CYPRESS, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. is teaming with HealthCare Partners Medical Group to bring primary and preventive medical care to nursing-home residents in Los Angeles County through the SecureAdvantage from PacifiCare program.
Designed to enhance the overall health and well-being of nursing-home residents and reduce emergency-room visits and preventable hospitalizations, SecureAdvantage from PacifiCare offers primary and preventive medical care to residents, on-site, at their nursing homes.
SecureAdvantage from PacifiCare is available to Secure Horizons Medicare+Choice members who reside in select Los Angeles County nursing facilities and who choose a HealthCare Partners physician as his/her primary care physician. HealthCare Partners currently cares for nursing-home residents in approximately 25 percent of the skilled-nursing facilities in Los Angeles County.
Through SecureAdvantage from PacifiCare, HealthCare Partners physicians and nurse practitioners are able to visit the residents more frequently and provide an enhanced level of preventive and chronic care management to their patients, according to Kathy Feeny, PacifiCare’s executive vice president of Secure Horizons Senior Solutions.
“We launched SecureAdvantage from PacifiCare to help long-term care residents enhance their health and quality of life,” said Feeny. “Working with HealthCare Partners, we are able to help increase the level of primary and preventive care at skilled-nursing facilities so that residents can receive more medical care in the comfortable surroundings in which they reside.”
University of Minnesota researchers evaluated similar programs that operated as federal demonstration projects over the past decade. The research found that these programs were effective in providing quality, coordinated care for nursing-home residents while reducing hospital admissions.
Six months ago, PacifiCare and HealthCare Partners announced a zero- premium Medicare+Choice Value Plan, which includes preventive care and routine doctor visits from HealthCare Partners medical providers. This latest venture represents PacifiCare and HealthCare Partners’ commitment to seniors to enhance access to quality, affordable health care coverage, according to Dr. William Chin, executive medical director of HealthCare Partners Medical Group.
“Secure Horizons’ experience and strength in the Medicare marketplace make PacifiCare an ideal partner for HealthCare Partners to help deliver quality, affordable and more personal medical care to our nursing-home patients,” said Dr. Chin. “Combined with our expertise in providing convenient, coordinated medical care to nursing-home residents, we believe that together we can achieve improved health outcomes for our patients.”
About HealthCare Partners
Physician-owned and managed, HealthCare Partners Medical Group is one of the largest privately owned medical groups in California. The staff-model medical group has more than 360 primary care physicians and specialists providing patient-focused care at 28 offices and four urgent care centers throughout Los Angeles County. Through the medical group’s contracted and IPA physician networks, more than 2,000 other doctors and specialists support the care provided to more than 400,000 patients across Los Angeles County. The medical group consistently ranks high on both health plan and consumer rating surveys for the quality of care that it provides. More information about HealthCare Partners is available at http://www.healthcarepartners.com/.
About PacifiCare
PacifiCare Health Systems is one of the nation’s largest consumer health organizations with more than 3 million health plan members and approximately 9 million specialty plan members nationwide. PacifiCare offers individuals, employers and Medicare beneficiaries a variety of consumer-driven health care and life insurance products. Currently, more than 99 percent of PacifiCare’s commercial health plan members are enrolled in plans that have received Excellent Accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). PacifiCare’s specialty operations include behavioral health, dental and vision, and complete pharmacy and medical management through its wholly owned subsidiary, Prescription Solutions. More information on PacifiCare Health Systems is available at http://www.pacificare.com/.
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.
CONTACT: Tyler Mason, PHS Media Relations, +1-714-226-3530,tyler.mason@phs.com; or Kimi Mann of Mann & Associates, +1-323-256-5081,mann-associates@att.net, for HealthCare Partners
Web site: http://www.healthcarepartners.com/
Web site: http://www.pacificare.com/
