HEALTH

Health Net-QualMed Merger Moves Forward: QualMed shareholders have approved a pending merger with HN Management Holdings, a unit of Woodland Hills-based Health Net, California’s second-largest health maintenance organization. Separately, the companies said a Superior Court judge in Sacramento on Monday denied a request from the California Department of Corporations for a restraining order to block $3.3 million in payments to Health Net executives in connection with the merger. The funds will be placed in an escrow account pending further court action, the companies said. A spokesman for Colorado-based QualMed said the court dispute will not affect completion of the merger.