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Show Page 5 The Signpost Monday, April 4,2005 Business Editor: Candice Dallin Business Phone: 626-7624 Health care, health insurance under microscope SB 61 postponed while task force studies integrated health care "We worry about the degree of consolidation among health care providers in our state. By LISA MANN -correspondent | The Signpost The Utah State Legislature performed a biopsy on Intermountain Health Care during the recent legislative session - and the results still aren't in. Senate Bill 61 began life as a taxation bill aimed specifically at IHC and its integrated health care system. The bill changed focus with each of its incarnations. From taxing IHC to forcing IHC to divest itself of its insurance business, the final substitution creates a task force to study not just IHC but integrated health care in Utah. Steven B. Bateman, CEO of Ogden Regional Medical Center, said that Utah's health care system boasts "some of the nation's lowest per-capita costs and some of the country's finest quality." Bateman also worries about other issues that need to be -Steven B. Bateman, CEO of Ogden Regional Medical Center McKay-Dee Hospital located at 4401 Harrison Blvd. in Ogden and is part of the IHC network. addressed. "We worry about the degree of consolidation among health care providers in our state ... the growing proportion of uninsured persons, insufficient emphasis on disease prevention, and a fragmented health care financing system," Bateman said. Over the next two years, six senators and nine representatives will work with health care experts, accounting professionals, the state auditor's staff and representatives from IHC and other health care facilities around the state. According to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, the Privately Owned Health Care Organization Task Force is "the evolution of a proper process ... to make sure the best interests of the state of Utah are served." IHC spokesman Daron Cowley said that the health care giant is supportive of the task force initiative. "We're certainly going to be working with the committee. We're sure they're going to be fair and objective," Cowley said. IHC has committed to provide information requested by the task force when it begins work this spring. Bateman stands in agreement. "If the legislators assigned to the task force ... can objectively, carefully and See Health page 7 Women continue to break 'glass ceiling' Businesswomen rise to high-ranking positions By MEGAN PAGE correspondent | The Signpost Businesswomen are finally cracking into the ranks of power with preparation, as diversity becomes an agenda for American board rooms. Yet while some companies are appointing women to senior levels, the pace of change is still slow and patchy. According to Budget & Institutional Research, as of fall 2004, women accounted for only 330 of 1,092 Weber State University students heading for business administration degrees. The WSU population as, President F. Ann Millner said, the total enrollment of men and women is 50/50. Millner said WSU has so many programs in which women are predominant, such as medical fields and education, that there is less enrollment than found at other universities in the business field. Roughly 22 percent of U.S. "Millner has been a leader for years, and her presidency is the ultimate recognition of leadership and skills ... it is a wonderful example to faculty and students/' - Winn Stanger, director WSU Career Services Center college presidents, noted as one of the top executive positions by the U.S. Department of Labor, are female. WSU is one of the rare universities that operates under the leadership of a woman. "Millner has been a leader for years, and her presidency is the ultimate recognition of leadership and skills ... it is a said she ignores the glass ceiling rule that is imposed upon women. "Barriers are those you acknowledge and impose yourself," Call said. Kim Kimber, WSU student, said she has never felt there was a glass ceiling. "I think it was a function of having women who were tall enough to break through it," Kimber said. The lack of women in the business world may account for the increase in women entrepreneurs. In the 2002 issue of Ms magazine, 1.9 million women entrepreneurs said they went into business for themselves because they were tired of the "glass ceiling" that made climbing the corporate ladder so difficult. "It's clear that more and more women are refusing to make such an impossible choice," said Rhonda Boren, CEO of Mineral Resources President F. Ann Millner discusses tuition increases at a meeting International. "They want their earlier this year. Millner was named president of WSU in 2002. professional lives and they want their families. They don't Women now constitute 22 percent of U.S. college presidents. want to be forced to choose one "Others see it and think, 'Hey, at the expense of the other." wonderful example to faculty and students," said Winn 1 could do it,' and people see Boren spoke on campus Stanger, director of WSU Career women as credible and begin to Thursday during the Ralph Nye accept it," Millner said. Services. lecture series. DeLonnie Call, vice Millner said that every time "This is the first generation women move into an executive president of human resources at ClearOne Communication, position, it has an impact. See Women page 7 |