National Association

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. berated the national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association yesterday for frightening 2 million Maryland subscribers with a newspaper advertisement indicating they had lost their Blue Cross coverage. Ehrlich said Tuesday's advertisement violated the spirit of a stay of legal action as the national association and the state negotiate to resolve differences over a law designed to reform CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the state's largest insurer. "We are now trying to calm fears," Ehrlich said.

Certifications Tania Orenak, Tess Scutt and Sarah White of Maryland SportsCare & Rehab have been certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association. Contracts CompuDyne Corp. of Annapolis received a $500,000 contract from Volusia County, Fla., to integrate the records management system of the sheriff's department and the county's criminal justice information system. Expansions Clifton Gunderson LLP, a regional accounting firm, expanded its Timonium office space by 6,800 square feet.

The coaches"If everything is done in the summer, that becomes more important, and the danger is that the people who run the summer aren't under any rules."Mike Krzyzewski, Duke,the president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches"I tell kids, 'We're going to Hawaii this season.' Well, they've been to Europe already."Fang Mitchell, Coppin State"Too many kids think that, in order to be successful, you have to be an athlete, or an entertainer or a drug dealer."Meredith Smith, Southern HighOpponent"The NCAA has to realize, that as long as they're in bed with the shoe companies, they can't legislate morality."

Health insurance is a highly regulated industry, but state officials who oversee the industry have bumped up against a powerful entity they can't regulate - the national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. In Maryland and North Carolina, regulators and legislators have been stymied at times in trying to deal with the local Blue Cross Blue Shield entity when the national association has threatened to pull its trademark and threaten the viability of the local insurer. "If there's a novel issue rising out of what happened in Maryland, it's the role of the association and the power that they have," said Steven B. Larsen, the former Maryland insurance commissioner whose scathing report halted CareFirst, the Blue Cross plan in Maryland, from converting to a for-profit company from nonprofit.

WASHINGTON--- Ashocking report from the National Association of Public Hospitals says that the average emergency-room wait for a bed in America's public hospitals is more than five and a half hours! In some cases, it may be several days.Moreover, the report says, these hospitals, often regarded as the foundation of our nation's health system, are deteriorating in other ways. Unless they get help, ''there will be a substantial curtailment of safety-net services in many urban areas.''It's easy for most Americans to say: ''That's too bad, but it doesn't really affect me. I don't have to go to a public hospital for care.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Milwaukee has its beer; Seattle its decaf latte.And Alexandria?Interest groups.Alexandria (pop. 110,000) has its quaint historic area and lovely waterfront along the Potomac, but the city has come to stand for the proposition that if there is an interest in America, there is an interest group.Hardly any distinct idea, diversion, profession, passion or product goes unrepresented. Parachuting, boating, fishing all have headquarters in town. Police, district attorneys, veterans, postal workers -- each and every one has an organization here.

The spring real estate season is about to get under way, and anybody who expects to take part - as a seller or a buyer - needs to start putting together a strategy, an action plan. But what a confusing time to try to figure out a strategy! The real estate market is sending very strange, mixed messages. On the one hand, inventories of unsold listings are up and sales are sagging in most areas. In Massachusetts, for years one of the hottest states in the country for home value appreciation, sales were down 21 percent in January.

Angry legislators told CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield representatives yesterday that their company's management has lost all credibility in Annapolis. Some suggested a change in CareFirst's senior management. Their ire was raised by CareFirst's recent secret efforts to derail legislation designed to reform the company, which provides health insurance to 3.2 million subscribers in Maryland and nearby states. They warned the insurer that it must implement a new reform agreement or risk more-stringent reforms when the General Assembly convenes next year.

Their numbers are dwindling.As the 46th annual Maryland Association of Realtors Conference returns this week to Ocean City -- after two years in Atlantic City, N.J. -- Realtors may be noticing that their association is becoming a leaner outfit.According to MAR statistics, membership has dropped significantly, from about 29,000 at the beginning of the decade to less than 17,000, a drop of approximately 40 percent.That drop mirrors the overall decline in state licensees in the real estate field.