Kaiser Permanente Opens Three New Medical Offices In Santa Cruz County
The new facilities in Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Watsonville mark the health provider's first major expansion in Northern California in two decades.
San Francisco Business Times:
Kaiser Expands Care To Santa Cruz With 3 Offices
Kaiser Permanente kicked off the new year completing a major expansion in Santa Cruz County with three new medical offices. The new facilities in Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Watsonville feature upgrades like weathered barnwood walls mounted with colorful surfboards and exam rooms with 40-inch screens for video conferencing. All three locations offer primary care, specialty care and mental health for about 6,000 area Kaiser members, previously seeking care in Santa Clara County or elsewhere in Silicon Valley. (Siu, 1/3)
East Bay Times:
Kaiser Permanente Now Open In Santa Cruz County
In its first new market expansion in Northern California in more than two decades, Kaiser Permanente on Tuesday opened three new medical offices to serve its 5,800 current members who live in Santa Cruz County. Until now, they have received their medical care at Kaiser’s facilities in nearby counties. ... By the end of 2017, Chavez said Kaiser projects it will add another 7,200 new members in Santa Cruz County, for a total of 13,000. (Seipel, 1/3)
In other health industry news, a survey of millennials shows what they want from health care providers, navigators help at-risk patients and nursing homes face new rules —
Modern Healthcare:
Millennials Give Providers One Shot To Gain Their Business
Providers keen to attract millennial patients should make sure to impress them the first time around or risk losing them to another provider, according to a recent study. Millennials are paying close attention to office appearance, cost, customer service and the quality of products used during a visit, according to a recent survey conducted by the Health Industry Distributors Association. The insights on millennials follow a wider survey HIDA released last year on the impact medical products have on patient satisfaction. (Rubenfire, 1/3)
Stat:
In A Byzantine Health System, Navigators Help At-Risk Patients Find Their Way
Even patients who read and speak English fluently face challenges navigating the increasingly Byzantine health care system. But patients who are less well-equipped, whether because of poverty, education level, or cultural barriers, are at a particular disadvantage when it comes to getting the health care they need. For these patients, seemingly small concerns, such as how and when to make a doctor’s appointment or how to get to the clinic, play an outsize role in their care. For instance, women without the skills to understand and process essential health information — a capacity known as health literacy — are twice as likely to have never received a Pap test and are 50 percent less likely to have had a mammogram in the past two years compared to those with better health literacy. (Bond, 1/4)
Kaiser Health News:
New Nursing Home Rules Offer Residents More Control Of Their Care
About 1.4 million residents of nursing homes across the country now can be more involved in their care under the most wide-ranging revision of federal rules for such facilities in 25 years. The changes reflect a shift toward more “person-centered care,” including requirements for speedy care plans, more flexibility and variety in meals and snacks, greater review of a person’s drug regimen, better security, improved grievance procedures and scrutiny of involuntary discharges. (Jaffe, 1/4)