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Published on 05/12/1997 All articles from this issue

Sunnyvale Medical Clinic operating successfully as Camino Medical Group

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By Clyde Noel / Town Crier Staff Writer

Camino Medical Group officials have announced they have reached an understanding with a real estate investment trust to purchase real estate assets presently owned by the El Camino Hospital District. The assets are being sold in accordance with the settlement agreement reached last Oct. 1. The transaction could be closed by as early as this week.

In September 1994, Sunnyvale Medical Clinic and Shoreline Medical Group merged to form Camino Medical Group (CMG) and transfer the tangible assets to the hospital's former management, Camino Healthcare. Included in the transfer were the Sunnyvale Medical Clinic buildings, located at 301 Old San Francisco Road in Sunnyvale.

When the El Camino Hospital District board regained control of the hospital from Camino Healthcare last year, CMG ended its relationship with Camino Healthcare and began operating as an independent multi-specialty medical group practice in the Sunnyvale Medical Clinic buildings.

CMG's greatest challenge was to re-establish the infrastructure necessary to become operational again and meet conditions of the transfer set by the El Camino Hospital District board. To accomplish this, the group named Benjamin Snyder as chief executive officer. His experience includes more than 20 years of management in the health care industry.

Snyder, formerly executive vice president of the professional services division for UniHealth, assumed the administration of ambulatory care operations.

"We have good news. We have gone through the transition and are successful," Snyder said. "Most important, patients who went through the transition never knew the difference.

"To date, no additional funds have been drawn from the agreement, and we have reached an understanding with a real estate investment trust (REIT). The REIT will purchase the three buildings from the El Camino Hospital District," Snyder said.

CMG needed the properties in order to continue to run its business. As a condition of the settlement, the sale of the property was mandatory since the district's interests over the long term were better served by having the cash rather than the properties.

One of Snyder's first encounters at CMG was a petition from the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB). CMG agreed to an election and on March 14, employees gave a "no" vote to unionization. With labor problems behind, Snyder and the board worked on meeting the conditions set forth when CMG ceased its affiliation with Camino Healthcare and the El Camino Hospital District.

Dr. Elizabeth M. Vilardo serves as chair of the board of directors of CMG, and has been on the staff at the Sunnyvale clinic campus since 1988.

Dr. Lynn J. Bennion oversees the quality of medical care and the systems for CMG. He joined the Sunnyvale Medical Clinic in 1980.

Dr. Jerry Shefren is medical director of managed care plans. He oversees the managed care department, which includes utilization management, capitation administration and contracting.

Today, CMG is a $100 million entity with 113 physician shareholders. It has 759 employees and 200 physicians on the payroll. CMG has 170 providers of primary care, including 135 physicians and 35 nurse practitioners in Sunnyvale and at 12 patient care sites serving Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Los Altos, Cupertino and Santa Clara.

Snyder said CMG provides a range of primary care specialists, urgent care, clinical laboratory, X-ray and preventive health care services. CMG is mutually interdependent on the El Camino Hospital and accounts for 45 percent of the hospital's admissions.

"We have a commitment to work together and there are no hard feelings with anyone. We are just sorry the IDS came apart," Snyder said. "As a medical group, we will have 585,000 office visits this year. We provide a lot of care to this community, and a lot of care at the 12 patient care sites."