Underlying the attack legislation senators aimed at the medical giant were bad experiences recounted to them by friends and reinforced by constituents.

But IHC Vice President Douglas J. Hammer said a few "anecdotal complaints" shouldn't overshadow the hundreds of thousands of success stories.

"We will always have some patients who have had a bad experience in the system," he said. "Those mistakes will happen and we will try to minimize the mistakes."

In the end, IHC agreed to give legislators and an independent expert unfettered access to their internal documents as part of a task force that will meet over the next two years.

Creation of the task force ended debate on what Senate President John Valentine described as "the defining issue" of the 2005 session -- two bills targeting IHC. One measure would have allowed patients greater flexibility in choosing doctors; the other would have forced IHC to sell its insurance division.

But Valentine said senators' frustrations stretch back years, starting with a 2001 incident in Utah County.

A friend of Rep. Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, gave birth to a child in need of urgent medical care, but the family didn't have IHC insurance and the only nearby hospital that could perform the necessary procedures was IHC-owned Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

The family elected to having the baby airlifted to Salt Lake City, said Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo.

In response, Lockhart, Bramble and Valentine teamed up on legislation that would have required all health care facilities to charge the same amount to differing insurance companies for "essential services," such as neonatal care.

The bill never went anywhere, mostly because IHC executives agreed to find a compromise.

"The folks [IHC] negotiated with didn't believe the problem had been resolved," said Bramble, who feels that lingering resentment from this and other instances fueled a series of political skirmishes.

In 2003, the state examined IHC's tax-exempt status, but made no changes.

The same year, IHC sent a mass mailing to 170,000 Utahns informing them the company was invoking a new law requiring patients to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement or go elsewhere for medical care. The move erupted into a public uproar that ended only when lawmakers in 2004 gutted the year-old arbitration law to make such agreements optional.

Last year also saw attempts to restrict IHC's market share and to allow patients to go to any willing physicians outside of their health care plan, as long as they would accept 95 percent of the standard reimbursement rate.

Both bills stalled, but Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, brought back the "any willing provider" bill this year, in part due to the death of a friend.

"The insurance companies dictate when and where you go to get your medical services," Buttars said. "I find that disgusting."

His friend, influential conservative activist Gaylord Swim, could afford to go outside his insurance plan and pay for the medical care of his choice and it allowed him to extend his life.

Swim, who started The Sutherland Institute, suffered from horrible head pain and blurred vision, but when he requested an MRI, IHC doctors told him he would have to wait in line. Swim decided to go to another clinic and pay for the MRI himself. The scan located a brain tumor and the subsequent surgery gave him three more months to say his goodbyes, get his affairs in order and spur his legislative friends to expand a patients' right to choose a physician.

Swim's death just a few weeks into the session "put me over the top," Buttars said.

Soon, Utah County's conservative crusader Gayle Ruzicka joined Buttars in pushing Senate Bill 34. She said she was already interested in breaking up IHC's "monopoly," but Swim's death strengthened her resolve.

"The last phone call I received from Gaylord was to ask me to get involved," she said.

Buttars referred to Swim as he presented the bill on the Senate floor, calling him a "wonderful man" and a "dear friend." The Senate passed the measure, but the House rolled it into the task force that will keep IHC in the hot seat for the next two years.

The Privately Owned Health Care Organization Task Force is the fifth version of Senate Bill 61. Earlier versions attempted to impose a 3 percent tax on IHC's annual revenues and to force IHC to sell off its massive health insurance division.

Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said he decided to sponsor the bill after touring the Central Utah Clinic, an independent medical facility, competing with IHC's Utah Valley Regional.

Central Utah Clinic CEO Scott Barlow said he and other area doctors tried for years to get IHC to buy a new high-tech radiology machine. When they thought the efforts had failed, they started building their own cancer center. But once construction began in 2002, IHC bought the new equipment, and now they have competing cancer centers.

"A couple of things that IHC has done, or are alleged to have done, really upset competitors," Waddoups said. "This has been simmering for awhile."

Waddoups said his first version of SB61 calling for the 3 percent tax was meant to get IHC's attention.

"I think they need to compete fairly and they have taken advantage, in particular, on the health care plan. I just don't think another health plan can compete," Waddoups said.

While IHC entered into talks with Senate leaders, Waddoups felt they didn't take senators seriously until a preliminary vote on the Senate floor showed overwhelming support for SB61.

Two days later IHC agreed to participate in the comprehensive task force, going so far as to publicly sign a Memorandum of Understanding that includes a promise to provide legislators a peek at their internal documents, trade secrets and contracts. IHC also agreed to advertise their involvement in the task force and its conclusions to counteract a vigorous media campaign IHC waged against SB61.

Hammer said IHC supports the task force, because it will allow them to present data to counter the image-damaging anecdotes fueling legislative debate.

"All of us can learn how well our health care markets are performing," Hammer said. "I think we will find generally that the health care markets are performing very well. That doesn't mean there won't be problems that need to be solved."

Valentine also expects the task force will keep the IHC issue blazing hot, saying of the final analysis: "I do not expect this to be a report that is shelved."

mcanham@sltrib.com

Privately Owned Health Care Organization Task Force

Fifteen legislators will study Intermountain Health Care and Utah's medical markets for nearly two years. Topics include:

* IHC's market dominance and geographic distribution.

* Antitrust provisions relating to health care organizations.

* Business practices that affect fair competition.

* IHC's tax-exempt status.

* Proliferation of medical technology.

* "Any willing provider" patient-choice laws.

* Medicaid

The task force will make its first report to an interim committee on Nov. 30. The final report is due one year later.

* Activist's death spurred some reformers