 Health Care Council 2333 North Broadway, Suite 460 Santa Ana, CA 92706 |
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"Get to Know Your Medicare HMO"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE You don't have to be wealthy to be healthy, only wise: Get to know your Medicare HMO! SANTA ANA, California - Council on Aging - Orange County is offering a seminar to inform professionals and lay individuals about the Medicare managed care industry and the impact it has on our health care system. The comprehensive training designed to explore the options, costs, benefits and legal mandates applying to Medicare Plus Choice HMO plans will be presented on Wednesday, November 7th from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Bash Auditorium, Western Medical Center, 1001 North Tustin Avenue in Santa Ana. Concurrent with open enrollment, this timely program will feature HMO representatives from Aetna, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Health Net 65, Kaiser Senior Advantage, SCAN, and Secure Horizons, briefing attendees on their health plans for 2002. Following the presentations, Carol S. Jimenez, Esq., a nationally recognized expert on Medicare, managed care and related health care issues, will speak about working with the Medicare System, Patient Rights and the Medicare HMO expedited appeals systems. An open forum with a question and answer period will follow. The fee, which includes a box lunch, will be: $15 for students / seniors (62+), $35 Individuals / Professionals; if attending the seminar for continuing education credits, an additional $50. Units will be offered for LCSW/MFT, RN, CPA-CPE, with credit pending for NHAP, RCFE, and MCLE. A registration form can be downloaded from the Internet by visiting www.coaoc.org and clicking on the Special Event button. For more information, please call Penni McRoberts at (714) 479-0107, ext. 23 or email pmcroberts@coaoc.org. WHAT'S THE ORANGE COUNTY FUTURE SEARCH NETWORK? The Future Search Network is a different way to create change. In the past, "experts" were expected to solve problems for us. Too often, people who are affected by efforts to bring about change have not been included in planning and implementing them. Now we are learning a better way. By means of state-of-the-art Large Group Intervention techniques such as Future Search Conferences, Open Space Meetings and Whole Scale Change, groups ranging from 50 people to several hundred can participate in helping to develop collaborative communities. Recently, the Future Search Network has conducted eight Open Space Meetings at Orange County Family Resource Centers under the aegis of the Children and Families Commission. Four Open Space Meetings were held as part of the Children's Health Care Access Initiative, and an Open Space, Community Building and Whole Scale program is underway, in collaboration with Latino Health Access, for the Latino Childhood Overweight Prevention program. Upcoming projects include work with the City of Aliso Viejo Family Resource Center, as well as a program in Pomona. Client organizations learn about the work of the Orange County Future Search Network through word-of-mouth, through presentations, workshops and seminars or by participating in a large group intervention, and may request a proposal after an initial exchange of information. It is essential that each party understands what the group is trying to do, how they are trying to achieve their goals, and why they have chosen their process, and then that they grapple with the concepts to "co-construct" a different, more meaningful and efficient process. The Steering Committee of the Future Search Network includes representatives of the St. Joseph Health System, Deloitte & Touche, LLP, Orange County On Track, the Santa Ana Police Department, Latino Health Access, Children's Hospital of Orange County, the Volunteer Center of Orange County, and the Health Care Council, as well as educators, a journalist, the Orange County Public Defender, a private foundation representative, and others. To quote Eli Reyna of the Orange County Human Relations Commission: "Future Search is a powerful process that allows people to put aside their personal agendas and directs them towards a collective vision of the future." (Rigoberto Rodriguez is a consultant with the Orange County Future Search Network.) COPYRIGHT © 2001, 2002 Health Care Council of Orange County
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