Subject:
             Update on Union/Tobacco/Blues Issues
        Date:
             Wed, 15 Dec 1999 06:15:09 -0800
       From:
             "Robert B. Sklaroff, MD" <rsklaroff@home.com>
 Organization:
             @Home Network
         To:
             "List, Settlement Talk Discussion" <settlement-talk@smokescreen.org>
 
 
 

For background on any of these issues, consult my web-site and wander
about:

http://members.home.net/rsklaroff/homepage.html

*

UNION:

As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

http://www.physiciansnews.com/dve/newsbriefs.html

Subject:        PND News Briefs - Southeastern PA Edition
Date:           Tue, 14 Dec 1999 18:47:39 -0500
From:           "Jeffrey Barg" <jbarg@physiciansnews.com>
Organization:   Physician's News Digest
To:             <southeastern-pa@physiciansnews.com>

*******************************************************
* PND NEWS BRIEFS - SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA EDITION *
*******************************************************
A daily round-up of local medical news

December 14, 1999

PHILADELPHIA'S JOHN F. KENNEDY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL HAS AGREED TO ABIDE BY
A UNION VOTE OF ITS PRIMARY
CARE PHYSICIANS UNDER THE AUSPICES OF AN INDEPENDENT ARBITRATOR.

A majority of the 21 primary care physicians signed "Authorization for
Representation" requesting that the Federation of Physicians and
Dentists (FPD) handle all matters relating to wages, hours and terms and
conditions of employment, according to FPD Regional Coordinator Robert
B. Sklaroff, M.D.

The agreement by hospital and FPD officials will obviate the need for a
hearing before the National
Labor Relations Board to determine whether the physicians are employees
of the hospital or independent contractors, and whether a collective
bargaining unit at the hospital would need to include specialists as
well as the primary care physicians who have sought to form their own
collective bargaining unit, according to Kennedy attorney Sam Spear.

FPD's Sklaroff said he hopes to work with Kennedy administrators to
preserve in-patient services at the hospital. Kennedy President Pete
Matthews said he welcomes the physicians' input on how to attract more
patients to the hospital, which they have been unable to do over the
past three years.  The Kennedy primary care physicians will be the first
physician collective bargaining unit at a non-governmental hospital in
Pa.

[Physician's News Digest, December 14, 1999]

*

TOBACCO:

On Monday, I filed my appeal to Commonwealth Court regarding the Wawa
Billboards.  I hand-delivered a copy thereof to Judge John W. Herron,
whose office-computer still lists my Reconsideration/Reargument Motion
(and the subsequent Motion to Supplement the Record) as pending.  The
continued "unresolved" existence of the latter doesn't "toll" the 30-day
deadline for submission of the former following docketing of the opinion
(written on 11/10 but docketed on 11/17); thus, I decided not to wait
until Thursday to spend another $235 ($180 to the Philly Court of Common
Pleas and $55 to the PA Commonwealth Court).

All the Prothonotaries are in City Hall (as is the judge's chambers) and
they've become accustomed to my visits (which I hope will soon not be
necessary).  Nevertheless, if the AG fails to pursue the Sheetz matter
(vide infra), it may be necessary to file a FOURTH case in Commonwealth
Court, seeking that he be forced to do so.  This would be consistent
with the Herron Opinion of a month ago, and it would establish another
"front" against which the AG would necessarily be forced to explain his
(lack of) behavior.  It may be recalled that I formally submitted
(almost two weeks ago) a request that he pursue Philip Morris due to
three (3) alleged MSA violations; as has become customary, I've received
no response thereto.

[This is becoming absurd.]

On Tuesday, the House Democrats issued their recommendations regarding
how to spend the Tobacco-$$$, a report that is available upon request
(via FAX, inasmuch as it hasn't been transmitted via e-mail).  It was
supplied by Rep. Manderino, who also supplied (via e-mail) her Testimony
(that integrates her proposed legislation that, in turn, has been cited
in my formulation as to how to proceed).

http://sklaroff.globalink.org/globalink-testimony-money-house-Manderino.html

MEANWHILE, I spoke yesterday with the Assistant City Editor of the
Pittsburgh/Greensburg Tribune-Review and was informed of today's
publication of the following article:

http://sklaroff.globalink.org/globalink-billboards-Sheetz-12-15-99.html

Excerpted here are only the bizarre quotations from the AG [and the
unrefuted statements ascribed thereto by Sheetz] which--both
individually and in the aggregate--continue to justify my litigation.

Note how the AG is still not touching the concept of investigating the
conduct (via contract-review) of Philip Morris, the national
perpetrators of this blatant violation of the MSA.  Apparently, the AG
prefers to be "purposely ambiguous."  This phrase joins such oxymoronic
political couplets as "benign neglect" and projects a goal akin to that
of the "built-in obsolescence" of the GE-lightbulb (that is guaranteed
to blow in a finite period of time, despite the existence of established
technology that could prolong its life).

Noting how Big Tobacco loves to exploit potential loopholes, this public
servant [Pa's AG] continues ADMITTEDLY to run-interference for the
Tobacco Industry!!!

Such disjointed logic would be comical, were it not so sad. . . .

"Sheetz says billboards staying put"

By Joe Mandak
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

....Further, Fisher spokesman Sean Connolly told the Tribune-Review last
week that the "language in   the settlement was purposely ambiguous ...
(because) the goal under the national settlement was to   take down the
billboards so that children aren't exposed to this advertising."

Connolly said advertisers and retailers weren't targeted in the tobacco
lawsuit, in part, because there
were "First Amendment" questions about whether they could legally be
forced to stop advertising a   product they sell legally.

"The Attorney General's office did once again agree that `Sheetz is
doing absolutely nothing improper, illegal or in violation of the
current master settlement agreement,'" the [Sheetz] release continued.

Connolly expressed disappointment that Sheetz declined to pull the
billboards, but stopped short of  threatening legal action.

"However, we disagree with (Sheetz's) statement that we have cleared
them of any violation of the
master settlement agreement," Connolly said. "It's unfortunate that
Sheetz has decided to continue
this billboard campaign when other retailers have decided to take theirs
down."

Last month, Wawa Food Markets, a Delaware chain with several stores in
the Philadelphia area, pulled their cigarette billboards after Fisher's
office threatened legal action.  [It would have been nice if the author
of this article had cited my litigation, but the T-R editor has just
been officially informed of the existence of my web-site, so we'll see
if this oversight is rectified in future pieces.]

Connolly said the Sheetz statement was correct in saying that Fisher's
office "will continue to work
with Sheetz on this issue."

"There are no meetings set ... but we are open to discussing it with
them. We're also going to be  discussing it with other attorneys general
at a national meeting this week that will also include  representatives
from the tobacco manufacturers," Connolly said.  "I'm sure the Sheetz
issue will be a topic of discussion."

And Connolly promised that legal action has not been ruled out. "That's
being mulled. I guess the simple way to put it is we've asked them to
voluntarily take down  their billboards and they have declined. Now
we'll see where we go from here," he said.

*

BLUES:

The pre-prehearing maneuvers continue, prompting this submission by
myself, to be filed today.

http://members.home.net/rsklaroff/blues-hearings-RBS-submission-12_15_99.html

I requested formal involvement of Independence Blue Cross in these
proceedings that I hope will yield reversal of the creation of a Blues
Monopoly/Monopsony in PA.  [I also requested use of e-mail for
dissemination of data--so that they may be uploaded and disseminated
easily--and I requested a copy of another submission by the PA Medical
Society that hadn't been remitted.]

One might say that I ended the letter by opening-up against both the
"regulators" (the Insurance Department and the Attorney General's
Office) that have shirked their oversight responsibilities.  The
Insurance Department now pursues a clearly anti-intellectual posture by
prospectively attempting to block presentation of admittedly-relevant
["vital," "controlling" and otherwise indisputably germane adjectives
could be invoked here, too] data because they may have been acquired
after the 1996 consolidation!  It seems desperate to avoid facing the
obvious monopolistic/monopsonistic conduct of the Blues; one wonders
why.  Perhaps the media might wish to develop this theme???

The letter from "Highmark" that provoked mine requested, inter alia,
brief submissions by by 1/24/2000 "in light of year-end demands."  The
D-E-L-A-Y continues, unabated. . . .