VENTURA : Major HMO Begins Work on New Clinic

Foundation Health Corp., already the largest health maintenance organization in Ventura County, began construction Wednesday of a new clinic that is expected to open in February, 1996, company officials said.

The Ventura clinic, which will primarily serve Foundation HMO members and be staffed by Foundation doctors, will offer pediatrics, internal medicine and family practice. Also, it will house a pharmacy, X-ray facilities and a laboratory, said Kurt Davis, director of investor relations for the HMO.

He added that competition for patients is intensifying in the county. “We have other HMOs coming and trying to get a piece of the market. . .,” he said. “But it’s an area where we want to continue to be strong and hang on to our market share and grow.”

The Sacramento-based HMO, which has 600,000 members statewide and about 57,000 in the county, also expects to open primary care clinics in both Oxnard and Camarillo within the year, Davis said.

Davis said the new clinic will have about 35 to 40 employees, not including about 12 physicians expected to work there. In an arrangement new to Ventura County, the physicians are actually employees of the Foundation Health Medical Group Inc. Previously, they contracted to handle patients for several HMOs.