North Bay Business Journal

Sutter Health, which operates a number of North Bay hospitals and other care services, has filed plans with the state to launch its own health maintenance organization by 2014 and aims to offer a commercial health plan to employer groups.

SANTA ROSA — The Annadel Medical Group has added 20 physicians over the past 10 months, an accelerating pace that makes it one of the fastest growing medical groups in the region at a time when health systems across the country seek to attract more physicians.

NOVATO — The Marin-Sonoma IPA today announced its name is now Meritage Medical Network, citing the need to identify itself beyond specific geographic areas as it charts future growth while signaling a first step to becoming an accountable care organization, or ACO

SANTA ROSA — St. Joseph Health affiliated-Annadel Medical Group announced today that it is starting two specialty practices while adding 13 new physicians to the group, bringing the total number of providers to 60 across Sonoma County.

Western Health Advantage has filed for an expansion of its business into Marin and Sonoma counties, where it hopes to partner with the Marin-Sonoma IPA and much of the region’s hospitals in offering a new health plan for employers and individuals

Wineries across Sonoma and Napa counties will keep employee benefits largely in place, although they are increasingly resorting to consumer-driven health plans to keep costs in line, they contribute more to employee deductibles compared to other industries, according to recent survey by insurance broker Woodruff Sawyer & Company.

Walt Mills, a family practice physician in Sonoma County for nearly three decades, was recently named the incoming president of the Sonoma County Medical Association.

Dr. Mills recently shared his thoughts on a number of topics with the Business Journal, from health care reform to the primary care physician shortage to the evolving local health care scene.

With the Supreme Court ruling Thursday to uphold major tenets of the Affordable Care Act, some clarity is finally emerging for employers and providers, but the political battle over health care reform will likely continue.

Local health care providers and insurance experts said there is now much-needed clarity, at least for now, as employers and municipalities across the state attempt to adapt to ever-evolving regulations. Several providers praised the ruling.

Do you agree with the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010? Share your thoughts.

SANTA ROSA — Vantreo Insurance Brokerage has acquired Hodges Insurance Services, an independent agency run by longtime Santa Rosa employee benefits specialist David Hodges, in a move that reflects increasing consolidation among smaller brokerages in the professional services sector.

A handful of health centers in and near the North Bay received grants totaling $11.8 million as part of a national program under the health care reform law, it was announced today.

NORTH BAY — With the federal health overhaul hanging in the balance of what will most certainly be a politically charged U.S. Supreme Court decision, insurance brokers in the North Bay offered a familiar refrain to employers on what changes, if any, they should make to their health plans: wait and see and stay the course.

Sonoma County’s Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with the Alexander Valley Health Center in Cloverdale to bring “essential mental health and substance abuse treatment services” to Northern Sonoma County through its Path2Health program, but its future is now somewhat clouded with the prospect of health care reform being struck down by the Supreme Court.

MARIN — A partnership between Marin County public health and two of the county’s hospitals is among 30 similar programs nationwide — and the first in all of California — that will be recognized as a “Community-based Care Transitions Program,” an initiative stemming from health care reform that aims to curb costly hospital readmission among Medicare patients.

NAPA — A new survey found that nine out of 10 physicians across the country are unwilling to recommend the profession to others, while 43 percent said they are contemplating retirement as a result of “transformative changes” in the health care system — results that will likely exacerbate a well-documented nationwide physician shortage.

SAN RAFAEL — The recent merger of two Marin nonprofits represents a two-fold trend affecting nonprofit mental health providers: increasing consolidation of services amid the prolonged economic downturn and a shift toward larger, more integrated organizations as a result health care reform and the law’s emphasis on mental health, according to experts.

GREENBRAE — Marin General Hospital has finalized the addition of a sixth medical practice to an expanding network of clinics it will now operate, a development seen as pivotal for the hospital as it looks for ways to attract and retain physicians amidst an increasingly consolidating, reform-driven health care landscape.

SEBASTOPOL — Charles Guenther is acting CEO at Palm Drive Hospital. He has nearly 40 years of experience in the development and management of hospitals, health care systems, health maintenance organizations and related insurance enterprises. He has been a senior executive in large health care organizations, including Sutter Health and Dignity Health (formerly known as Catholic Healthcare West) as well as CEO of a small rural health care system. In addition to serving as a CEO of health care enterprises, he has been a consultant, university professor and a director of many for-profit and not-for-profit corporations.

George Petersen Insurance Agency completed its move from one College Ave. location in Santa Rosa to another, at 175 West College Ave. last week, which was the result of the company absorbing NorthWest Insurance in 2010.

SONOMA COUNTY — St. Joseph Health System announced that seven physicians recently joined the Annadel Medical Group in Sonoma County, bringing the total number of physicians in the foundation that contract with Santa Rosa Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals to 43.

NORTH BAY — Nearly two years after its passage, health care reform and much of its measures hang in the balance of what promises to be a politically charged U.S. Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the individual mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance. But while politicos and pundits await the decision and its implications, health insurance experts in the North Bay said most of the reforms are here to stay, even in the event that the mandate is struck down.