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August 8, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 31TOP STORIESPublished Monday, California Healthfax iscopyrighted by HealthLeaders Media, a divisionof BLR, 35 Village Road, Suite 200, Middleton,MA 01949 and is transmitted solely to the subscriber. Any unauthorized copying, duplication ortransmission is strictly prohibited. Subscriptionsare 179 for 48 issues. For group and bulk subscriptions, call 800-650-6787.CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTEREmail Subscribers: If you do notreceive your copy of HealthFax,send a request to: customerservice@hcpro.com.For renewals or other subscription questions,please call: 800-650-6787. By fax: 866-592-7573.By email: customerservice@hcpro.comEDITORIAL SUBMISSIONSTo submit an item for consideration, contact Doug Desjardins, Editor. By email:ddhealth@netzero.net. By phone: 760-696-3931.For other questions, contact Erika Bryan, ManagingEditor. By phone: 781-639-1872, ext. 3194.By email: ebryan@healthleadersmedia.comADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIESTo advertise in California Healthfax,please contact Susan Pesaturo:By email: susanp@hcpro.comBy phone: 978-624-4594John Muir and UCSF ExpandNetwork to Form Canopy HealthHealth plan to launch this fall with Health NetThe Bay Area Accountable Care Network established by John Muir Healthand UCSF Health has added seven new hospitals to its network and changed itsname to Canopy Health as it prepares to launch this fall.Canopy Health also added three new medical groups to its network tobolster a provider base that now includes more than 4,000 physicians. “We’vemade significant strides in a short amount of time as we work to provide BayArea residents with an option to choose Canopy Health during open enrollment inthe fall of 2016,” said Canopy Health CEO Joel Criste.As part of its expansion, Canopy Health added Marin General Hospital,Sonoma Valley Hospital, San Ramon Regional Medical Center, WashingtonHospital Healthcare System, Alameda Hospital, Highland Hospital, andSan Leandro Hospital. Medical groups joining the network are Hill PhysiciansMedical Group, which has more than 2,250 physicians in the Bay Area, the JohnMuir Physician Network, and Meritage Medical Network.The addition of three new medical groups expands the provider base tomore than 4,000 physicians and the addition of seven hospitals increases thenumber of hospitals in the Canopy Health provider network to 12 hospitals. Thenetwork also includes two John Muir hospitals in Concord and Walnut Creek andthree UC San Francisco hospitals.“We have a lot of independent, like-minded providers who have cometogether under this strategy, and we all want to provide the appropriate care inthe right setting at the right time,” said Michael Moody, senior vice president ofpartnership, integration, and development for John Muir Health.Canopy Health received its limited Knox-Keene license from the stateDepartment of Managed Health Care on August 3. The license allows it to provide services in San Francisco, Alameda, Marin, and Contra Costa counties and inportions of Sonoma, Solano, and San Mateo counties.« C ONTINUED ON P AGE 2 »

TO SEE ADDITIONAL JOBOPPORTUNITIES— please visit CA Jobs online at —For subscription services, call 800-753-0131IN BRIEF The United States Courts for theNinth Circuit has ruled that DignityHealth's pension plan is subject tothe requirements of the EmployeeRetirement Income Security Act(ERISA) and does not qualify as anERISA "church plan.” According to aJuly 29 report from Courthouse NewsService, the Ninth Circuit court rulingupholds a U.S. District Court, NorthernCalifornia ruling that Dignity Health'sretirement plan does not qualify forthe ERISA exemption because itwas not established by a church. Ina 26-page opinion, U.S. Circuit CourtJudge William Fletcher wrote that"the parties' dispute would have beeneasily resolved under ERISA's originally enacted text, which unambiguouslyprovided that a church plan must havebeen established by a church." DignityHealth formed its retirement plan as achurch plan in 1989 under its formername of Catholic Healthcare West. In2013, a former Dignity employee suedthe health system and challenged itsright to operate a church plan, whichprovides benefits not extended to regular retirement plans and are not subject to disclosure, funding, and vestingrequirements that regulate privatesector plans. The University of California Boardof Regents agreed to pay nearly 8.5million to settle two lawsuits that allegea UCLA spine surgeon failed to disclose conflicts of interest with medicaldevice manufacturer Medtronic whileusing the company's products to perform surgeries. According to a July 29« C O N T IN U ED O N PAGE 3 »WWW.HEALTHLEADERSMEDIA.COM/CALIFORNIA-JOBSTOP STORIESPAGE 2SEARCH NOWAugust 8, 2016CO N T IN U E D FR O M PA GE 1John Muir and UCSF Expand cont.Criste said Canopy Health is different from health plans launched by otherhealth systems. “Our model is unique, as we are partnering with health plans tooffer a competitively priced insurance product rather than selling our own plan,”said Criste. He added that Canopy Health currently contracts only with Health Netbut is in discussions to form partnerships with other insurers to join its network.Canopy Health will launch this fall with approximately 13,000 Universityof California employees. Canopy signed a contract with Health Net to providecoverage for employees and families covered under its Health Net Blue & GoldPlan with San Francisco Hill Physicians Medical Group. It will also offer itsHMO plan to more UC employees this fall during open enrollment for coveragestarting in January 2017.John Muir and UCSF join a growing list of health systems forming their ownhealth plans. In 2015, Sutter Health launched an HMO called Sutter HealthPlus in the Sacramento area and now operates in more than a dozen counties inNorthern California. The HMO includes a network of 25 hospitals and more than5,600 physicians and now has more than 37,000 members.A 2016 report from McKinsey & Company found that “offering a healthplan can give health systems an opportunity for growth but is not without financial risk,” noting that “40 of the 89 provider-led health plans we analyzed havehad negative margins in some or all of the past three years.” The report alsonoted that, “health systems, if they are to benefit from offering a health plan, willneed to be able to understand how they can use consumerism to their advantageand where the best opportunities for growth exist.”—DOUG DESJARDINSHuntington Hospital to Take Partin End of Life Option ActCalifornia hospitals not expected to play large role in new lawHuntington Hospital in Pasadena announced that it will participate in the Endof Life Option Act but that it doesn’t expect to be part of many end-of-life plans.The hospital made its announcement in a Letter to the Community published in the July 31 edition of the Los Angeles Times."Earlier this year, our hospital began ongoing, thoughtful deliberations aboutwhether and how to participate in this new law," the Letter to the Communitystated. "In June, as the law came into effect, we announced that we would participate in the act while we completed our deliberations. Now, after careful evaluation« C ONTINUED ON P AGE 3 »

HIRE POWER: HEALTHFAXCLASSIFIED ADS WORK!CALL 978-624-4594For subscription services, call 800-753-0131I N B R I E F Continued from page 2report from the Los Angeles Times, the 4.25 million and 4.2 million settlements resolved cases involving JeffreyWang, MD, UCLA, and Medtronic,and two former patients who claimedtheir surgeries led to recurring painand the need for additional surgeries.The lawsuits claimed that from 2004to 2013, Medtronic paid Wang morethan 275,000 for consulting work,lectures, and product royalties whileWang was using Medtronic productsin surgeries. UCLA said it agreed tothe settlement "so that UCLA Healthand the David Geffen School ofMedicine at UCLA could move forward with their ongoing commitmentto excellence in patient care, research,education, and community service."Medtronic also denied any wrongdoingand said that Wang "was not paid forusing the Medtronic products used inthe surgery." Nine hospitals in California receivedfive-star ratings from the Centersfor Medicare & Medicaid Services(CMS) in its annual Overall HospitalQuality Star Ratings. The five-starhospitals include Scripps MemorialHospital - La Jolla, Scripps GreenHospital in La Jolla, Goleta ValleyCottage Hospital in Santa Barbara,Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital,Community Hospital of the MontereyPeninsula, Hoag Orthopedic Institutein Irvine, Sutter Maternity & SurgeryCenter of Santa Cruz, Fresno SurgicalHospital, and Methodist Hospital ofSouthern California in Arcadia. TheOverall Hospital Quality Star Ratings« C O N T IN U ED O N PAGE 4 »TOP STORIESPAGE 3August 8, 2016CO N T IN U E D FR O M PA GE 2Huntington Hospital cont.of the law our board of directors determined that Huntington Hospital will continue to participate in the End of Life Option Act. As has always been the case,physicians will individually decide whether to participate or not."Huntington Hospital officials began debating the merits of opting out of thenew law in April and considered the opinions of hundreds of physicians, nurses,clinicians, and administrators. "In conversations with our physicians, palliativecare experts, nurses, bioethicists, patients, and the community, the most criticalfactor in end-of-life discussions is individual choice," the letter stated.The Letter to the Community added that, "we fully respect those who disagree with the law and expect it will be quite rare that patients choose to endtheir own lives in our hospital." Huntington Hospital cited data from Oregon—the first state to approve a death with dignity law—that shows physician aidin-dying at hospitals is rare."In Oregon, for example, which has had a similar statute in place since 1998,patients have overwhelmingly decided to exercise this option outside of a hospitalsetting. According to the most recent Oregon data, 990 of the 991 patients whoterminated their lives chose to do so in their homes or in non-hospital settings."Jan Emerson-Shea, vice president of external affairs for the CaliforniaHospital Association (CHA), said the CHA encourages all hospitals to adopt apolicy regarding the End of Life Option Act but does not expect hospitals to playa large role in implementing the law."We encourage all hospitals to adopt a policy," said Emerson-Shea. "Butwe don't expect people who choose to use the End of Life Option Act to choosea hospital as the setting."The Oregon Death with Dignity Act: 2015 Data Summary report fromthe Oregon Public Health Division found that 90.1% of patients who opted forphysician aid-in-dying in 2015 died at home and that 92.2% of patients wereenrolled in hospice care at the time of their deaths.Lori Dangberg, vice president for the Alliance of Catholic Health Care,said more than 45 Catholic and Catholic-affiliated hospitals in California havechosen not to participate in the new law, including Dignity Health.The End of Life Option Act allows physicians to prescribe lethal medication toterminally ill patients with less than six months to live. There is no current data onhow many California residents have requested physician aid-in-dying so far this yearand the state will not release those statistics until 2017.—DOUG DESJARDINSPromote a Company Event or Advertise Your Products and Services NOW!Contact Susan at 978-624-4594or spesaturo@healthleadersmedia.comfor rates, availability, and special offers!!!Place YourAd Today!