CHICAGO - The latest buzz in the health care industry has nothing to do with new drugs or medical treatments.

It's all about moviemaker Michael Moore and where he's lurking these days.

Some of the nation's biggest drug manufacturers and health insurance plans confirm they have issued warnings to their sales representatives and other employees in recent weeks, telling them to be on the lookout for the shaggy filmmaker in his trademark baseball cap. And under no circumstances are they to talk to Moore.

The industry's red alert was prompted by word that Moore plans to aim his camera lens at the health care industry, much as he did with other targets, most recently President Bush in "Fahrenheit 9/11."

The $100 million box office documentary presented Bush's war on terror as ill-advised and corrupt, angering the president's supporters while drawing cheers from Bush foes.

The planned movie, tentatively titled "Sicko," is expected to focus on health care industry business practices, specifically those of the managed-care and pharmaceutical industries, which have both been mentioned in Moore's recent speeches and interviews, his spokesman said.

Health care companies are hardly enthused.

"What our society really needs is a serious debate about overall health care based on facts, not just another one-sided micro-mockumentary," said Court Rosen, spokesman with the drug industry's Washington lobby, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

But Moore's people seemed amused by the industry's call to arms, saying health care companies obviously have reason to be concerned if they feel the need to put their employees on guard. Moore representatives say there isn't even a timetable for production to begin, and financing has yet to be finalized.

"Everything he does is well-documented, so I can understand why they would be so worried," said Moore spokesman Mark Benoit.

Industry observers don't think it will be difficult for Moore to find real-life examples because the business practices of HMOs and certain other health-plan business practices that encourage low-cost medical care have long been criticized as short-changing patients.

Meanwhile, drug-industry marketing practices have been a target of prosecutors and lawmakers who say they can lead to unnecessary prescriptions by doctors or to higher health care costs.

The industry's gift-giving practices, intended to win physician loyalty to certain drugs, have been of particular concern in a climate of growing consumer outrage over drug costs, which have risen at an annual rate of 15 percent during each of the past four years, far exceeding inflation.

"We would welcome any public disclosure on the way this multibillion-dollar industry works," said Lynda DeLaforgue, co-director of consumer group Citizen Action Illinois. "They would certainly have reason to be concerned about any group looking into their business practices, looking into the amount of money that they use to influence the political and legislative process. These are obviously the typical things Mr. Moore delves into deeper."

If industry reports on Moore sightings are to be believed, the filmmaker himself is taking a page out of drugmakers' handbooks to do his movie by offering medical professionals payments for access to their offices.

Companies have warned their sales representatives to be on the lookout for camera phones and reports of Moore representatives offering $50,000 to doctors' offices to place hidden cameras or $5,000 to sales representatives willing to be filmed, according to a representative of one drug maker, who asked not to be identified.

Moore's spokesman would not comment on any production activity or allegations of payments to drug company employees.

Miramax, which has been mentioned in published reports as financing and distributing Moore's film on the health care industry, has a deal in the works but it has "yet to be finalized," a Miramax spokesman said. Miramax would not comment on Moore's plans for the film, and Moore was unavailable for comment.

A pharmaceutical professionals' Web site, Cafepharma, has been abuzz in recent weeks about Moore sightings and rumors the film producer is trying to recruit pharmaceutical sales representatives for his documentary.

Health plans, too, say they are aware of the film but are not going to let it distract them from providing patient care for their subscribers.

"Michael Moore is a major Hollywood entertainer and, while we have heard through the Hollywood press that he has signed a deal for his next movie, our industry is much more focused on the needs of the American people, advancing a positive policy agenda in Washington and across the country to make high-quality health care affordable for millions of Americans," said Mohit Ghose, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans.