ROCHESTER, NY, November 29, 2005 - The profits and reserves of some high-profile nonprofit health care organizations -- among them certain BlueCross BlueShield plans - are being closely watched in some states. Such scrutiny is likely to continue, particularly with the rising number of uninsured people and the threat of cutbacks in Medicaid and other health coverage. Any type of nonprofit health care organization that experiences significant positive earnings or reserves could draw similar attention and questions about its role in the community.
INQUIRY examines this issue in its latest Dialogue, "If Nonprofit Doesn't Mean 'No Profit,' How Much Is Enough in Health Care?" The new feature, a collaboration with the Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care, offers a variety of voices on current, major issues as they arise in the nonprofit health sector. The article appears in the fall issue of INQUIRY and can be found on the journal's Web site at www.inquiryjournal.org under "Current Issue."
- Mark Bartlett, M.A., executive vice president and chief financial officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in Detroit.
- Michael DeLucia, Ph.D., J.D., senior assistant attorney general and director of charitable trusts in the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office in Concord.
- Charles Goheen, M.S.M., chief financial officer of the Fallon Community Health Plan in Worcester, Mass.
- John O'Brien, M.B.A., president and chief executive office of UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc., in Worcester.
- Gerald Wedig, Ph.D., professor and researcher in organization economics, corporate finance and governance in health care organizations at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, in New York.
- Bruce McPherson, M.H.A., executive director of the Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care, in Washington, D.C., moderated the session.