Blue Shield of California and NorthBay Healthcare Reach an...( - Contract Approved in time for C...),Health

- Contract Approved in time for CalPERS Open Enrollment -

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NorthBay Healthcare and Blue Shield of California have signed a multi-year agreement under which NorthBay Healthcare will provide services to Blue Shield members at NorthBay's two community hospitals and its comprehensive network of primary care and specialty physicians, effective October 1, 2008.

Under the agreement, Blue Shield's HMO and PPO members will have access to NorthBay's physician network and its two hospitals, NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville and NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield.

This news comes at a particularly good time for members of CalPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System) in Solano County, who will have the opportunity to enroll in the Blue Shield Access+ HMO option during the current enrollment period under way. Nearly 8,000 residents of Solano County are CalPERS members, including County of Solano, school districts in Fairfield and Vacaville, city of Vacaville and the state prison in Vacaville, among others.

"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 vice president of network management. "We're especially happy to make NorthBay Healthcare available to state and local public agency workers in Solano County."

"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."

Background on Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California, an independent member of the Blue Shield Association, is a not-for-profit health plan dedicated to providing Californians with access to high quality care a
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