News in brief - June 25, 2001

Arizona HMOs cut losses - More rely on employer for insurance - Kaiser pilots history program - Tiered benefits have effect

Arizona HMOs cut losses

Arizona HMOs have slowed their record losses, but some of the largest continue to bleed red ink, according to first-quarter reports filed with the Arizona Dept. of Insurance.

UnitedHealthcare in Arizona reported a year 2000 loss of nearly $35 million, but it trimmed its first-quarter loss to less than $2 million. Health Net of Arizona reported a year-end loss of nearly $25 million, but the firm's $5.4 million loss in the first quarter suggests it is starting to rein in costs. And Aetna U.S. Healthcare's first-quarter profit of nearly $400,000 contrasts with the company's loss of more than $15 million last year.

HMO officials attributed their brighter bottom lines to stronger efforts toward cost control.

More rely on employer for insurance

Even though health care premiums are rising sharply, the percentage of working adults covered by employer-based health insurance rose from 72.2% in 1997 to 73.3% in 1999, according to data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Kaiser pilots history program

At its Oakland, Calif., Pediatric Lipid Clinic, Kaiser Permanente is testing a patient software program that gathers detailed information about a patient's family medical history and assesses the genetic risk of a heart attack. If the pilot project is successful, Kaiser will expand the project to include software programs that assess a patient's risk of developing other diseases.

Tiered benefits have effect

Drugs to treat high cholesterol, gastrointestinal disorders and non-sedating antihistamines are the classes of drugs most affected by three-tiered pharmacy benefits, according to a Scott-Levin survey of HMO pharmacy executives.

The respondents indicated that those classes of drugs are the most affected by prescription drug benefits that require patients to pay more for brand-name or non-formulary drugs because they are highly utilized and have many therapeutic equivalents.