Market share and the illusion of power. Can Blue Cross force hospitals to discount?

Researchers in health care financing have claimed that large private insurers like Blue Cross frequently exercise monopsony power to obtain discounts from normal hospital charges. They claim that the monopsony power derives from a large Blue Cross share of a given hospital 'cost shifting', whereby hospitals offset the discount by raising charges to less powerful customers. This paper re-examines both theoretically and empirically the conditions necessary for a private insurer to extract discounts from a hospital.

DF-2 septicemia after splenectomy: epidemiology and immunologic response.

A case of DF-2 infection in an adult with septicemia, renal failure, and diffuse purpuric lesions with clotting abnormalities is presented. The patient had had splenectomy four years before, and had recently sustained a dog bite, both characteristics of previously reported infections caused by this gram-negative organism. Examination of the patient's immunologic response by the indirect fluorescent antibody technic revealed no IgM response and a significant IgG response.

Corynebacterium vaginale.

Corynebacterium vaginale is a sexually transmitted organism which was first recognized in 1953. It appears to utilize glycogen stored in vaginal epithelial cells, causing a malodorous vaginal discharge characterized by an abnormally high pH (5.0 to 5.