Health Care: Speculation of PacifiCare sale boosted stock

Rumors of PacifiCare Health Systems’ impending sale to CIGNA Corp. appear to have cooled. On Sept. 15, PacifiCare’s stock jumped 10 percent, to $77 a share in trading of 1.9 million shares, following a report that the company was targeted for acquisition.

Company officials at the company’s Denver headquarters would neither confirm nor deny the report, and PacifiCare’s stock prices have since edged down to $75 1/8.

PacifiCare is Colorado’s largest health plan. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has more than 350,000 members statewide and more than 18,000 members in Northern Colorado.

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Western Plains hires director

GREELEY – Scott Bosch has joined Western Plains Health Network as executive director of hospital operations. Bosch comes to the Network from Traverse City, Mich., where he most recently served in the role of executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Munson Medical Center in the Munson Healthcare System. Bosch has experience in leading hospital operations in smaller hospitals as well as in tertiary-care settings in a network.

In his role at Western Plains, Bosch will be responsible for overseeing the operations of four hospitals and will work closely with hospital administrative teams and medical staffs in Sterling, Brush, Greeley and Loveland.

Bosch will be based in the administration area at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, and he will have an office at McKee Medical Center in Loveland as well.

Bosch’s wife, Gail, is a hospital pharmacist. They have three sons: Brandon, 16; David, 14; and Matthew, 12.

Latest reports in on HMOs

The numbers are in. Seventeen of Colorado’s 19 HMOs have filed midyear financial reports with the Division of Insurance, and the Colorado Business Group on Health recently published 1998 Satisfaction Survey Results for 11 HMOs and five point-of-service health plans.

For PacifiCare of Colorado and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado, the HMOs with the largest market share in Northern Colorado, the results are as follows:

PacifiCare reported statewide membership of 358,240, revenues of $342,915,589 and net income before taxes of $18,369,780.

BCBS’ HMO, HMO Colorado, reported membership of 219,537, revenues totaling $155,342,699 and a loss of $7,573,118.

Satisfaction survey results show PacifiCare’s satisfaction rating “similar to most Colorado health plans” in all seven categories: overall satisfaction, willing to recommend plan, getting a specialist referral, receiving care you and your doctor believed was necessary, ease of choosing a personal physician, overall quality of care and services and availability of information relating to the plan.

HMO Colorado received a rating of “similar to most Colorado health plans” in the categories of choosing a physician and overall quality, but fell “lower than most Colorado health plans” in all other categories.

Neither plan received a rating of “higher than other plans” in any category.

MBF opens Longmont facility

LONGMONT – Medically-Based Fitness has branched out with a new facility in Longmont. The site, located in a recently completed building on the northwest corner of Main Street and Ken Pratt Boulevard, is MBF’s second. Another is located in Boulder.

MBF offers training programs to help people overcome physical challenges, such as chronic pain and illness, profound weakness and life-threatening disease.

The Medically-Based Fitness program uses cardiovascular and resistance training to counter ailments such as osteoporosis, diabetes, lung diseases and cancer. The 6,000-square-foot facility is staffed by a team of physicians, exercise physiologists and physical therapists who work with the patient’s family physician to create an individualized training program for the patient.

Program data indicate that patients between the ages of 87 and 96 who undergo eight weeks of resistance training have become up to 174 percent stronger. The MBF program is covered by Medicare and several other insurers.

District offers mammograms

Beginning Oct. 12, the Poudre Health Services District will offer screening mammograms at its north Fort Collins office.

The new service is limited to routine, or screening mammograms for women who do not have symptoms of breast disease. It is open to all district residents and discounted fees are available for women on limited incomes.

Patients must get a physician referral to participate, and those without a physician can seek referral assistance through the Health District.

Mammography is considered the most effective means for detecting breast cancer at an early age. Annual screenings are recommended for women over 50.

Booklet locates low-cost drugs

Information on how and where to get free and low-cost prescription drugs is now available through a new publication produced by the Cost Containment Research Institute in Washington, D.C.

The 32-page booklet, “Free and Low Cost Prescription Drugs,” lists all the drugs that are available to certain qualified groups for free or at a very low cost directly from the manufacturer.

Consumers can receive a copy by sending $3 postage and handling to Institute Fulfillment Center, Prescription Drug Booklet #: PD-370, P.O. Box 462, Elmira, NY 14902-0462. Or visit the Institute’s Web site: www.institute-dc.org.

Helen Taylor can be reached at (970) 221-5400, (970) 356-1683, (800) 440-3506 or via e-mail at htaylor@ncbr.com. Her fax number is (970) 221-5432.