Kaiser Permanente to open three Santa Cruz County locations

New health care options are coming to Santa Cruz County. Kaiser Permanente is set to open three new clinics in the new year. Locations in Downtown Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Scotts Valley are slated to open January 3, 2017.

The health care provider says it currently has 5,800 members who commute to Santa Clara or San Jose in order to receive care.

“We feel that there’s a real health care need in Santa Cruz County and so we’re very excited to be able to come here, and to help shore up our safety net services (and) to be able to provide access to health care across the county as well,” said Joyce Orndorff, the Physician Assistant in charge at the downtown Santa Cruz location.

Once all three clinics are open, they’ll be able to serve more than 20,000 Santa Cruz residents, offering services from psychology to OB/GYN.

“Once a member walks in, it’s essentially a one-stop shop,” said Niraj Singh, executive director of Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Cruz County market expansion. “We not only to treat your symptoms, we also work with you to make sure you have a healthy lifestyle.”

Santa Cruz resident Edgar Ontiveros works in the health care industry. He says he sees a need in the community for more availability.

“With so many people enrolling in health insurance now and Obamacare, we do need more providers,” he said.

“For me, it’s really ultimately about options so for people to have the ability to make a decision about where they want to go to receive medical services.”

For 2017, the clinics will accept commercial and Covered California coverage. They’re still at work to accept other forms of insurance including Medicare and Medical.