Don't shoot the messenger: Path opens for contract talks

An agreement allows physicians to use a third-party messenger to negotiate health plan contracts. It could also help unions recruit more physicians.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Nov. 12, 2001.

Union organizers say a proposed settlement agreement recently reached with the Dept. of Justice empowers them to continue helping independent physicians work out contracts with health plans.

The settlement -- which will have impact nationwide -- says it's OK for independent, competing physicians to use the same union member as their "third-party messenger" to facilitate a contract agreement with a health plan. The agreement still needs, and is expected to receive, final approval from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

"We have set a legal precedent that should stand up in any court," said orthopedic surgeon Christopher D. Casscells, MD, one of the Delaware physicians who joined the Federation of Physicians and Dentists and then used the union as his messenger in the case that brought about the settlement agreement. "This spells the end for the insurance companies' way of doing business. ... It's important to re-empower doctors."

Under the proposed settlement, unions would be allowed to make objective comparisons between contracts that an individual physician is offered from different health plans. Also, the union messenger would be allowed to analyze contracts that different physicians are offered and publish results as long as competitively sensitive information isn't divulged and no recommendations on whether to reject or accept a term are made.

Unions representing doctors and independent physicians who have joined unions say the settlement is important because they'll be able to continue the work they've been doing without the threat of running afoul of federal antitrust regulations. It also puts into writing what unions can and cannot do for independent physicians. [...]