)
"�,u.nGTO -The Pen
tagon ys it a� in the
fi 1 1992 year, $129 billion
worth of military contra , an 8
percent d line.
Californi received 21.2
percent of the $112 billion
a arded in the United Sta a
Defense Department report
·d. Another $17 billion w
awarded to contractor in
American territories like Guam
and Puerto Rico.
Georgia nearly doubled the
value of i contra over 1991,
with a 1992 total of $3.8 billion,
while the value of Missouri'
contracts dropped 41 percent, to
3.7 billion.
Over all, the report aid,
military procurement rose in 11
stat and the District of Colum
bia but fell in 39 tates.
Princeton OW'-Rn
P dent
over racism
·gns,
PRINCETON, NJ-Incensed
by racist incidents and believ-
ing that Princeton University
administration does not care
about its' tudents of color's
needs, Paul McDonald, a Black
tudent, resigned from his posi
tion as student body president.
"It is time students of color
said, 'Enough,'" wrote Mc
Donald wrote.
Since 1982. be d, ...... .._� ....
reports on race relations have
been prepared by different st -
dent-facul ty groups at the
administration's reque t and,
according to Mcdonald, ig
nored. The university ad
ministration and students of
color have been at odds ince
May, when more than 500 stu
dents rallied to protest the Rod
ney King case.
Numerous students spoke of
racial harassment, saying they
had been excluded from class
room discussions and ignored
when bringing their complaints
to faculty members and ad
ministrators.
Dr. Ruth Simmons, who was
appointed the university's key
point person on race relations, is
moving in a direction to reach
common ground on the race
relations i ue by suggesting the
appointment of an ombudsmen
on race issues and organizing
the university's handling of
race-relations complaints.
By JEFF PARROTT
1AI'�1\i'-Mention of high health
care cos usually brings to mind �
like S400 per night pitals bills or
emcrgerq room fees that can more
of an emergency to a patient' pocket
boo than . of her physical health.
But haq>itals Y they also feel the
financial cn,uy;h from inefficiencies in
the entire health care system, forcing
them to pass these em on to individuals.
An example of the sort of problems imbe
way health care em are administered in
Michigan mspitaIs' currently working
its way through the ta attorney
general's office. '
Attorney General Frank Kelley is
charging two health care billing com
pani am several irxlividuals in separate
schemes of defrauding the state
Medicaid system of more than 5 mil
lion.
MEDICAID IS HFAL 111 C
coverage for th:: poor, fw1ded 60 percent
by the federal govemmcntand 40 percent
by the sta . Tbose seeking it must prove
financial need in a 23- page application.
In one fraud case, Kelley says Profes
sional Claims aOO Cash Managers, Inc.,
of Southfield billed Medi . d for roo
rvi than were y provided y
S1. John' H ital in Detroit, to ture
o $3.8 million. If convicted, Pa::;M
owner and p ident Richard Bartlett, of
Ole faces Up to 60 years in prison
and/or $750, in fines for 15 COWl of
:Medicaid fraud. A Laming district cou
judge will 'd March 19 if tbere .
enough evidence to try Bartlett on the
cbarg .
P CM W HIRED by St. John's
to perform billing for opesating and
recovery room services. PCCM alleged
ly took a percenta of the reimb
men it w able to obtain for
bospital, . tandan1 procedure for in-
dependent billing contractors.
St John's HospitaLis not accused of
any wrong doing in the matter. Kelly
began his investigation wh nth! bospital
reported it w receiving reimburse-
ments that were ex ive.
But th trusting 'of the hospital'
bookkeeping to outsid sources brin up
a question that a health care ad
ministrators and elected official must
fa:
Is the method of billing for hospital
care in need of improvement, as to
avoid future abuses?
LA schools:
America's third' -
world city
LOS ANGEL s--Over-
crowded cla room, leaky
roofs, outdated textbooks,
metal detectors, and police of
ficers patrolling schools are
common in America's inner
city schools, according to a
recent article in The New York
Times.
But Los Angeles school ys
tem are facing the wor t
demographic and economic
upheaval temming [rom un
controlled immigration and
re ion. There i an impend
ing trike, a debate urrounding
the impending divi ion of the
large di trict, and a deci ion
. regarding th uperintendent.
Spending per tudent i now
at $4,187 compared to ew
York' S7 . Enrollment of
Los Angeles' 51 chool is at
641, . The di trier' budget
i $3.9 billion dollars and is car
rying a S400 million deficit.
Students eern ympathetic
to teachers and are well aware
of the state budget cut gao
"Th government, they're
the ones with th m n y, and
they're hurting a lot," id
Emesto Fu nt .a enior at Bel
mont High. "It just rnak me
not believ . th ys m. My
expectatio diminish."
woo
t'
•
·
·
whi h greatly
xceeds in-patient volume, will remain
varied the rd, he id. H w-
. ever, be called the uniform billing for
in-patients a " tep in � right directi n."
Medicaid a para form be-
ca they re required to collect dif
ferent information from th fed ral
government, like whether or not the
patient' covered by any other insurers,
Smith id,
Another rea on for a unique
Medicaid form Ii in tbe hu volumes
of claims ubrnitted. Beca tre depart
ment pays m re than 50 million claims a
year, or about 200 (XX) a day, the forftls
must el ctronicallyscinn irsteadof
proces cd by a per.;on at a key I'd -
done by ther payers, he ill,
MITH ED hi depart-
m nt i continuallv lookine 1 wa to
to peed up claim proa:ssi1l12. 1O:!rOJ111C
billing. will be imp emented
1995, he id,
This will allow health care-providc
topre-editardca h loomis
delay claim payment, m1 will be much
r than mailing � forms to Io.AIDUI ...
Smith said th:: average claim
ut 17 days from the time .
department receiv it until the
Treasury prin a reimbwsemen chcdc;
Johnson of the Michigan Hosoital
. ation . d Medicaid
iseditsownformbeca itw
to \WIer a waiver from the federallkal
Care Finance Administration, whic
contro Medicare nationally.Shcsaid iO
addition to a uniform billing fomt.,
bospi taladrninistmto would li1ct
th:: data on the foom to appear in
same order for each one.
"Manual adj�tmen ml.Bt be made
by th provider when payers disagree on
which order they want the data to appear
on billing fonns" he said.
'Johnson predicted Medicaid will
eventually switch to a uoiform billing
form for out-paden well, but not for
another coupl of years.
State continu s,
_.-- I "1' " ••
nufacturing jobs
, . , �
Optimist Club's 'King Day' Program - Wayne County <rOmmissioner Edna Bell presents plaques of
the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Paul Hubbard, president of New Detroit Inc. and to Dr. Marvin
Davis (right), president of the Optimist Club Foundatiorl. The presentations were made at the Optimist
Club's annual breakfast in honor of the Dr. Martin L�ther King Jr. National Holiday. Paul Hubbard
delivered the keynote address at the breakfast.
went to
•
pi
By LYNN GOLUBOWSKI
Capital New. Servlc.
By MATT STRATTON
Capital New. Servlc.
IAN ING -Mi higan" manufactur
ing jobs de rcascd by nearly 10 percent
since 1 ( and the trend is expected t
continue, aid 'tat Demographer Ching
li Wan .
The d din has forced lay ofls in
many areas lea mg w rkers to fend for
th rnsclvcs in . earch r ther oft n
. carcc, pportuni ti .
Service-related industri ,includin
wh lc ale 'arul retail, have increased
employment -by more than 20 percent
during th me tim period, Wang said.
Many worke who are laid 00.' from
higher paying rnanuf turing j are
faced with a ch icc of a pting I wer
paying rvice jot or .uP zradin their
, kills.
/0
-( II...J
Stites added that th:: object of the.
training is to gel the workers a replace
ment wage that is the same as or higher
than the job they held before.
"The days of th! high-wage and low
skill jobs are at an end," said Sti . "It'
kills that employers are paying for noW
and rot the body any roo re. " Man�
ing today looks much different than it �
in the 1950>. A change to world �
competition has emphasized 8 change �
technology and more kills are neede<l.
Sti tes said.
"Even peoples woo are working need
to realize that tilt roost trarsportab •
thing they have are th::ir skills and �
once can take that away from them," �
StH . ::
Tbe J b Training Partnership Act
27 local rvice delivery areas around tl1i
, late, one being the Ingham Intennedia •
ScOOoI Di trict. :
Robert Thelen, director of career
planning and, placement servi at tqI!
d' trict, said that most compani an!
hiringmulti- killed�mputerlitera .
people that can work in teams. I :
People who come in seeking addH
tional training are given an me",'
of their present abilities aOO what skil .
they will require to get them to thel�
d :: xl career, 1belen id.
·i
I
the intent
Teller I ,
Rep. Jarnc M' utt, R·Mldl nU, cis
pute uu rgum 'nl! y 'ym 1 tbc ur-
also