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Hospitals, Insurer Form Cost-Cutting Partnership

In an effort to lower costs for employers, health insurer Aetna Inc. of Hartford, Conn. and Providence Health & Services of Renton, Wash., have partnered to create a medical network called Aetna Whole Health in L.A. County. Its narrow-network insurance plan utilizes nine urgent care centers and seven hospitals, including three in the Valley — Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and Providence Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana. In addition, it offers care from more than 400 primary care doctors and 4,000 specialists in the region. “We are very pleased to work in partnership with Aetna to bring this type of product to the market,” Jim Slaggert, chief executive of Providence Southern California said in a statement. “It aligns with our continued efforts to foster innovation in the delivery of value-based care to our communities.” Aetna Whole Health is available to self-insured employers and will go into effect July 1. For fully insured customers, the plan will be available on Nov. 1, effective on or after Jan. 1. Small-group customers can anticipate signing up sometime in early 2017, pending regulatory approval. President of Aetna Southern California Rich Lee said the staggered rollout was put in place because the company has to file paperwork with the Department of Insurance. Those filings have to be approved before Aetna can formally offer the plan in the marketplace. Furthermore, the companies have a new payment agreement for Aetna Whole Health, where providers will be rewarded for recommending preventative care, better managing patients with chronic conditions and reducing emergency room visits and hospital readmissions. “What we are doing with Providence is we partnered with them and set certain targets when providing care for patients in terms of overall efficiency,” said Aetna’s Lee. “If we hit certain specific metrics, then we basically share in the savings that are developed. The way we do this is to gear patients to more efficient Providence providers, share data with Providence around care management and in doing so, we are collaborating with them to deliver more efficient care.” Imaging Venture Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center and radiology provider RadNet Inc. of Los Angeles have entered into a joint venture to provide expanded radiology services to patients in the Glendale market. The two organizations have opened a RadNet facility called Imaging Specialists of Glendale. Located at 700 N. Central Ave., the full-service, outpatient imaging center includes MRIs, X-Rays, CT-scans, ultrasounds and fluoroscopy. Additionally, the Marcia Ray Breast Center at Glendale Memorial Hospital will be renamed the Marcia Ray Breastlink Women’s Imaging Center and will offer the full array of breast care services, including breast cancer detection and treatment. “Glendale Memorial Hospital is pleased to collaborate with one of the nation’s leading health care companies, and the number one imaging center chain, according to ‘Radiology Business Journal,’” Glendale Memorial Hospital President Jack Ivie, said in a statement. “Partnering with RadNet will ensure that our patients have access to excellent care delivered with human kindness.” In addition to imaging, Glendale Memorial Hospital and RadNet will seek out other oncology and surgical services opportunities as part of the joint venture. Glendale Memorial Hospital is operated by Dignity Health of San Francisco, a nonprofit that manages hospitals across the country. RadNet has about 300 outpatient imaging centers that it owns and operates throughout the United States with more than a dozen locations in the San Fernando Valley. Hospital Hire Palmdale Regional Medical Center has hired Veronica Knudson as its new chief operating officer. Knudson comes from Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center in Yakima, Wash., where she served as chief executive. In her role at Yakima, she was in charge of strategic direction and growth of services for the overall organization and its clinics. She implemented a spine navigation system, which increased related procedures, as well as a new model for orthopedic care. “I started in health care as a nursing assistant many years ago,” Knudson said in a statement. “I became a director of an orthopedic and surgical neuro unit as my first foray into leadership. … I am happy to be here in Palmdale and look forward to continuing the momentum of Palmdale Regional’s increased growth and operation here in the Antelope Valley.” Staff Reporter Stephanie Henkel can be reached at (818) 316-3130 or [email protected].

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