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Program restores

The state Department of Health Services agreed Nov. 17 to restore funding to a health-care program for low-income men with prostate cancer. Mark Litwin, a UCLA professor of urology and researcher at the Jonsson Cancer Center, directs the IMPACT (Improving Access, Counseling and Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer) program.

Ongoing negotiations

UCLA Medical Center and the UCLA Faculty Practice Group, collectively known as UCLA Healthcare, are negotiating new contracts with Blue Cross, with the goal of continuing as providers under the Blue Cross Plus and Blue Cross PPO medical plans. In a Nov. 9 e-mail to the campus, Vice Chancellor Steven A. Olsen explained that UCLA Healthcare wants fair-market reimbursement rates to allow it to maintain current service levels and to sustain its hospitals and faculty practices. If an agreement cannot be reached, employees will be notified. And UCLA would provide affected Blue Cross plan participants with a special enrollment period to switch to a different medical plan in order to retain their UCLA primary care physicians and medical groups. Questions? Call Campus Human Resources at (310) 794-0830 or Healthcare Human Resources at (310) 794-0500.