KAISER PERMANENTE: Makes Deal with Irvine Medical Center

      Pending regulatory approval, Kaiser Permanente and Irvine Medical Center announced Tuesday that they will begin a five-year agreement beginning this October to provide approximately 50,000 Kaiser members living in South Orange County with "maternity, emergency and some medical and surgical care at the private hospital," the Los Angeles Times reports. The new contract is intended to fill the provider gap resulting from last week's announcement by Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center administrators that it would not renew its contract with Kaiser, which expires at the end of this year. Mission hospital officials said the facility was unable to continue operating with below-cost reimbursements from the health plan, despite receiving nearly 10% of its patients from Kaiser. Kaiser representatives said that the Irvine agreement "will better serve their members and accommodate their plans for growth" (Garvey, 8/25).