Beech-Capp Merger

Technology is the touchstone for many health care mergers these days.

Take the recently announced merger plan of two big nationwide networks of doctors and hospitals--Beech Street Corp. in Irvine and Capp Care Inc. in Newport Beach. Assuming the two agree on final terms, officials expect the combined company to increase its use of the Internet to exchange data between providers, insurers and patients.

They believe more physicians will become comfortable using the Internet for billing and other business as improved technology becomes available to protect the confidentiality of patient records.

Beech Street already is working with Santa Clara software supplier Healtheon Corp. to set up online links between doctors and insurers to streamline billing and other services. Capp Care has set up its own Web site, which patients can use to look up credentials and locations of doctors on their health plans. Capp Care and Beech Street aim to combine their systems and add new features.

Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at barbara.marsh@latimes.com.