Health Net Ends Contract With Chaudhuri-Owned Physician Group
In another "blow" to Dr. Kali Chaudhuri's "medical empire," Health Net has decided to move 3,000 members from the Chaudhuri-owned Community Medical Group of Corona, effective June 1, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. Earlier last week, PacifiCare moved more than 6,000 of the group's patients into other medical groups. Health Net had originally planned to move its members out of Community Medical Group as of last week but delayed to give Chaudhuri "more time to resolve unspecified issues." However, Health Net spokesperson Brad Kieffer last week said, "After further evaluation, we decided not to renew our contract" with Community Medical. Kieffer said that about 25% of the Health Net's patients will be able to continue with their current physicians, as some have affiliations with other medical groups (Beeman, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 5/4). Community Medical Group has lost other contracts as well; last year emergency room doctors at Corona Regional Medical Center ended their contract, saying the group had not paid more than $165,000 in medical bills (California Healthline, 12/22/00). Chaudhuri acquired the medical group out of bankruptcy court in 1998, but it has continued to "struggle financially," the Press-Enterprise reports. Chaudhuri lost a large part of his KPC Global Care empire last November when KPC Medical Management went bankrupt, leaving about 250,000 patients without doctors or access to their medical records (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 5/3).
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