California Blue Shield members will now have access to services at NorthBay Healthcare community hospitals and its network of primary care and specialty physicians thanks to a multi-year agreement effective October 1, 2008.
The new agreement will give HMO and PPO Blue Shield members access to NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, Calif., and NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield, Calif.
"We're pleased to make this excellent physician network and NorthBay's two hospitals available to our members," said David Joyner, Blue Shield's senior VP of network management. "We're especially happy to make NorthBay Healthcare available to state and local public agency workers in Solano County."
As Joyner indicated, the news comes at a good time for nearly 8,000 members of the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, in Solano County. Residents from the County, including school districts in Fairfield and Vacaville, the city of Vacaville, and the state prison in Vacaville, among others, will have the option to enroll in Blue Shield's Access+ HMO option during the current enrollment period.
"We welcome CalPERS Blue Shield members back to NorthBay Healthcare," said Gary Passama, president and CEO. "We are delighted to have worked out an agreement with Blue Shield that will make NorthBay's hospitals and physicians available once again to the thousands of CalPERS members and their families who live in our community."