News in brief - March 10, 2003

N.C. Blues deal may be delayed - Medical REIT buys rival - Study: Doctors save with computers

N.C. Blues deal may be delayed

A decision on whether Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will be permitted to convert to a for-profit company might be delayed because the insurer made mistakes in handling customers' claims and underpaid them by millions of dollars.

The Blues said in February that "claims systems errors" between 1998 and 2002 resulted in the company's underpaying patients, hospitals and physicians by some $15 million.

The plan explained that it failed to take into account a 1998 state law that mandates claim payment at in-network levels for PPO patients who seek emergency department treatment with a problem a prudent layperson would deem to be an emergency.

Because a state law prohibits the North Carolina Insurance Dept. from approving a for-profit conversion if Blue Cross is out of compliance with state rules, the department might have to postpone the decision, expected in March, until all money is refunded, which could take five months, a department spokeswoman said.

Medical REIT buys rival

Windrose Medical Properties Trust, an Indianapolis-based medical properties real estate investment trust, announced on Feb. 19 it had acquired Nashville-based Medical Properties of America in a $68 million deal.

The deal includes $30 million in cash, plus Windrose is assuming $38 million in Medical Properties debt.

The real estate trust will take over 12 multi-tenant medical office buildings in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas owned by Medical Properties. Windrose said the acquisition would double its asset base.

Windrose acquires, develops, and manages various medical properties, like medical office buildings, outpatient treatment and diagnostic facilities, specialty hospitals and free-standing ambulatory surgery centers.

Study: Doctors save with computers

Physicians can save about $28,000 annually by using a top-of-the-line ambulatory computerized physician order entry system, according to a study by the Center for Information Technology Leadership.

The savings include about $27,000 in medication, radiology and laboratory costs and $1,000 from adverse drug event-related hospitalizations, according to the report, which evaluated the cost effectiveness of computerized order entry systems in the outpatient environment. CITL is a nonprofit research organization created by Partners Health Care, a Boston-based health system with about 10 hospitals.