DOCTOR GROUPS: UniHealth to Sell Its Six Units
Continuing the rash of physician group failures or bankruptcies, Burbank-based UniHealth, "the state's largest remaining overseer of doctor groups," has decided to sell its six physician organizations, which collectively provide health care for 650,000 Southern Californians. The Los Angeles Times reports that though the medical management groups had been "widely rumored to be struggling financially, and several large health plans have expressed strong concerns about 'significant ongoing losses,'" UniHealth had planned to sell its groups as "part of its previously announced mission to become a charitable foundation focusing on health care education and indigent care." Last year, UniHealth sold its hospital unit, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center in Northridge. The six groups, Miramar Medical Management Services, Buena Ventura Medical Management Co., Huntington Provider Management Services, Facey Medical Foundation, Harriman Jones Management Services Inc. and Beaver Medical Management, will be sold to different buyers. Few customers should experience any problems with the changes, as the state's health plans "have promised to make the change to new ownership as convenient as possible for new patients" (Bernstein, 9/14).
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