California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of October 5, 2012
Apollo Medical Holdings
Apollo Medical Holdings has entered into a contract with Medi-Cal managed care insurer L.A. Care Health Plan to provide hospitalist services in about 22 hospitals in Los Angeles County, Payers & Providers reports. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program.
Under the agreement, hospitalist physicians from ApolloMed Hospitalists will be placed at certain hospitals where hospitalist services currently are not available.
The organizations did not disclose the value of the contract (Payers & Providers, 9/27).
El Camino Hospital, Mountain View
El Camino Hospital and the Professional Resource for Nurses have reached an agreement that includes an increase in matching payments for nurses' 403(b) retirement plans and a 12% increase in the accrual of paid time off, Payers & Providers reports
El Camino officials said that they would work with PRN and the Service Employees International Union to develop a worker wellness initiative (Payers & Providers, 9/27).
Naval Medical Center San Diego
On Wednesday, Naval Medical Center San Diego unveiled its renovated and expanded radiology unit that officials said is expected to reduce wait times and improve patient care, U-T San Diego reports.
The unit now houses a $15 million, 4,000 square-foot MRI center.
Officials said that the expansion is "the most aggressive, single largest radiology capital equipment project in the history of the hospital" (Kovach, U-T San Diego, 10/2).
Scripps Health
Scripps Health has completed work on the $44 million Scripps Radiation Therapy Center in La Jolla, which consolidates the radiation oncology centers at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and Scripps Green Hospital, U-T San Diego reports.
Chris Van Gorder -- CEO of Scripps Health -- said that the center is part of a broader initiative to expand cancer treatment services. The initiative includes construction of the Scripps Proton Therapy Center, scheduled to open next year in Mira Mesa (Lavelle, U-T San Diego, 10/3). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.