HB Bulletin #75-16
August 4, 2016
HEALTH BENEFITS BULLETIN
INFORMATION
Brothers and Sisters,
During the month of July, I met with the Administrators of Providence Little Company of Mary Hospital – San Pedro and Kaiser Permanente. Following are the items that we discussed during these meetings:
Providence Little Company of Mary Hospital:
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On July 6, 2016, an announcement was made regarding the merger of Providence Health & Services and St. Joseph Health System. The merger will create the nation’s third-largest nonprofit health system. The new entity, Providence St. Joseph Health, will include 16 St. Joseph hospitals, including five in Orange County, and 34 Providence hospitals, including six in Los Angeles County. The Orange County hospitals that will be added to the Providence system are St. Joseph in Orange, Mission in Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach, St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, and Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and Irvine.
2. San Pedro will expand the emergency department from 16-28 beds by 2018. The 8 million dollar expansion will feature special treatment areas for behavioral health, acute care and fast track patients.
3. San Pedro is currently completing a $800 thousand dollar facility refreshment to the Chemical Dependency Unit. Included in the design is a healing garden for patients to enjoy.
4. San Pedro will open a 20 bed Crisis Stabilization Unit featuring indoor and outdoor spaces for patients needing acute mental health intervention. Patients will stay up to 23 hours and have treatment in a relaxed environment from a multi-disciplinary care team. This innovative model is a new addition to the array of mental health services in San Pedro.
5. San Pedro is seeking $5 million dollars in funding from Providence to add 25 psychiatric beds to the hospital license within the next 2 years. The new unit, if approved, will be adjacent to the existing psychiatric unit on the 4th floor and will feature both adult and adolescent psychiatric care.
6. Providence Health eXpress is now available in Southern California, on June 6th, Health eXpress became available as a web and mobile service that allows patients to see a telehealth nurse practitioner through their computer, smartphone or tablet. Most visits are $39.00 ea. Please visit www.healthexpress.com
7. Providence Southern California has signed an agreement with City of Hope to form a partnership to bring communities and patients, expanding access to enhanced comprehensive cancer services closer to their homes — a significant step that exemplifies core strategy, “Creating Healthier Communities Together.” Providence and City of Hope are working to collaborate and build strength to expand existing cancer service programs by creating a comprehensive oncology partnership beginning today and serving patients at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center and Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance. Providence physicians and care teams will work with City of Hope’s clinicians and researchers to plan the new co-sponsored oncology delivery system providing high quality, coordinated and patient-focused care across all care settings, i.e. acute, ambulatory, home, and palliative and hospice.
Kaiser Permanente:
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Communication to Local 13 whenever Kaiser-Permanente facilities and services are expanding.
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The Kaiser Permanente account team will establish a plan to account for any future account management team changes. This transition plan will include solidifying a key influencing contact list for ILWU Locals (North & South) and ensure the chain of custody is properly managed. This would occur if there are any future personnel changes through Kaiser. Again, to make sure a proper hand-off occurs.
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Inquire and work on identifying Kaiser Points-of-Contact (POC) at Kaiser Permanente member facilities, in order to provide ILWU staff a means of efficiently assisting members, should the need arise.
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Identify what, and how, Kaiser can work together to facilitate ILWU member enrollments with ILWU-PMA Benefit Plan Office.
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Follow-up with suggestions that have been previously and currently presented to Kaiser Permanente.
ADA
(American Disability Act)
The ADA JPLRC meetings are scheduled on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month at 9:00 a.m. at Pacific Maritime Association, 300 Oceangate, 12th Floor, Long Beach, CA 90802 (no parking validation – cash only).
APPOINTMENT WITH THE HEALTH BENEFITS OFFICER
The Health Benefits Officer maintains an open door policy, however, if you need special assistance, (i.e. retirement, disability or personal matter) we recommend that you schedule an appointment with Jerry Avila at (310) 830-6116.
LONG LIVE THE ILWU!
In Solidarity,
Jerry Avila
Health Benefits Officer
ILWU Local 13
HB Bulletin #75-16
OPEIU #537/mv