Blue Cross of California & Tenet Healthcare Reach Early Agreement on Multi-Year Contract; No Disruption of Care for Blue Cross Members at 40 Tenet Hospitals.Business Editors and Health/Medical Writers SANTA BARBARA Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. & THOUSAND OAKS Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 23, 2001 Blue Cross of California, the California operating subsidiary An operating subsidiary is a business term frequently used within the United States railroad industry. In the case of a railroad, it refers to a company that is a subsidiary but operates with its own identity and rolling stock. of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :WLP WLP WebLogic Portal (Bea Systems) WLP Wafer Level Packaging WLP Women's Learning Partnership (Bethesda, MD) WLP Workplace Learning & Performance WLP World Library Partnership, Inc. ), and Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC) is an operating company that owns and operates 57 hospitals in the United States [1]. It is based in Dallas, Texas. Its stock ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange is NYSE: THC. Corp. (NYSE:THC THC tetrahydrocannabinol. THC n. Tetrahydrocannabinol; a compound that is obtained from cannabis or is made synthetically; it is the primary intoxicant in marijuana and hashish. ) announced that they have reached a multi-year agreement to continue providing quality medical services to Blue Cross members at Tenet hospital facilities throughout California (see list below). An early agreement by the parties was reached with 40 Tenet facilities throughout the state. The existing contract was scheduled to expire on April 15, 2001, if the parties had otherwise not reached an agreement. "Blue Cross is very pleased to reach this agreement with Tenet," said Ron Williams, president of Blue Cross of California. "We've made a commitment to our members to provide a broad choice of quality hospitals. Attaining an agreement this early in the process signifies that we can achieve solutions with our provider partners cooperatively and without a public showdown. Now our members can continue to have the access they want to affordable, quality care." "We are very pleased to be able to continue our long working relationship with Blue Cross, and we look forward to further strengthening our existing network to meet patients' expectations for quality health care services," said Neil M. Sorrentino, executive vice president, operations, of Tenet's Western Division. The agreement will continue to cover 40 Tenet hospitals until June 1, 2004. There will be no disruption in service to Blue Cross members seeking care at participating Tenet hospitals, and patients may continue to see their assigned physicians or physician of choice. The new contract is applicable to all Blue Cross HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, members, Prudent Buyer PPO PPO abbr. preferred provider organization PPO Managed care Preferred provider organization, see there Infectious disease Pleuropneumonia-like organism, see there members, Medicare SeniorSecure and Medicare supplemental covered lives. Blue Cross of California (www.bluecrossca.com), with 5.4 million medical members in the state, is the California operating subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks Inc., one of the nation's largest publicly traded health care companies. WellPoint serves the health care needs of more than 7.7 million medical and more than 38 million specialty members nationally. WellPoint offers a broad spectrum of quality network-based health products including open access PPO, POS (1) See point of sale and packet over SONET. (2) "Parent over shoulder." See digispeak. POS - point of sale and hybrid products, HMO and specialty products. Specialty products include pharmacy benefit management A Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) is a third party administrator of prescription drug programs. They are primarily responsible for processing and paying prescription drug claims. , dental, utilization management, vision, mental health, life and disability insurance, long-term care long-term care (LTC), n the provision of medical, social, and personal care services on a recurring or continuing basis to persons with chronic physical or mental disorders. insurance, flexible spending accounts flexible spending account, n an employee reimbursement account primarily funded with employee-designated salary reductions. Funds are reimbursed to the employee for health care (medical and/or dental), dependent care, and/or legal expenses and are , COBRA administration, and Medicare supplements. Tenet Healthcare, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 111 acute care hospitals with approximately 27,000 beds and numerous related health care services. The company employs 106,000 people serving communities in 17 states and services its hospitals from a Dallas-based operations center. Tenet's name reflects its core business philosophy: the importance of shared values among partners -- including employees, physicians, insurers and communities -- in providing a full spectrum of health care. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com. San Diego/Inland Empire Hospital List 1. Alvarado Hospital Medical Center 2. Desert Regional Medical Center 3. John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital Los Angeles/Orange County Hospital List 1. Brotman Medical Center 2. Centinela Hospital Medical Center 3. Century City Hospital 4. Chapman Medical Center 5. Coastal Communities Hospital 6. Community Hospital of Huntington Park 7. Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center (Encino Campus) 8. Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center (Tarzana Campus) 9. Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center 10. Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center 11. Garfield Medical Center 12. Greater El Monte Community Hospital 13. Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center 14. Lakewood Regional Medical Center 15. Los Alamitos Medical Center 16. Midway Hospital Medical Center 17. Mission Hospital of Huntington Park 18. Monterey Park Hospital 19. Placentia Linda Hospital 20. Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center 21. St. Luke Medical Center 22. San Dimas Community Hospital 23. Santa Ana Hospital Medical Center 24. Suburban Medical Center 25. USC University Hospital 26. Whittier Hospital Medical Center 27. Western Medical Center -- Anaheim 28. Western Medical Center -- Santa Ana Central California Hospital List 1. Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center 2. Twin Cities Community Hospital Northern California Hospital List 1. Doctors Medical Center -- San Pablo Campus 2. Community Hospital of Los Gatos 3. Doctors Hospital of Manteca 4. Doctors Medical Center -- Pinole Campus 5. Doctors Medical Center of Modesto 6. Redding Medical Center 7. San Ramon Regional Medical Center |
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