State roundup: Docs fight over HMO in Fla.; Striking health law wouldn't stop reform in Minn.; Calif. mulls public employee 'Bill of Rights'

A selection of state health care stories from Florida, Minnesota, California and Georgia.

Health News Florida: Doctors Fight Over Universal HMO
Two doctors who are among Florida's most aggressive fundraisers for the Republican Party have had a nasty falling-out over control of an HMO. Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah, a prominent Broward cardiologist, has filed suit against Dr. Akshay Desai, the chairman and CEO of Universal Health Care. Universal, founded in 2002, is a fast-growing Medicare HMO based in St. Petersburg (Gentry, 4/3).

Minneapolis Star Tribune: A Health Care Ruling Not Apt To End Minn.'s Reform Efforts 
If the U.S. Supreme Court pulls the plug on all or part of the federal health care law, hold off on scrawling R.I.P. on reform efforts in Minnesota. The path might change but the momentum won't die, say some observers and industry leaders. "There's enough happening on the reform side, you can't roll that one back. You can't stop it," said former U.S. Sen. David Durenberger, who now chairs a health policy institute at the University of St. Thomas. "Health systems are going to be hurt here, no question about that. But it's much less difficult to see us tackling this now than it will be in other parts of the country" (Crosby, 4/2).

Stateline: A Bill Of Rights For State Workers? 
It may not seem as though a "Public Employees' Bill of Rights" is an idea whose time has come in California. ... But for the bill's sponsor, Democratic Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, the very real, ongoing threat of major changes to the state's relationship with its employees is just proof that the legislation is needed. ... Stuart Bussey, president of the Union of American Physicians & Dentists, which is pushing the legislation, says some of the most important provisions for his members relate to oversight of employees who are required to maintain professional licenses, such as nurses (Maynard, 4/3). 

Georgia Health News: A Powerful Voice In Health Care - Q & A With David Cook 
If you add Medicaid and PeachCare beneficiaries to the members of the state employees' health plan, it comes to more than 2 million Georgians. The Department of Community Health, in charge of those three health programs, oversees the health care of more than 20 percent of the state's population. David Cook has presided over DCH as commissioner for more than a year (Miller, 4/2).