LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Dr. Anne Carroll (left) of Wallingford, PA, associate professor of finance at Rider University, is on paid research leave for the 1998 fall semester to study the financial impact of Any-Willing-Provider (AWP) legislation on HMOs.

AWP laws require that all health plans accept any provider who agrees to conform to the plan's conditions and terms, including the plan's reimbursement rates.

"Such legislation has been adopted by a number of states and has raised questions regarding the effect on the managed care market," Dr. Carroll notes. "Proponents of this legislation argue that it will enhance the accessibility of service, while others argue that it will actually reduce competition because it will cause administrative and medical costs to increase for managed care plans."

Using state cross-section, time-series data for the period 1992-1995 (when most of these laws were enacted), Dr. Carroll will empirically investigate the impact that these laws have on HMO costs and financial performance.

A specialist in the financial issues of managed care and workers' compensation insurance, Dr. Carroll was instrumental in the development of health care courses on both the graduate and undergraduate level in Rider's College of Business Administration. She was able to do so through a Jessie H. Harper Endowed Professorship she received in 1997.

She joined the Rider finance faculty in 1986 and has taught such undergraduate courses as risk management, pension plan management, group insurance and pension plans, personal financial planning, introduction to the health care sector, and introduction to finance. On the graduate level, she has taught financial management and health care financing.

She has written several professional articles in leading financial journals and has made numerous academic conference presentations.

She received her Ph.D. and M.A. degrees, both in insurance and risk management, from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. degree in finance from Miami University of Ohio.