Lakeside Merger Extends Coverage Across Northern L.A.

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Former state Assemblyman Keith Richman hasn’t been idle since being termed out of office at the end of last year.


The Northridge Republican and physician returned to the San Fernando Valley medical group he helped found a decade ago. He recently helped orchestrate a private stock transaction that has elevated Lakeside Medical Group into the ranks of the top three medical groups in the greater Los Angeles area.


The independent physician association’s holding company, Glendale-based Lakeside Systems Inc., earlier this month added to its family Progressive Health Systems, an Agoura Hills-based physicians management company, and its Community Medical Group.


Lakeside’s coverage area now stretches across northern Los Angeles County and serves more than 250,000 patients.


When the deal closed on Oct. 3, the system grew by 50 percent to 600 employees, including 100 multi-specialty physicians at 11 clinics, three urgent care clinics and two outpatient surgical centers. There also are 2,000 additional physicians in its affiliated network.


Dr. Marv Kanter, Progressive’s chairman, became Lakeside’s chairman, which was Richman’s role before he went to Sacramento in 2000. Dr. Fred Frederico, who was one of Richman’s partners in founding Lakeside, will continue in his role as chief executive. Richman, who unsuccessfully ran for state treasurer last November but continues to be active in political causes, serves as the company’s executive vice president.


The merger made financially possible an extensive upgrade of the group’s information technology with comprehensive practice management and electronic medical records systems. That includes a recent $3 million contract with AllScripps, a Chicago-based provider, that will give patients better access to test results, prescription information and other data over the Internet.


Large managed care providers such as Kaiser Permanente and HealthCare Partners, the region’s largest physician group, have implemented similar systems in recent years, but the cost is often beyond the reach of smaller groups.


“It was important that we move to electronic health records both from a patient care perspective and to reduce administrative costs,” Richman said.



Walking Distance

A nearly decade-old corporate alliance between Orthopaedic Hospital and UCLA has led to the recent opening of what is is on track to become the largest facility for musculoskeletal research in the nation.


The Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center, which is a five-minute walk on campus from the soon-to-open Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, will enable hospital and university researchers to collaborate on new orthopaedic surgery techniques as well as gene therapy, musculoskeletal oncology, tissue engineering and biomedical engineering


The hospital, through its endowment fund, contributed $30 million toward the more than $45 million, 95,000-square-foot facility, with the university covering the remainder. The center is connected to the university’s Biomedical Sciences Research Building.


For Dr. James Luck, the downtown L.A. hospital’s longtime chief executive, the new research center is the culmination of a dream he had in 1993 to make Orthopaedic Hospital a nexus of cutting-edge research and treatment. UCLA was selected as the partner five years later, with the two institutions collaborating on a variety of projects over the years.


“Both of our research programs were strong on their own, but you put the two together and you really have a leading research center,” said Luck, whose institution was founded in 1911 to treat children with crippling disorders.



Secure Sneakers

Universal Detection Technology struggles each day to make its case that the ongoing threat of a bioterrorism attack in this country is sufficient that public and private institutions should be prepared by investing in their innovative bioterrorism detection devices. The Beverly Hills-based company has had modest success with military and other government agencies, with its largest clients including the British government and the U.S. Army.


But Chief Executive Jacques Tzabi admits he was a bit surprised when his company received a call out of the blue from athletic footwear retailer Foot Locker Inc. The New York-based company wanted Tzabi to outfit one of their U.S. distribution warehouses with UD’s latest testing kits.


“It was pretty startling that they called us because the commercial sector hasn’t been our focus at this point,” said Tzabi.



Staff reporter Deborah Crowe can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 232, or at [email protected].

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