Page 24 - Catherine Dodd News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

industry. the way that it is described, this is something that is happening in the industry. so i would imagine, as a representative of the industry, you would know whether or not these types of agreements are taking place. >> i appreciate your concern on the issue. yes, sutter is a valued member, as well as all the rest of the hospitals, but we believe that hospitals will act in the best interest and built and act in accordance to law. we would like to see the facts play out. we are not in a position to make a comment on that particular case. supervisor campos: if you are a consumer...

faith in the industry to act responsibly. you are an association that represents that industry and you have here a complaint that makes very serious allegations about a very prominent member of that industry. the way that it is described, this is something that is happening in the industry. so i would imagine, as a representative of the industry, you would know whether or not these types of agreements are taking place. >> i appreciate your concern on the issue. yes, sutter is a valued member, as well as all the rest of the hospitals, but we believe that hospitals will act in the best...

as well as all the rest of the hospitals, but we believe that hospitals will act in the best interest and built and act in accordance to law. we would like to see the facts play out. we are not in a position to make a comment on that particular case. supervisor campos: if you are a consumer watching this hearing and paying attention, can your association guaranteed to those of us who are patients, who are paying for these costs, that those types of agreements are being entered into by hospitals and insurance companies? >> cha is not in a position to make any guarantees on behalf of a...

the insurance companies -- this is what the complaint says. "contains provisions which prevent health-care insurers, referred to as payers in the agreement, from challenging the reasonableness of the sutter hospital bill." this is accomplished through audit policies. these policies provide that question an opinion regarding medical necessity, reasonable of charges and the propriety of providers's usual and customary practices are beyond the scope of an audit and shall not be part of any audit permitted under the agreements. in other words, what they are saying is there are agreements...

greatly appreciated. we look forward to hearing from you in the future as well. now we are going to hear from our very own catherine dodd. as was noted earlier, you will not find anyone who knows more about these issues than she does. so, to our wonderful director of san francisco health services. >> thank you very much. i have to say that the fix sort of precluded me from even speaking to her before this, i had nothing to do with that comment. [laughter] it is great to be here, and i want to thank you for shedding light and shining a light on the increasing cost of health care for o...