In Making Important Practice Decisions, Treat Dissenters With Respect

If you're like most physicians, you have probably given some recent thought to selling your practice or merging with one or more other groups.  If you are part of a group practice, it's quite possible that all members of the group might not agree on a single course of action.  Keep in mind that even if your corporate agreements say that "majority rules", dissenting shareholders may have certain rights under state law, including the right to fair value for their shares in the practice.  For an idea of what can happen if these dissenter's rights are ignored, have a look at this recent article on Indystar.com.

IBC and Highmark Call Off Merger

In what is surely to be a bright spot for most physician in Pennsylvania, Independence Blue Cross and Highmark announced today that they are withdrawing their request to merge.  According to a report by the Philadelphia Inquirer this afternoon, the boards of two companies met today and decided they could not live with the condition that the Pennsylvania Insurance Department would have imposed on the merged entity.  As reported earlier on this Blog, the controversial condition was that the merged entity could not use the Blue Cross trademark.