360+ primary care and specialty physicians join new network comprised of local hospitals, medical groups and outpatient services
St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare (Heritage) announced today the creation of St. Joseph Health Medical Network (SJHMN) – a Sonoma and Napa county based managed care network offering inpatient and outpatient service to patients who live and work in northern California.
The new network represents a collaborative effort between St. Joseph Health hospitals and clinics as well as local independent physicians and groups to provide a high-quality, cost-effective health insurance network to patients and employers. In addition to partnering with St. Joseph Health Medical Group and other local healthcare providers, SJHMN will collaborate with the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center and other academic health systems for tertiary and quaternary patient care as needed.
“This is an exciting, dynamic time in health care and it is more important now than ever before to provide patients and consumers with a convenient way to access the very best care close to home, particularly when choosing a primary care doctor or specialist,” said Dr. James DeVore, Northern California Chief Medical Officer, St. Joseph Health Medical Group. “We are passionate about developing this new network to better serve our patients and support physician practices in the north bay.”
The network will contract with most major commercial Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Medicare Advantage (Senior HMO) plans. This includes further developing the strong affiliations St. Joseph Health has in place with Western Health Advantage (WHA), SCAN (Senior HMO), and other HMO health plans in Sonoma and Napa counties. There is no requirement for independent providers or groups to discontinue their participation with other local HMO networks as contracting with SJHMN simply provides patients with access to a greater number of options when seeking care.
“With the launch of St. Joseph Health Medical Network, we are also expanding our availability of and access to healthcare providers,” added Bob Just, Northern California Chief Operating Officer, St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare. “We look forward to partnering with independent providers and groups throughout Sonoma and Napa to bolster resources in our network and improve primary care and specialty access for patients.”
The network is scheduled to launch on April 1, 2019, following approval from the California Department of Managed Health Care. The rollout will be phased, beginning with the transfer of all patients currently under the care of Heritage/St. Joseph Health Medical Group primary care providers. Each patient will receive a letter from their respective health plan prior to the transition advising them of the change and issuing a new health insurance card with SJHMN listed as the medical network responsible for coordinating their care. The primary care physician assignments for this patient population will not change.
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