October 26, 2003

Many New York City drivers consider alternate-side-of-the-street parking supreme annoyance; some have developed coping skills; photo (M)

Article on 19th century building on East Fifth Street in Lower Manhattan that has been, variously, a music ball, wedding hall, beer hall, sound studio, warehouse, performance space and now a home for several families; photos (M)

Article on increase in use of cellphones to explain away lateness; research shows that cellphones have enabled more people to fall behind schedule and have provided new crutch for chronically late people; finds that cellphone has changed nature of time and relationships; drawings; photo

Gretchen Morgenson column on data from Brent L Glading indicating financial services companies overseeing some 401(k) retirement plans are racking up annual profits that can exceed five times plans' costs; Glading's firm provides data sponsoring firms can use to negotiate some of profits back for plan participants; he notes largest plans generate most of industry's profits, with almost all of profits coming from investment management fees on funds in plan; graph of funds in employer-sponsored plans (M)

Article in series Re-examining Medicare says hospitals across country, most notably in Indianapolis, are creating special cardiac care facilities, driven in large pay by Medicare payment system, with its emphasis on procedures and its weak ties to actual costs of providing care; there is also boom in hospitals devoted to other well-reimbursed specialties, like orthopedics and surgery; meanwhile, some hospitals are laying off employees and scaling back programs, like psychiatric care, that are less generously reimbursed, and preventive care and case management are suffering; study of Indianapolis health care has concluded that construction of so many new heart hospitals could create excess demand for treatment rather than produce better cardiac care; even people building hospitals in Indianapolis worry that area not be able to support them all; Senate version of Medicare bill would make it harder for doctors to invest in and refer patients to specialty hospitals, and full-service hospitals are lobbying hard for provision; photos (L)