I know of one "boutique" practice in another town. It is an all-female group, and very open about their intent on not hiring male pediatricians or interviewing males. They do not see Medicaid unless one of their patients "becomes" Medicaid. They interview their patients to see if they fit into the practice. Seems like Cherry Picking to me and pretty sexist. This group makes me chuckle a bit, since one of the pediatricians I have known for 10 years - she is always proud to proclaim her views as much more liberal than my own (no surprise the members of this list). But when the ideas affect her personally, they don't sound so liberal after all, but rather selective! -gb ----- Original Message ----- From: "Herb Ruhs" <> To: "pedtalk" <> Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 4:10 PM Subject: An interesting article on a trend in Medicine For those of you interested in developments in the health care "industry" see http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12381 Jim Hightower writes a colum entitled "Concierge Doctors" that examines the phenomena of "boutique" practices, what I used to hear called "the carriage trade," and raises important questions about the social responsibilities of physicians. herb -- \\\\\ @ O O \ \__/ ////