Health maintenance organizations.Serving L.A. County; ranked by number of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, members THE PACESETTER Southern California's largest health maintenance organization is still growing and still experiencing growing pains grow·ing pains pl.n. Pains in the limbs and joints of children or adolescents, frequently occurring at night and often attributed to rapid growth but arising from various unrelated causes. . Southern California enrollment currently stands at 2.8 million, up from 2.6 million a year ago. In Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, Kaiser has 1.5 million members. The 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, owns and operates six hospitals in L.A. County and has a network of 3,200 physicians working at more than 100 facilities throughout Southern California. After posting revenue losses for the first time in 1997, Kaiser had hoped to turn things around in 1998. But the organization reported a $102 million loss for the third quarter of 1998, and is expected to post an even bigger decline when it reports its full-year numbers later this month. One contributing factor has been the organization's difficulties meeting consumer demand as enrollment rises. Kaiser has been forced to pay for patients to be treated outside the organization's network of medical centers. In Southern California, Kaiser owns and operates 11 hospitals and has contracts with 11 other hospitals that help handle the overflow. To combat the losses, Kaiser will continue to sell unprofitable businesses outside of California and may need to raise premiums more than expected in 1999 and 2000. [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield. once again tops the list of HMOs serving Los Angeles County. The Business Journal ranks health plans by enrollment in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. , Riverside, Imperial, and San Diego counties. Not all HMOs break out L.A. County enrollment separately, but of those that do, Kaiser is still the largest with 1.5 million members. Most of the health plans have significantly increased their L.A. County enrollment in the past year, especially Health Net and Blue Shield of California Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit health insurance provider headquartered in San Francisco, California. An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Blue Shield of California is an incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of California Physicians' , which both posted increases of more than 100 percent. Only one HMO on the list, Prudential HealthCare, had a decrease in Southern California enrollment over the last year. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion