UFCW 324 Communications / News
WebMaster's Note: Local 324 represents clinical lab scientists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy clerks employed by Kaiser-Permanente.
Kaiser-Permanente Rising in South Orange County
~ Construction continues on an Irvine hospital for Orange County's largest HMO, a facility that will broaden Kaiser's reach and visibility.
August 10, 2006 · Orange County Register
Orange County's biggest HMO is staking a larger claim in south county by building a 150-bed hospital off the San Diego (I-405) Freeway – a highly visible marketing tool for gaining more members.
Right now, Kaiser Permanente's greatest concentration of local customers is in north county, specifically near its Anaheim hospital. But Kaiser officials expect to attract more companies and families in south county after opening the $205 million Sand Canyon Medical Center in fall 2007.
The 30-acre campus (map below), which will include two medical office buildings, could spur competition among insurers. It's across the street from the Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center , which will lose some Kaiser business. Kaiser's new facility will be the county's 28th hospital, incorporating the latest in design, including all private rooms and free Wi-Fi Internet access. The emergency room will be open to anyone, but the hospital will mostly treat the 371,000 Kaiser members in Orange County. Kaiser works as an all-in-one HMO, meaning it provides medical, hospital and pharmacy services.
"Irvine is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country," said Tony Smale, Kaiser's director of planning. "It's a very strategic location for us."
Growth in the south
Statistics show that the average Kaiser patient will be hospitalized just once every 16 years while visiting a doctor four times a year. Nevertheless, Julie Miller-Phipps, senior vice president for Kaiser Permanente in Orange County, says proximity to a hospital is a key to reaching families and employers in the market for an HMO.
Miller-Phipps said Kaiser has more than a 15 percent penetration of potential customers in north county but only about 6 percent in the south because fewer services have been available.
"There's something just very comforting to know that your hospital is here, and if you need it, that's where you would go," she said, adding that Kaiser's highest market penetration is within 10 miles of the Anaheim hospital.
"We know it's a huge draw of membership growth."
Kaiser bought the Irvine land in 1992. Company officials said the site offers easy access for a growing number of south-county patients and high visibility for marketing.
One medical office complex is already open and seeing patients even as construction workers in hard hats build the hospital.
Kaiser member Linh Nguyen, 32, lives in Garden Grove but prefers seeing doctors near his office in Irvine. He showed up at the urgent-care center on the hospital campus without an appointment last week because of ear pain.
"It's quick and easy," Nguyen said. "It seems very convenient and well laid out."
Impact on other hospitals
Kaiser's new hospital will employ 600 to 800 people. Miller-Phipps said she knows some hospitals are concerned about losing staff, and Kaiser is working to train specialized nurses in advance.
"The competition for nursing staff is very stiff right now because of the staffing ratios that have been imposed on the hospitals by the state," said Julie Puentes, Orange County vice president of the Hospital Association of Southern California. "That's going to be an issue whenever there's a beautiful new facility in a community. We have to get more nurses trained and in the pipeline."
Once the new hospital opens, Kaiser will stop contracting to send about 90 patients a day to Irvine Regional, Anaheim Memorial Medical Center and Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley. About 60 babies are delivered by Kaiser doctors at Irvine Regional each month.
"The impact of those patients going elsewhere will be minimal," said Sharon Capell, spokeswoman for Irvine Regional. "The city is growing so rapidly, so we really don't expect the exit of Kaiser to impact Irvine in any significant way. The growth in the community will just more than compensate for the loss of the Kaiser patients."
Kaiser member Sylvia Barazin, 26, of Coto de Caza gave birth a month ago at Irvine Regional but wished the new hospital was already open.
"It was a bit older," Barazin said of Irvine Regional. "It's less comfortable."
A template hospital
The new Irvine hospital is a Kaiser "template," meaning it incorporates the same design as other Kaiser hospitals being built in the next few years. The Anaheim hospital will be replaced with a template building in 2011.
The design is intended to reduce costs while incorporating ways of improving health and comfort for patients and staff. The new hospital will offer all private rooms, a feature aimed at preventing the spread of infections and encouraging more family support. The campus offers free wireless Internet access for patients and families as they wait. Every room will have a view of greenery.
"Patients that can feel natural sunlight heal faster," Miller-Phipps said. "It's just more peaceful and soothing."
Waiting rooms will be designed with a "family pod" setup to give families more privacy through clusters of chairs, surrounded by green plants and lamps. In critical-care units, there will be throw blankets and recliner chairs.
The hospital is designed to expand to 250 beds in the future.
"It will really depend on the membership growth," Smale said.
