Health Care: Morgan emerges as top regional official for BCBS

FORT COLLINS – The HSI Health Plans Inc./Blue Cross Blue Shield merger is complete, and HSI’s vice president of marketing, Karen Morgan, has been named team leader for BCBS’ new Northern Colorado operation. HSI CEO Chuck Mabry and HMO chief Don Shovein have resigned.”As regional manager, I’ll be responsible for operations in this region covering Larimer and Weld counties, east to parts of Nebraska and Kansas and areas to the west as well,” Morgan said. “This office will provide key services to members, including sales and service, group services and billing and claims.”
Twenty-six of HSI’s 56 employees will remain in the Fort Collins office, and efforts will be made to place the remaining employees in other BCBS offices, Morgan said.
“During this process, there’s been some trepidation but a lot of optimism and desire (on the part of BCBS) to work with the local community to meet their needs,” Morgan said. “The merger allows them to make it happen.”
The Blues’ acquisition of HSI boosts the insurer to the top position as the state’s largest health plan, with a membership of more than 390,000 covered lives.Loveland company acquired by R&R
LOVELAND – Fiscal Information Inc. of Loveland has been acquired by the Reynolds and Reynolds Co., of Dayton, Ohio.
In a move Fiscal Information vice president Noreen Prindiville called positive, the company, which supplies information systems to physician practices, joins a leading supplier of integrated information-management systems .
In addition to Fiscal Information of Loveland, Reynolds and Reynolds will also acquire the assets of Fiscal Information Inc. of Daytona Beach, Fla. The two companies reported combined 1996 sales of about $10 million.
Reynolds and Reynolds, a leading provider of integrated information-management systems and related value-added services to automotive, health-care and general business markets, reported fiscal 1996 revenues of $1.1 billion. The company has plans to aggressively expand its position in the health-care systems marketplace, said David R. Holmes, Reynolds’ chairman, president and CEO.
It serves more than 35,000 physicians representing 90 specialties in all types of practices, groups and integrated health-care delivery networks.
“The acquisition takes us from a privately held to a publicly held corporation,” Prindiville said. “And with all the mergers and acquisitions taking place now, we feel we can now offer more stability to our employees and our customer base.”
The proliferation of health-maintenance organizations and managed care has necessitated a lot more information and automation to track costs, network information and glean data from the system, Prindiville said. By aligning with Reynolds and Reynolds, the smaller company can take advantage of the larger company’s financial strength, aggressive growth plans and large customer base.New bill will reduce Medicare charges
A budget bill is making its way through Congress that would impose new limits on what Medicare beneficiaries pay for outpatient services such as cataract surgery, hernia operations and a variety of diagnostic tests.
Beneficiaries are ordinarily responsible for 20 percent of what the government determines to be a reasonable amount, but due to a gap in the federal Medicare law, there is no limit to the amount patients may be asked to pay for outpatient services.
Since 1992, Medicare has used a fee schedule to pay doctors, but no such system exists for outpatient services. The bill would establish a fee schedule for outpatient services, which would make the patient responsible for 20 percent of the Medicare-approved amount rather than 20 percent of whatever the hospital charges.
A recent boom in outpatient care can be attributed to new surgical technology and advances in anesthesia that have reduced the need for overnight stays, and managed-care companies are pushing hospitals harder than ever to release patients as soon as possible.
Medicare provisions are almost certain to be included in any bill that becomes law and would take place in 1999, marking the biggest changes in Medicare since the creation of the program in 1965.Helen Taylor can be reached at (970) 221-5400, (970) 356-1683 or (800) 440-3506 or via e-mail at htaylor@ncbr.com. Her fax number is (970) 221-5432.