Medical Care Industry Orange County

The county, in need of a long-term care facility for mental health patients, has proposed a partnership with a private Santa Ana mental health corporation that calls for the county to pay $58,229 a month for 20 years. The agreement, scheduled to go before the Board of Supervisors for a vote Tuesday, calls for the purchase of an empty hospital in Mission Viejo by Royale Health Care Center Inc., which would then convert it into an 80-bed facility for mentally ill patients.

Orange County is excluded from a state bill that would allow Mexican doctors and dentists to treat California's poor, prompting protests from local health-care advocates who say the doctors could help eradicate back-room clinics run by untrained practitioners. Sponsors of the controversial legislation said it is designed to bring health care to areas that have a large number of Medi-Cal patients--mostly Latinos--but few Spanish-speaking health professionals.

The HealthCare Foundation for Orange County has awarded $330,000 in grants for community-based medical, prenatal and dental services in partnership with three area hospitals. The money, part of the new foundation's "Partners for Health Projects," will augment programs in Santa Ana and Anaheim neighborhoods that deliver health care to low-income families and migrant workers.

Capping a six-month period of turmoil at the nation's largest Medicare health maintenance organization, PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. Chief Executive Alan R. Hoops on Thursday announced plans to retire by spring 2001. The retirement, which Hoops described as "not a tough decision" for either himself or the board, comes after a two-year pummeling of PacifiCare's stock and the disenchantment of Wall Street with key elements of the 4-million member health plan's business model.

Shares of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. shot up 20% Monday as investors began boosting the stocks of managed-care companies that are expected to post strong first-quarter earnings. The Santa Ana health care company won't be releasing its results for a week, but Wall Street traders helped boost its stock price $9.69 a share. It closed at $59.38 Monday on the Nasdaq system. More than 917,000 shares traded hands, almost triple the average daily volume for the last three months.

Bucking the low-paying managed-care system, UC Irvine Medical Center said Wednesday it will drop PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. medical plans because the fees are so low the hospital is losing more than $1 million a year. The termination, which came after six months of negotiations, will affect about 4,000 patients, who now must seek other medical plans that the hospital accepts or other doctors still accepting PacifiCare members. UCI Medical Center said it lost nearly $1.

Squeezed by a low-paying managed-care system, Orange County's largest health-care provider said Friday that it will not accept any new patients from health maintenance organizations and may sever ties with all 17 HMOs with which it contracts. St.

Troubled pharmaceutical concern Ivax Corp. plans to sell its Irvine-based McGaw unit for $320 million in cash, well below the $440 million it paid for the company three years ago. B. Braun of America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Germany's Braun Melsungen AG, will acquire McGaw, a major Orange County employer. Braun said it would pay up to $80 million more for the company over a period of years, depending on McGaw's financial performance.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. agreed to sell its FHP of Illinois health plan to a Principal Financial Group unit, the companies said. Terms weren't disclosed. Cypress-based PacifiCare said it decided to sell the Illinois plan because it had to be allied with a larger company to remain competitive. The 76,000 members of FHP of Illinois will become members of Principal Health Care.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. said Monday it expects financial results to fall substantially below analysts' estimates for the second quarter because of slower sales in California and several other markets. The managed health-care company said sales failed to meet expectations in several markets served by FHP International Inc., the Orange County competitor that PacifiCare acquired in February for $2.1 billion. PacifiCare was expected to earn $1.