KAISER WIDENS HEALTH NETWORK IN THE COUNTY : HMO CONTRACTS WITH DOCTORS, HOSPITALS IN OXNARD, VENTURA.Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer 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. members living in western Ventura County will soon have a shorter drive to the doctor's office. In an effort to provide improved service in all areas, the approximately 1,500 members living in those parts of Ventura County will be able to use doctors and hospitals in Oxnard and Ventura, the health maintenance organization announced Tuesday. The program marks the first time 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 can seek care outside the organization's 26 medical centers. ``We're very concerned about our members in semi-rural, outlying areas where there is insufficient population to justify the expense of setting up a traditional group model,'' said Dr. Jeffrey Selevan, physician manager of network expansion. ``So we're beginning to look at more efficient ways of expanding into these areas while still trying to maintain the group model which is the keystone of the care Kaiser Permanente provides.'' All Kaiser members, except those on the Senior Advantage Plan, can switch to new doctors beginning March 1. The group will be able to provide outside care to seniors on the Advantage Plan as soon as the program is approved by the federal Health Care Financing Administration Health Care Financing Administration, n.pr department in the U.S. agency of Health and Human Services responsible for the oversight of the Medicaid and Medicare benefit programs, including guidelines, payment, and coverage policies. . Members on that plan will be notified when approval is final. Group members visiting the new providers will incur the same costs and co-payments as they would if they were to visit a Kaiser medical office or hospital. Selevan added that a similar program would begin in the Coachella Valley Coachella Valley (kō'əchĕl`ə), arid region, SE Calif., N of the Salton Sea. Water is brought into the region by artesian wells and by the Coachella Canal (123 mi/198 km long), a branch of the All-American Canal built between 1938 and , where there were too few patients for the health maintenance organization to build a facility, but enough to warrant creating a network of affiliated health-care providers. Selevan said that Kaiser Permanente would wait to see the results in Ventura County and Coachella Valley before beginning similar programs in other semi-rural, outlying areas. The health maintenance organization, which has 5 million members statewide, has 33,400 members in Ventura County. Most of those, nearly 32,000 members, live in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. and 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. , and medical offices serve both those cities. But all Ventura County members have had to travel to Woodland Hills for hospital and most specialty care at a Kaiser Permanente Medical Center. Now, three facilities in Ventura County can accommodate any Kaiser member in Ventura County: Sea View Medical Group in Oxnard for outpatient care; or inpatient care inpatient care Managed care Services delivered to a Pt who needs physician care for > 24 hrs in a hospital at either St. John's Regional Medical Center St. John's Regional Medical Center may refer to: In the United States:
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