PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., now a unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc., is going retail.
Last month, the health plan operator said it plans to work with six major supermarket and drugstore chains to market its Medicare prescription drug plans.
The chains: Target Corp., Walgreen Co., Albertson’s Inc., Safeway Inc., Longs Drug Stores Corp. and Medicine Shoppe International Inc.
The deal covers nearly 11,000 stores across the country.
PacifiCare plans to offer details about its drug plans through enrollment kits, kiosks and sales materials.
In a release, Jacqueline Kosecoff, PacifiCare’s executive vice president of specialty companies, said the managed care provider was “confident” that its partners would play a role in providing information and resources “that will bring more clarity to Medicare consumers.”
Earlier, Kosecoff said that one of PacifiCare’s goals with its Medicare drug plan was to make things simple for consumers.
Critics of Medicare drug plans have charged that the plans may be difficult for some seniors to grasp.
“The very best thing we can do for seniors is allow them a little bit of space in which to evaluate programs and sign up without any additional pressure or clutter,” Kosecoff said.
UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minn., finalized its $9 billion buy of PacifiCare on Dec. 21. PacifiCare is keeping its former headquarters in Cypress. Also intact is its executive team, including former chief Howard Phanstiel, who now is a UnitedHealth executive vice president.
Fund Manager Likes Allergan
Allergan Inc., the Irvine-based drug maker, was among those praised by Charles Smith, chief investment officer for Pittsburgh-based Fort Pitt Capital Group Inc., in a MarketWatch article on stock picks.
Allergan, which has been trading in the $108 range in recent weeks with a market value of $14 billion, was high on Smith’s favored investment list.
“If you’re selling Botox to a 65-year-old lady, she’s willing to pay almost anything,” Smith said.
Smith, who manages a $32 million mutual fund for Fort Pitt, said he was bullish on Allergan and other medical stocks because aging baby boomers are a prime market. They have money to spend on cosmetic procedures that aren’t covered by health insurance. And with insurance companies out of the picture for most cosmetic treatments, profits tend to be healthy.
Robotic Surgery Confab at UCI
Last week, the University of California, Irvine, hosted the Pacific Rim Robotics Conference to discuss the field of robotic surgery.
Ralph Clayman and Elspeth McDougall, a pair of UC Irvine urology professors, led the meeting, which featured lecturers, poster presentations, videos and exhibits from experts in the field.
An article on the field published in Newsweek estimated that 36,600 surgeries that use robotics would be performed in 2005. That number’s expected to double in 2006.
Proponents say that the surgeries provide patient benefits, such as smaller incisions, less injury to surrounding tissues, lower risk for wound infection, shorter hospitalizations and quicker recovery times.
Three years ago, UCI Medical Center became one of the first local hospitals to use a robotic surgery system, called DaVinci from Sunnyvale’s Intuitive Surgical Inc.
At the teaching hospital, DaVinci’s primarily used in the urology field as a tool to help a surgeon’s precision in laparascopic surgeries. Laparascopic surgeries are performed through small incisions in a patient with pencil-thin instruments and cameras.
Baxter’s Still Here
Our Dec. 12 story, “Baxter Bunch,” should have noted that Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter International Inc. still has operations in Irvine. The company has a plant making drug infusion devices near John Wayne Airport. It employs about 325 people.
The article noted that Baxter spun off Irvine heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. in 2000.
Bits and Pieces:
I-Flow Corp., Lake Forest, said that it is working with the University of Minnesota to conduct a clinical study to evaluate its On-Q pain relief system’s anti-microbial properties. I-Flow said the study is set to replace an earlier one done with Tulane University Health Sciences Center, which was halted by Hurricane Katrina Toshiba America Medical Systems, a Tustin-based unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., introduced Aquilion LB, a computed tomography scanning device designed for cancer patients. Toshiba said the device allows for more accurate image capturing because its opening is larger than traditional CT scanners … HoribaABX Diagnostics Inc., Irvine, introduced Pentra DX 120, a hematology instrument UCI Medical Center and Chapman Medical Center, both in Orange, are using Halo360, a medical device made by Barrx Medical Inc., Sunnyvale, to treat Barrett’s esophagus, a pre-cancerous condition of the digestive organ.
