FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1995                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
     JUSTICE DEPARTMENT APPROVES PROPOSAL TO FORM PHYSICIAN
        NETWORK JOINT VENTURE IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE AREA
                                
     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two Memphis, Tennessee, health care
organizations will be allowed to form a network that will offer
primary care and specialist physician services to self-insured
employers and third-party payers in the Memphis area under a
proposal approved today by the Department of Justice's Antitrust
Division.
     The Department said that the proposed network by Mid-South
Physician Alliance Inc. and the Mid-South Health Plan will
benefit consumers by offering an alternative to existing health
care delivery systems.
     The Department's position was stated in a business review
letter from Assistant Attorney General Anne K. Bingaman, in
charge of the Antitrust Division, to counsel for the Mid-South
Physician Alliance and the Mid-South Health Plan.
     The Alliance will provide physician services in exchange for
either a payment for each patient covered or compensation under a
fee-for-service schedule with at least 20 percent of the fees due
each physician held back for a "risk pool."  This money will be
distributed to participating physicians only if the panel of
doctors as a group meets established efficiency and quality
objectives.  
     The Health Plan will contract with third-party payers much
on the same basis.
     The Alliance's physician providers will participate in the
network on a nonexclusive basis.  Additionally, information
provided by the parties and third-party payers indicates that the
expected concentrations of physicians will not lead to the
creation of market power or anticompetitive effects.
     Under the Department's business review procedure, an
organization may submit a proposed action to the Antitrust
Division and receive a statement as to whether the Division will
challenge the action under the antitrust laws.
     A file containing the business review request and the
Department's response may be examined in the Legal Procedure Unit
of the Antitrust Division, Room 3235, Department of Justice,
Washington, D.C.  20530.  After a 30-day waiting period, the
documents supporting the business review will be added to the
file.
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