaiser will now publish medical guidelines participating doctors use to treat many ailments and specific information on how it compensates doctors within its system. The medical guidelines will be available to patients to evaluate individual doctor’s adherence to proper procedures as well as a basis for requesting second opinions. For the complete Los Angeles Times article please go to http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kaiser24jan24.story For a New York Times article on the subject please see http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/24/business/24CARE.html. For additional information concerning HMO litigation, please visit The HMO Crisis Newsroom.

According to an article in today’s Washington Post, the Administration is finalizing a proposal that could create a prescription drug benefit for patients who are willing to join a program that relies heavily on the nation’s managed care companies. The proposal seeks to slow the growth of Medicare costs over the coming decades by encouraging patients to join what administration officials believe will be a less expensive process dominated by health maintenance organizations and other private health plans. For the entire article, please go to www.washingtonpost.com. For additional information concerning HMO litigation, please visit the HMO Crisis Newsroom