Lakeside Healthcare Inc

A major physicians group in the San Fernando Valley, struggling with the rising cost of medical care, has joined another Southern California healthcare network that will now serve more than 600,000 patients. Burbank-based Lakeside HealthCare Inc., a medical group providing care for 200,000 patients through more than 1,800 staff and contract physicians, was acquired this month by Heritage Provider Network Inc. of Northridge. The financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal provided a needed infusion of cash to Lakeside, which was struggling with an unforeseen rise in medical costs, executives said.

A major physicians group in the San Fernando Valley, struggling with the rising cost of medical care, has joined another Southern California healthcare network that will now serve more than 600,000 patients. Burbank-based Lakeside HealthCare Inc., a medical group providing care for 200,000 patients through more than 1,800 staff and contract physicians, was acquired this month by Heritage Provider Network Inc. of Northridge. The financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal provided a needed infusion of cash to Lakeside, which was struggling with an unforeseen rise in medical costs, executives said.

Keith Richman, a three-term Republican state assemblyman who fought for pension reform and was a leader in the San Fernando Valley secession movement, has died. He was 56. Richman died of brain cancer Friday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said his brother Craig. A physician, Richman was elected in 2000 to the California Assembly, representing the 38th District, which includes the Santa Clarita Valley, Simi Valley and northeast San Fernando Valley. He could serve only six years because of term limits.