Association Delays Plan to Fine Doctors

A Boston-area physicians’ group backed away from a controversial plan to fine its doctors $250 for each day patients are hospitalized when “not medically necessary.” The plan outraged many of the 350 physicians in the Mount Auburn Cambridge Independent Practice Assn. Inc. A statement in which the association said the plan would be delayed also defended the idea: “We believe that the practice of good medicine requires us to be mindful of our limited resources. We believe good medicine should also be efficient and effective.”