The AIDS Healthcare Foundation dropped a lawsuit against PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. that alleged the insurer failed to provide its members with HIV and AIDS access to specialists as required under state law. The Hollywood-based foundation, which provides specialized medical care to such patients, filed its motion to dismiss the case in Los Angeles Superior Court after deciding it was not worth the effort to pursue the year-old case on a variety of grounds.
New state regulations that will define what constitutes an AIDS specialist should resolve much of the dispute the foundation had with the Cypress-based insurer, said foundation counsel Tom Myers, who also admitted that several patients who had agreed to testify against the insurer had gotten cold feet. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation assisted in the drafting of the regulations.