750
DETROIT
THE JEWISH NEWS
3 ELUL 5753/ AUGUST 20, 1993
Sinai Physicians Ponder
New Care Option
Sinai's Physician Hospital Organization will ready the facility
for impending health-care reforms, officials say.
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
drafts its plan of health-care reform, doc-
tors and hospitals want to attract the
business of those the government promis-
es to insure. Through a system called
"managed competition," the government
is expected to bid on third-party payers
best equipped to deliver quality health
care at a low cost.
Sinai officials say third-party payers
can, in turn, contract with a PHO via a
"one-stop shopping trip." Currently, or-
ganizations like HMOs and PPOs con-
N
But He Was Good
To His Mother
11.
, --_- hey killed; they
kidnapped; they
-
robbed. But they
-
took care of family,
too.
Bugsy Siegel looked after
his longtime love, Virginia
Hill, in a glorious Los Angeles
mansion. Jack Guzik never
forgot to send a birthday or
Rosh Hashanah card. Dave
Berman was, in the words of
his daughter Susan, a terrific
father "who was a gangster,
not a gangster who was a fa-
ther."
An excerpt from Robert
Rockaway's new book on the
lives and crimes of Jewish
gangsters.
-,-;
11
Story on page 52
early 300 doctors have
teamed up with Sinai to
form a Physician Hospital
Organization — the answer,
some say, to the hospital's
survival during an era of health-care re-
form.
The PHO is a nonprofit corporation
which aims to make Sinai more compet-
itive. Legally separate from the hospital,
it provides a way for third-party payers
— such as insurance companies, health
maintenance organizations (HMOs), pre-
ferred provider organizations (PPOs) or
the government — to more easily con-
tract with doctors and medical facilities.
"If we don't have a contractual rela-
tionship (with third-party payers), they
will not send their patients to us," said
Alvin Strauchman, Sinai's assistant vice
president of business operations.
The PHO is not expected to directly
affect patients.
PHOs offer doctor services and hospi-
Some 280 of Sinai's doctors have joined the PHO.
tal facilities as a package to third-party
payers. The federal government, which
pays for Medicaid and Medicare, is the
largest third-party payer in the country.
Now, as the Clinton administration
Aging Advocate Appointed
tract with hospitals and doctors
separately — first with the hospital, then
with each individual doctor. When these
companies contract with a PHO, how-
SINAI page 19
HAW
Gov. Engler names Diane Braunstein to new post.
LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER
A
ging Michiganders have
found a new friend.
Diane Braunstein was re-
cently appointed by Gov.
John Engler as director of
the Office of Services to the Aging for the
State of Michigan. Her main task will be
in advocating for the elderly.
A graduate of Ohio's Kenyon College,
Ms. Braunstein began her career in her
native New York in the late 1970s. She
worked for a congressman in Manhattan,
dealing with the problems of constituents.
Much of her energy went to combining
religious groups into a Meals on Wheels
program — crossing denominational lines
and getting well-balanced meals to those
who cannot feed themselves.
Following her New York stint, Ms.
Braunstein has worked as deputy staff
director of the U.S. Senate Special Com-
mittee on Aging and as director of re-
search and policy development for the
White House Conference on Aging.
While serving on the White House con-
ference, Ms. Braunstein was privy to all
projects, services and issues considered
for aging Americans.
"It was an opportunity to send a staffer
to interview the National Institute on
Aging and practically every department
of the federal government to see what
they are doing in this area," Ms.
Braunstein said. "We learned about ev-
erything from volunteer seniors in the
Forest Department to NASA technology
being used in bracelets to track
Alzheimer's patients and ways to allevi-
ate bedsores."
In her new position in the Engler ad-
ministration, Ms. Braunstein will take
her knowledge of housing, pension and
long-term care issues to fight for what
she calls "the group which volunteers
more than anyone else in our communi-
ty."
"I see my role as not only to advocate
for the senior citizens in the state of
Michigan, but to plan for the aging baby
boomers. The first baby boomer will turn
50 and be eligible for AARP (American
Association of Retired Persons) mem-
bership Jan. 1, 1996. Something we've
AGING page 22
Boom Or Bust
With low interest, mortgage
companies are profiting.
Page 28
Teeing Off
Women's rights are rippling
through area fairways.
Page 39
New trends at school
and life on campus.
Page 115
Contents on page 3