Courts won't give doctors relief from unpaid Medical bills. (Health Care).

THE California Medical Association has reached the end of the line in its lawsuit against Blue Cross of California, Health Net Inc. and several other managed care plans over unpaid medical bills.

The California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that found health plans do not have to pay doctors for their unpaid bills when physician management groups or independent practice associations go bankrupt and leave doctors holding the bag..

The doctors filed suit after a spate of failures starting in the late 1990s that, according to the CMA, left thousands of doctors with millions of dollars in unpaid medical bills.

The doctors argued that stingy managed care contracts caused the failures and claimed under state law that health plans had to ensure they were paid after such failures. But the courts haven't bought the argument, instead siding with insurers, who argued they should not have to pay twice for care.

Doctors will have to write off their past losses, but the CMA is starting an educational campaign informing doctors to get such guarantees written into their new contracts.

"Our thrust now is to tell physicians to be very, very careful about their contracts," said Dr. John Whitelaw, president of the CMA.

The CMA also is not giving up hope for a broader solution. It has asked the state Department of Managed Health Care to issue regulations that would require payments from insurers after future failures.