STATE OF MAINE
DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL & FINANCIAL REGULATION
BUREAU OF INSURANCE

 

In re: Application of Associated	)
Hospital Services of Maine, d/b/a	)
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of	)
Maine, to Convert to a Stock	)
Insurer and Voluntarily Liquidate	)
and Dissolve	)	MAINE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION’S
	)	REQUEST FOR LEAVE TO FILE
and	)	EXPERT TESTIMONY
	)
In re: Application of Anthem Health	)
Plan of Maine, Inc. to Acquire the	)
Assets of Associated Hospital Service	)
of Maine, d/b/a Blue Cross and Blue	)
Shield of Maine, and Related Transactions	)
Docket No. INS-99-14	)
(Consolidated

Maine Medical Association ("MMA") requests leave file expert testimony in this proceeding. In support of this request, MMA states as follows:

Following a prehearing conference in October, the Superintendent issued a Procedural Order dated November 4, 1999. The Procedural Order established March 2, 2000 as the deadline for the filing of expert reports. The Order also sets March 28, 2000 as the deadline for filing "Prefiled Testimony and Exhibits." The Order does not state that expert witnesses will be barred from testifying at the hearing altogether if no expert report is filed with the Superintendent.

On March 2, 2000, MMA filed a request for the enlargement of time to designate additional experts, file expert reports, and designate additional issues because at that time, MMA was still waiting to receive additional discovery from the Applicants. By Order dated March 8, 2000, the Superintendent: (1) denied as premature MMA’s request to add witnesses and issues in the future; and (2) denied MMA’s request for additional time to file experts’ reports, stating that "MMA may not file any reports of experts or present any expert testimony in this proceeding except by leave of the Superintendent."

In holding that MMA may not file any reports of experts or present any expert testimony in this proceeding except by leave of the Superintendent, the Superintendent noted that the "purpose of having reports filed by March 2^nd is to allow the parties to consider the reports in drafting prefiled testimony." Nothing in the Superintendent’s Procedural Order dated November 4, 2000, however, states the purpose for requiring the filing of expert reports by March 2^nd. MMA had concluded, based on the Procedural Order, that expert reports had to be filed with the Superintendent only if MMA had commissioned an expert to produce a report and/or expected to introduce the report at the hearing. MMA understood, further, that an expert report would be required only if the expert’s testimony relied on actuarial reports, so that other parties to the proceeding would have time to review and analyze the reports and the methodologies used to generate the reports prior to the hearing. MMA did not understand that it would be barred from introducing all expert testimony at the hearing if it did not produce an expert report by March 2^nd.

MMA has engaged the consulting firm, Reden & Anders, Ltd., 60 South Sixth Street, Suite 3430, Minneapolis, MN 55402, to assist it in analyzing the proposed transaction. MMA has not asked Reden & Anders to produce any expert report because MMA does not intend to introduce any expert report at the hearing. Instead, MMA presently anticipates that Jay Boekhoff and Randy Herman of Reden & Anders, Ltd. will provide expert testimony related to some or all of the following issues that were identified in MMA's Designation of Experts, dated March 2, 2000:

• Whether the Anthem purchase of BCBSME is likely to result in lower administration costs, risk charges, contingency fees, and other expense components of the proposed rates.
• Whether BCBSME can continue to operate successfully in the current Maine marketplace without acquisition by Anthem.
• Whether Anthem will provide appropriate and adequate support to providers engaged in managed care contracts with Anthem. Most particularly, whether Anthem will provide appropriate and adequate support in cases in which providers are providing services under risk-sharing contracts.

Reden & Anders’ testimony on these issues will be based upon observations and analysis of materials that have been produced by the Applicants. The testimony will not be based on an actuarial report or analysis of any MMA data base or actuarial model. The testimony will be confined to the observations and analysis of Applicant materials.

For these reasons, MMA respectfully requests that the Superintendent grant MMA leave to file expert testimony on the issues set forth above on or before March 28, 2000.

 

 

 

 

Dated: March 17, 2000

Michel A. LaFond

Sulloway & Hollis, P.L.L.C.

Attorney for Maine Medical Association

9 Capitol Street, Box 1256

Concord, New Hampshire 03302-1256

603-224-2341

603-226-2405 - fax

e-mail: mal@sulloway.com

 

 

 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

The undersigned hereby certifies that on March 17, 2000, a copy of Maine Medical Association’s Designation of Experts was served via United States mail, first class postage prepaid, on each of the persons listed below.

Robert S. Frank, Esq. Michele M. Garvin, Esquire

Harvey & Frank Ropes & Gray

Two City Center One International Place

P.O. Box 126 Boston, Massachusetts 02110-2624

Portland, Maine 04112 e-mail: Mgarvin@Ropesgray.com

e_mail: frank@harveyfrank.com (Central Maine Healthcare Corporation;

(Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Maine) Central Maine Partners Health Plan)

Judith Chamberlain, Esq. Robert I. Goldman

State of Maine Maine Counsel of Senior Citizens

Department of the Attorney General 27 Bowery Beach Road

6 State House Station Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107

Augusta, Maine 04333_0006 e-mail: Rgoldma1@maine.rr.com

e_mail: judy.chamberlain@state.me.us (Maine Council of Senior Citizens)

(Bureau of Insurance)

Bonnie Post

William H. Laubenstein, Esq. Executive Director of the Maine Ambulatory

State of Maine Care Coalition

Department of the Attorney General P. O. Box 390

6 State House Station Manchester, Maine 04351

Augusta, Maine 04333_0006 e-mail: bdpmacc@mint.net

e_mail: bill.laubenstein@state.me.us (Sacopee Valley Health Center, Regional

(Office of the Attorney General) Medical Center at Lubec, Eastport Health

Care, Inc., and the Maine Ambulatory

Gregory A. Brodek, Esq. Care Coalition)

Duane, Morris & Heckscher, LLP

15 Columbia Street, 4^th Floor John Dieffenbacher-Krall

Bangor, Maine 04401_6355 Executive Director

e_mail: gabrodek@duanemorris.com Maine People’s Alliance

(Maine Health Alliance) 192 State Street

Portland, Maine 04101

e-mail: MPA@gwi.net

(Maine People’s Alliance)

 

 

 Joseph P. Ditre, Esq. Kellie P. Miller, M.S.

Consumer Health Law Program Executive Director

One Weston Court, Level One Maine Osteopathic Association

P.O. Box 2490 693 Western Avenue

e_mail: jditre@mainecahc.org Manchester, Maine 04351

(Consumers for Affordable Health Care e-mail: meosteo@mint.net

Foundation/Coalition) (Maine Osteopathic Association)

Donald E. Quigley, Esquire James B. Zimpritch, Esquire

General Counsel Jeffrey M. White, Esquire

465 Congress Street, Suite 600 mailto:Mgarvin@Ropesgray.commailto:Rgoldma1@maine.rr.commailto:bdpmacc@mint.netmailto:MPA@gwi.netmailto:gsmith@ctel.netCatherine R. Connors, Esquire

Portland Maine 04101_3537 Pierce Atwood

e_mail: quigld@mail.mmc.org One Monument Square

(Maine Medical Center) Portland, Maine 04101

(207) 791_1100

Sandra L. Parker, Esq. (Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc.)

John Doyle, Jr., Esq.

Attorneys for MHA, Inc. Edward Miller

150 Capitol Street Executive Director

Augusta, Maine 04330 American Lung Association of Maine

e_mail: sparker@themha.org 122 State Street

jdoyle@preti.com Augusta, Maine 04330

(MHA, Inc.) email: emiller@mainlung.org

 

Michel A. LaFond

Attorney for Maine Medical Association

9 Capitol Street, Box 1256

Concord, New Hampshire 03302-1256

 

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