DAILY LOBO new mexico
The bird gets nervous
thursday
see Page 4
October 25, 2012
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Lovelace, ABQ Health Partners split by Svetlana Ozden news@dailylobo.com
The termination of the health insurance contract between ABQ Health Partners and Lovelace Health System forced thousands of patients, some of whom are UNM employees, to switch health care providers, or pay their health care costs out-of-pocket, in less than one month. UNM employees who choose to purchase health insurance through the University have the option to purchase a Presbyterian or Lovelace plan. ABQ HP is a network of 184 independent physicians that has been closely affiliated with Lovelace and formerly contracted with LHS to accept Lovelace health insurance. Lovelace CEO and President Ron Stern said at a meeting Tuesday that LHS received a letter last week from ABQ HP that terminates LHS’ contract, effective Nov. 8. He said LHS had a five-year contract with ABQ HP and that attempts to negotiate a new five-year contract were ineffective. Stern said ABQ HP submitted the contract and that, because he did not feel the contract was appropriate for LHS to sign, he requested additional time for the contract to be reviewed by the superintendent from the department of insurance to ensure it made sense. He said ABQ HP representatives gave LHS one week to review the contract but that the time span was insufficient to ensure it was properly reviewed, so the Nov. 8 termination date remained in place. “They gave us a proposal that didn’t make sense, not for economic reasons but the way they wanted to structure the agreement. We need some time to make sure it makes sense,” he said. “I’m not going to sign any agreement that I don’t think is in the best interest of you and all the health plan’s members we serve and the hospitals and all of our patients.” Stern said that after the meeting with ABQ HP, LHS learned that the company was sold to Healthcare Partners, a company in California, in September. He said he requested to speak with representatives from California, but that conversations with company representatives did not make a difference. “We said ‘Well, let’s get those people from California and sit down and talk with them, maybe they’ve got it figured out and they’ll solve the problem,’” he said. “Well it didn’t quite work that way, they stood firm and said here’s the deal take it or leave it … so I said ‘We’d rather lose health plan members than sign a bad deal.’” Stern said LHS will continue to hold meetings to help transfer members to new doctors and that members can call LHS or visit the LHS center for assistance. He said
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Daily Lobo volume 117
issue 47
that despite the conflict with ABQ HP, other doctors and medical practices in the area, such as New Mexico Orthopedics and the New Mexico Heart Institute, have supported LHS. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure you get a great doctor, and if you don’t like the first one, we’ll give you a second and if you don’t like the second, we’ll give you a third,” he said. “As this process began, we’ve been very surprised by the medical community at large … we’ve had doctors who said they’re standing up for Lovelace. We’ve had overwhelming support.” But Stern said LHS needs to open additional urgent care facilities and will look into facilities in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque. He said patients who visit urgent care facilities for immediate health care can use Lovelace hospital emergency room facilities at no additional cost during the transition period. Stern said LHS filed a lawsuit against ABQ HP because ABQ HP has exhibited illegal practices regarding relations with Medicare beneficiaries.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure you get a great doctor, and if you don’t like the first one, we’ll give you a second...” ~Ron Stern Lovelace president According to an article in the Albuquerque Journal, ABQ HP breached its contract with LHS by soliciting LHS members to utilize other insurance companies, interfering with business between LHS and its customers and violating state and federal regulations that govern marketing to Lovelace’s Medicare Advantage plan customers. “We’ve asked the courts to give us some relief on that issue,” Stern said. Lovelace Chief Programs Officer Marlene Baca said that although some Lovelace Health Plan members were told by ABQ HP representatives that patients can continue to see ABQ HP doctors until December, Lovelace will adhere to the contract termination date, which is Nov. 8. She said that, should a patient continue to go to ABQ HP, he or she should request that ABQ HP put in writing that its providers will continue to see Lovelace members
see Lovelace PAGE 3
Dr. Spaceman see Page 11
TAKES ONE TO FLAMENCO
Natalia Jacquez / Daily Lobo Flamenco student Dolores Garcia twirls in the “Points in Space” solo piece “Alegrias.” Garcia choreographed and performed the piece. See full story on Page 8.
Scientists do some fishy research by Janet McConnaughey The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — An eel undulating through coastal waters, powered by batteries and checking for mines. A jellyfish is actually a surveillance robot, powered by the atoms around it. Fins pick up intelligence while propelling a robot bluegill sunfish. The Office of Naval Research is supporting baby steps toward making those visions of the future a reality. For instance, the jellyfish work in Texas and Virginia is focused on how the creatures move in water, and how to mimic or even surpass their abilities. The robojellyfish is currently tethered to hydrogen and oxygen tanks, and ONR project manager Robert Brizzolara said he doesn’t plan to try making it move autonomously yet. There’s plenty still to learn about basic hydrodynamics. “We, as engineers, haven’t created anything that swims nearly as well as a very basic fish,” said Drexel University’s James Tangorra, who is working on a robotic bluegill. Partners at Harvard and the University of Georgia are studying the actual fish; he uses their findings to engineer imitations. “There are great things we can learn from fish … The way they propel themselves; the way in which they sense water.” Ultimately, the Navy wants “the next generation of robotics that would operate in that very Navy-unique
underwater domain,” said Jim Fallin, a spokesman for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, which is doing separate work in San Diego. One aspect is finding long-lived power sources to let drones loiter a long time to collect information, he said. Possible uses include spying, mapping, and mine detection and removal. The Navy is not the only agency paying for such research. In 2007, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency offered small business innovation research money for an underwater robot that could navigate rivers, inlets, harbors and coastal waters to check for general traffic, obstacles, things on and under the bottom, and “specific vessels of interest.” The ONR studies are more basic. The grants aren’t aimed as much at creating drones as at understanding how things move forward underwater, Brizzolara said. The Navy uses torpedo-shaped drones and tethered vehicles to detect mines and map the ocean floor. But propellers and jets can be easily tracked on radar and sonar. Robots modeled after water creatures could be both more efficient and harder to detect, and could move through perilous waters without endangering people, researchers say. The work isn’t all at universities. The Office of Naval Research opened a 50,000-square-foot robotics
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laboratory this year. A prototype dubbed Razor, developed at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., uses flippers for stealth. Like the jellyfish work and the University of Virginia studies on manta rays, the eel research at the University of New Orleans is all about hydrodynamics. The spark is UNO professor emeritus William Vorus’ theory that sinuous undulations, though a slow way to swim, should allow forward movement without creating a wake. Brandon M. Taravella, who studied under Vorus and is now an assistant professor of naval architecture and marine engineering at UNO, sees the robot eel as a possible surveillance tool. But the Office of Naval Research’s three-year, $900,000 grant is focused on making an eel and seeing whether it can swim without disturbing the water around it. Other scientists have checked real eels, Taravella said. “It’s pretty high-efficient ... but still has some wake. That’s why we’re not dropping eels into the tank.” Computer-generated models indicate just how a robot eel should move to get through the water without any drag. Creating one to do that is far from easy. Like many of the other projects, this one is still in early stages. Most of the time, the nameless firstyear prototype is hooked onto a
see Robots PAGE 3
TODAY
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