Subject:
             Blues/Union/Tobacco Update
        Date:
             Sun, 06 Feb 2000 19:33:10 -0800
       From:
             "Robert B. Sklaroff, MD" <rsklaroff@home.com>
 Organization:
             @Home Network
 
 
 

The pace of events appears to be calmer and more predictable on all
fronts; nevertheless, some excitement has been mustered this weekend.

Union negotiations (on behalf of 20 primary care physicians) will be
initiated in ~10 days between John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital and the
Federation of Physicians & Dentists.  I received a copy of the model
contract, and it anticipates every eventuality.  I encounter physicians
in other hospital systems who are hungry for help, and I am vigorously
asking other organizations to come to their aid.  [I'm providing interim
support.]

The Commonwealth Court issued its briefing schedule with regard to my
litigation against the AG's refusal to enforce the Master Settlement
Agreement.  Curiously, last week, an investigator for the AG contacted
my patient (who is in the hospital, post-op) with regard to her having
been solicited by Philip Morris to receive a free package of Virginia
Slims.  [She is 83 y.o. and has never smoked.]  Meanwhile, I await
receipt of a briefing schedule from Superior Court regarding the Wawa
Billboard Case, and I have a few weeks before the deadline for filing
the US Supreme Court appeal of the overall approval of the MSA.

The Blues situation has consumed the weekend.  I received the "Omnibus"
filings from the other parties and prepared my Reply thereto (due on
2/22 but to be filed tomorrow).  In the process, I decided to file a
separate motion--directed at the Insurance Commissioner--formally
requesting the interim dissolution of "Highmark" because the Decision &
Order that was invoked to create it is "invalid and ineffective" AND
disputed facts have officially emerged through these hearings.  Inasmuch
as I'm a full-Party to these proceedings, the "standing" issue won't be
at-issue (for a change!).

These documents are available via hyperlinking from my name
[double-click], below.  Then go to the Blues Homepage, scroll to the
bottom, and go directly into the two documents cited in the
next-to-the-last 'graph.  Although pagination/layout are lost on the
Internet, anyone interested can request the actual Word document to be
transmitted.

I will update the proposed legislation cited previously after definable
events occur; the union-bill awaits final internal approvals, and the
tobacco-bill awaits submission of the Gubernatorial proposal.

Finally, there will be a symposium on Physician Unionization at Penn on
the 29th; anyone wishing details will receive a hyperlink providing key
details.  [it's free]
 
 

Memo:(Robert B. Sklaroff, MD, is a Montgomery County
medical oncologist. His Web site is
http://members.home.net/rsklaroff/homepage.html)