Orange County doctors’ groups unveiled some big affiliation moves last week.
Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Health System acquired on undisclosed terms Nautilus Healthcare Management, a service provider to Newport Beach-based Greater Newport Physicians.
MemorialCare owns Orange Coast Mem-orial Medical Center in Fountain Valley and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente.
Greater Newport and its 400 doctors, in a related move, will affiliate with the MemorialCare Med-ical Foundation, a medical-management organization that works with physician groups in Orange County and Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, with lo-cations in Newport Beach and Irvine, be-gan working with San Francisco insurer Blue Shield of California on an accountable-care organization. Such groups offer incentives for doctors, hospitals and insurers to work together to reduce healthcare costs and maintain quality standards.
Hoag and Blue Shield will be joined in the accountable-care organization by Greater Newport Physicians, effectively tying the developments together. Greater Newport has been affiliated with Hoag for several years and will continue that relationship.
The new ACO launches July 1 and will serve 11,000 Blue Shield HMO members in Orange County for at least 36 months. Participants will share clinical and case-management information and coordinate comprehensive healthcare services.
Hoag wanted to affiliate with Blue Shield and Greater Newport to “provide affordable healthcare for the community and employers in Orange County and in turn ensure they have access to the personalized care they expect from Hoag,” Chief Executive Richard Afable said.
The effort might run longer than three years “in order to have a material, sustainable impact on healthcare costs for members
and employers over time,” the participants said.
Blue Shield also works with Orange-based St. Joseph Health System on an accountable-care organization covering 30,000 of its OC members.
ACOs
The groups are the product of industry reforms stipulated in federal healthcare legislation passed in 2010.
Monarch HealthCare, an Irvine-based medical group, has one under way with Medicare, which offers doctors and hospitals a share of any savings if 35 quality benchmarks are met in such affiliations.
Monarch also hoped to form another with Anthem Blue Cross, but that was delayed in a contract dispute with the insurer, a unit of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.
In Line
Greater Newport Physicians said its affiliation with MemorialCare Medical Foundation is in line with industry trends.
“Health plans are increasingly moving to narrow networks, which only include providers demonstrating they can manage costs and offer excellent care,” said Diane Laird, the medical group’s chief executive.
The deal with MemorialCare offers Greater Newport the “ability to expand our network of hospitals and providers in Los Angeles and Orange counties,” officials said.
It also puts Greater Newport under contract with more health plans.
