Optima

Orange County's managed-care program for poor patients--only 4 months old--is under attack by community doctors and other long-time Medi-Cal providers who accuse program organizers of greed, inefficiency and a callous attitude toward patients. Their anger boiled over Thursday at a hastily organized meeting at a Garden Grove church.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is the target of a federal civil rights investigation into allegations that it excluded Latinos from serving on the governing board of a new agency responsible for health care services to the county's poor. U.S.

Orange County supervisors formally set in motion a new health care system that is expected to change how thousands of low-income residents receive medical services. Supervisors unanimously approved a seven-member board of directors to govern what is expected to be the state's largest public health maintenance organization, which would provide care for at least 250,000 Medi-Cal patients.

Orange County health and governmental officials on Wednesday unveiled a plan for better, quicker and perhaps less expensive medical care for 225,000 poor people in the county. The plan, which is something like a health maintenance organization (HMO), would cover all current Medi-Cal patients in the county. It would go into effect in about two years. People who have Medi-Cal cards would be able to pick a doctor from a pool of Orange County physicians who take part in the plan.

For better or worse, the Laguna Beach Community Clinic won't ever be the same. Powerful forces are sweeping through Orange County, pushing it and other community-based health care agencies to collaborate and consolidate, in some cases dramatically altering the way they have done business over the years. OPTIMA, the county's fast-emerging Medi-Cal system for the poor, has some of these independent organizations scrambling to define their futures in the new age of managed care.

County health care officials have recommended six volunteer representatives to serve on the governing board of a new authority that will create a prepaid medical system for all Medi-Cal recipients in Orange County. The recommended list, including three consumer representatives and three representatives of health care providers, is scheduled to go to the County Board of Supervisors for approval Tuesday.

Recently, it has come to my attention that Orange County residents who are on both Medicare and Medi-Cal will have their Medi-Cal portion moved into a county program called Optima and will be assigned to an HMO or consortium, apparently without any say as to where they will be assigned. As a result, I could be forced to leave the family doctor whom I have been seeing for 25-30 years and whom I can reach easily by bus and go to another doctor, perhaps one who is harder for me to reach.

Despite criticism that a new county health care board does not include Latino representation, the Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday to six white appointees who are expected to begin the overhaul of medical services for the poor. County and local medical officials said that extensive efforts were made to recruit both Latino and Asian members to govern the public health authority known as OPTIMA, but got few responses.

A group of more than 20 Latino physicians is protesting the lack of Latino representation on a newly appointed county board that will oversee plans to drastically overhaul the delivery of medical services to the poor.

Kia, which has launched nine new products in the last three years, plans to move forward with design-led transformations, unveiling the Kia GT four-door sports sedan concept for the first time in the United States at the L.A. Auto Show. “This is Kia's first rear-wheel-drive concept,” said Chief Design Officer Peter Schreyer at Wednesday's press conference. “Beneath the hood is a 3.3-liter turbocharged engine, 395 horsepower, eight-speed automatic transmission. Put it all together, what you get is a four-door sports sedan that's sleek and masculine and breathtaking.” “For us, we've been known as a fuel-efficient, quality and value brand,” said Michael Sprague, marketing vice president.