Orange County

If You Insist: PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.’s California health maintenance unit is handing over internal patient files to state regulators today to comply with a court order, company officials said. Last summer, the Cypress-based HMO resisted a state demand that it give investigators access to files of its more than 1 million members. The Department of Corporations, citing numerous complaints about patient care, had requested records involving patients, peer-review decisions and company business matters dating to Jan. 1, 1993. The HMO sued the state in Orange County Superior Court to block it from pressing its demand; the state countersued. On Nov. 30, Judge John M. Watson ordered the company to hand over records of about 300 members who had filed complaints. David Barr, a PacifiCare vice president, said the state subsequently narrowed the number to 188 case files. Four state employees will pick up the files, which fill about 20 boxes. “We’ll just go in, see that everything’s there, pile it in a car or truck, whatever it takes, and take off,” said Damien Jones, a spokesman for the Department of Corporations.