Community Health Plan to Suspend Enrollment Of New Members in Effort to Avoid Overload

The Harvard Community Health Plan, the only operating pre-paid medical practice in Massachusetts, will suspend enrollment of most new members between January 2 and April 1, Robert L. Biblo, director of the plan, said yesterday.

The plan will suspend enrollments in order to avoid an overload of patients at its existing centers at Kenmore Square and Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, Biblo said.

"We had no other option," Biblo said. He said continued enrollments "would mean compromising our service," because the centers do not have enough staff to handle a further increase in patients.

Membership Increase

Thomas O. Pyle, executive vice president of the plan, said patient membership had increased at a rate of 1500 a month for the past three months. The plan currently has 35,000 members at the Kenmore Square center and 7000 the Cambridge center.

The plan, which enrolls members through their employers or through the Welfare Department if they are eligible for Medicaid, will continue to enroll employees of previously chartered employer groups at the Cambridge center only, but no new employer groups will be admitted before April 1. Biblo said the plan will also continue to enroll federal employees and Medicaid recipients.

The health plan will move from its present Cambridge center to a new Cambridge Street facility in early January, Biblo said. He said the new center will be able to handle 40,000 members, but it will not be completely staffed until April 1.

The plan is not corporately affiliated with the University and presently has a staff of 70 doctors and 55 nurses. All doctors employed by the plan also have teaching appointments at Harvard-affiliated hospitals.

Biblo said he feels the quality of the health plan's service has not declined due to the sudden increase of patients, but waiting times for non-emergency appointments have lengthened considerably. Patients must now wait seven to eight weeks for check-ups and return visits after an illness, he said.

Biblo said he hopes to increase the plan's staff to a level of one doctor for every 1000 patients, for he said it would reduce regular appointment waiting times to three or four weeks