Managed Care Plan Launches in Sonoma County
Health Net and Sutter Medical Center in Santa Rosa on Friday announced a partnership to offer a managed care plan in Sonoma County, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports. State regulators on Wednesday approved the plan, called Silver Network.
Sutter officials said that they had been negotiating the agreement with Health Net officials for several months but that an announcement could not be made until the state had approved the plan.
Brad Kieffer, spokesperson for Health Net, said that enrollment is now open and that coverage for businesses with more than 50 employees would begin on Jan. 1, 2007. Coverage will begin on Feb. 1, 2007, for businesses with two to 50 employees, according to Kieffer.
Health Net has partnered with local medical groups to offer managed care plans in eight other counties in California. The Press Democrat reports that the plan in Sonoma County is intended to compete with Kaiser Permanente (Benfell, Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, 11/11).