Scan Health Plan

Sam Ervin is chief executive of SCAN Health Plan, a Long Beach-based, nonprofit company mandated into existence by Congress. Called a Social Health Maintenance Organization, SCAN Health Plan--still in the demonstration phase--offers free hospital, outpatient and in-home health benefits to the elderly in Orange and Los Angeles counties using Medicare funds. The Social HMO model, Ervin says, could be a forerunner to a national health system. He talked recently with staff writer James M. Gomez.

Bruce Chernof, the embattled county health services director, announced Friday that he is leaving to become the chief executive of a new Long Beach-based foundation dedicated to improving healthcare for senior citizens. Chernof will be the first to lead the SCAN Foundation, with an initial budget of $205 million from the SCAN Health Plan, a nonprofit Medicare and Medicaid HMO. Chernof's resignation Thursday from his county post caught county officials by surprise, and some privately expressed anger that he departed when the county health system is facing major troubles.

Bruce Chernof, the embattled county health services director, announced Friday that he is leaving to become the chief executive of a new Long Beach-based foundation dedicated to improving healthcare for senior citizens. Chernof will be the first to lead the SCAN Foundation, with an initial budget of $205 million from the SCAN Health Plan, a nonprofit Medicare and Medicaid HMO. Chernof's resignation Thursday from his county post caught county officials by surprise, and some privately expressed anger that he departed when the county health system is facing major troubles.

Helen Dorroh White thought she was doing the right thing when she called a health insurance company to question a nearly $1-million medical bill. Instead, she said, no one seemed to care. White, a Glendale lawyer, was closing the financial affairs for a deceased client when she came across the insurance statement.

SCAN Health Plan, the Long Beach health maintenance organization, wants to make a buck. The nonprofit HMO, which provides medical and dental coverage to about 12,000 seniors in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, recently applied to state regulators for the OK to convert itself to a for-profit entity. * Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at barbara.marsh@latimes.com

SCAN Health Plan of Long Beach, part of a long-running experiment in home-based care for the elderly, faced the hard realities of rising health care costs Friday when it announced the layoff of 13% of its work force. SCAN, which stands for Senior Care Action Network, has been under pressure from the state Department of Managed Health Care to improve its financial health.

For about 1.5 million California seniors enrolled in Medicare health maintenance organizations, the task of selecting a health plan has been daunting. Many people rely on recommendations from friends, feel-good advertisements or finding their doctor in the HMO's booklet. What's been needed is information that would allow people to directly compare how Medicare HMOs throughout California measure up on costs and services.

Helen Dorroh White thought she was doing the right thing when she called a health insurance company to question a nearly $1-million medical bill. Instead, she said, no one seemed to care. White, a Glendale lawyer, was closing the financial affairs for a deceased client when she came across the insurance statement.

For more than a decade, Sam Ervin has struggled to ensure that his modest experiment in health care--a program to keep people out of nursing homes for as long as possible--would survive in the rough-and-tumble managed-care industry. While SCAN Health Plan, the small, not-for-profit HMO that Ervin heads, has certainly survived, it has not flourished. And when Ervin tried to jump-start his company's growth recently by converting it to for-profit status, state regulators objected.

In Long Beach, 720 senior citizens are pioneering a novel way to confront the health-care costs of old age: They go to the SHMO. And if they're not up to the trip, the SHMO goes to them. SHMO? That's government talk for "social health maintenance organization," which may sound like gobbledygook but stands for a serious, experimental approach to health care for the elderly.

Long Beach-based SCAN Health Plan is entering the Ventura County market, offering services in limited areas for seniors looking to supplement Medicare coverage, officials said. More than 50,000 seniors in Camarillo, Fillmore, Oxnard, Santa Paula and Ventura will now be able to choose between two Medicare Advantage HMOs, potentially finding savings, said Katharine Raley, an insurance counselor for the county's Area Agency on Aging.

SCAN Health Plan of Long Beach, part of a long-running experiment in home-based care for the elderly, faced the hard realities of rising health care costs Friday when it announced the layoff of 13% of its work force. SCAN, which stands for Senior Care Action Network, has been under pressure from the state Department of Managed Health Care to improve its financial health.

For about 1.5 million California seniors enrolled in Medicare health maintenance organizations, the task of selecting a health plan has been daunting. Many people rely on recommendations from friends, feel-good advertisements or finding their doctor in the HMO's booklet. What's been needed is information that would allow people to directly compare how Medicare HMOs throughout California measure up on costs and services.

For more than a decade, Sam Ervin has struggled to ensure that his modest experiment in health care--a program to keep people out of nursing homes for as long as possible--would survive in the rough-and-tumble managed-care industry. While SCAN Health Plan, the small, not-for-profit HMO that Ervin heads, has certainly survived, it has not flourished. And when Ervin tried to jump-start his company's growth recently by converting it to for-profit status, state regulators objected.

SCAN Health Plan, the Long Beach health maintenance organization, wants to make a buck. The nonprofit HMO, which provides medical and dental coverage to about 12,000 seniors in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, recently applied to state regulators for the OK to convert itself to a for-profit entity. * Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at barbara.marsh@latimes.com

Sam Ervin is chief executive of SCAN Health Plan, a Long Beach-based, nonprofit company mandated into existence by Congress. Called a Social Health Maintenance Organization, SCAN Health Plan--still in the demonstration phase--offers free hospital, outpatient and in-home health benefits to the elderly in Orange and Los Angeles counties using Medicare funds. The Social HMO model, Ervin says, could be a forerunner to a national health system. He talked recently with staff writer James M. Gomez.

Long Beach-based SCAN Health Plan is entering the Ventura County market, offering services in limited areas for seniors looking to supplement Medicare coverage, officials said. More than 50,000 seniors in Camarillo, Fillmore, Oxnard, Santa Paula and Ventura will now be able to choose between two Medicare Advantage HMOs, potentially finding savings, said Katharine Raley, an insurance counselor for the county's Area Agency on Aging.

Mahony and the crimes Re "Deposition an eye-opener," Column, June 20 How is it that Cardinal Roger Mahony has never been charged as an accessory to these crimes? This man is a thuggish bureaucrat who to this day doesn't take responsibility for crimes committed against innocent children. He sees these crimes through the prism of the 1980s — but child abuse and rape were hideous crimes then and continue to be hideous crimes today. This man not only ruined the lives of countless children, but also ruined the Catholic experience for many of us who will not attend a church whose leader ought to be in jail.

In Long Beach, 720 senior citizens are pioneering a novel way to confront the health-care costs of old age: They go to the SHMO. And if they're not up to the trip, the SHMO goes to them. SHMO? That's government talk for "social health maintenance organization," which may sound like gobbledygook but stands for a serious, experimental approach to health care for the elderly.