Internal Medicine Residency

Kaiser Permanente Opens New AV Surgery Center

LANCASTER — The new Kaiser Permanente Antelope Valley Surgery Center in Lancaster is the first stand-alone Kaiser Permanente surgery center in Southern California.

Kaiser Permanente officials, joined by healthcare professionals, local nonprofit organizations, community members and local dignitaries, including Mayor R. Rex Parris and Councilman Ken Mann, held a symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning at the center, at 44301 Lorimer Ave.

The center will serve approximately 159,000 Kaiser Permanente members in the Antelope Valley.  Those members will be able to get ambulatory surgeries that do not need to be done in a hospital setting, such as general surgery, gynecological cases, eye surgery, head and neck, podiatry, orthopedic and plastic surgery.

"This is going to be a game changer for our community, for our patients and for our surgeons," Area Medical director Dr. Khodam Rostomian said.

The surgery center will be a game changer for patients because for the first time Kaiser Permanente patients will be able to receive their preoperative consultation, preoperative assessment, intra-operative assessment and post-operative assessment, all of them under the umbrella of Kaiser Permanente.

Patients' records will now be accessible in one place.

It's a game changer also for Kaiser Permanente surgeons because they will be able to operate having access to all patient data in one place. In addition, they will be able to perform surgeries in a facility that has "efficiency, transparency, collaboration and innovation, which are the essence of Kaiser Permanente operations in surgical settings," Rostomian said.

Suzy Ghazarossian, Kaiser Permanente interim senior vice president and area manager for the Antelope Valley, said the Antelope Valley is consistently one of the top-growing regions in Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

"We continue to grow in year over year by providing high quality patient-centered care and this opening of this building illustrates that commitment," she said.

The 12,500 square-foot surgery center first opened more than 20 years ago.  It was previously the largest outpatient surgery center in the Antelope Valley. It operated under different ownership over that time. It was most recently owned by SCA Health as the Antelope Valley Surgery Center.  The center was set to close in January when Kaiser Permanente purchased the building for an undisclosed amount. Kaiser Permanente physicians performed surgeries there previously; now the center will be an exclusive Kaiser Permanente facility.

"When we learned that the surgery center was set to close, we immediately knew that this would not only negatively impact our members but also put a strain on the entire community," Ghazarossian said. "After many months of planning through 2023, we took possession of this building in February of this year."

Ghazarossian thanked all of the different Kaiser Permanente groups and other entities including the city of Lancaster and Antelope Valley Medical Center for their assistance.

"Everything that we do has the patient at the center and the lens of all the decisions that we make," said Dr. Ramin Davidoff, executive medical director for the Southern California and Hawaii Permanente medical groups. 

He added, "I really feel wonderful about the service that you all are going to be providing."

Mayor Parris praised Kaiser Permanente's partnership with the city to help vaccinate thousands of people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"You guys stepped up," he said. 

Parris recalled that a year ago Washington bureaucrats predicted the nation's health system will collapse.

"The burdens on the healthcare system are astronomical," he said. "And they don't know how they're going to fix it. I know how we're going to fix it; we're going to fix it with Kaiser because they are the most innovative healthcare provider in America."

Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center Awarded $10,000 Grant

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center Notifies Patients Of Third-Party Data Breach

On March 22, 2024, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center ("PVHMC") filed a notice with the Attorney General of Montana after discovering that a third-party vendor used by PVHMC experienced a cyberattack. In this notice, PVHMC explains that the incident resulted in an unauthorized party being able to access consumers' sensitive information, which includes their names, medical record numbers, dates of birth and medical information. Upon completing its investigation, PVHMC began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals whose information was affected by the recent data security incident.

If you received a data breach notification from Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. A data breach lawyer can help you learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, as well as discuss your legal options following the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center vendor data breach. For more information, please see our recent piece on the topic here.

What Caused the Data Breach Affecting Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center Patients?

The Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center vendor data breach was only recently announced, and more information is expected in the near future. However, PVHMC's filing with the Attorney General of Montana provides some important information on what led up to the breach. According to this source, PVHMC uses a third-party vendor to assist with running the patient-management tool used by PVHMC. In November 2023, PVHMC's vendor noticed that the patient-management tool was unavailable.

Initially, PVHMC's vendor worked with one of that company's vendors to better understand the scope of the incident. About a week after the discovery, the vendor informed PVHMC about the incident. Then, in February 2024, PVHMC's vendor provided additional information, confirming that an unauthorized party had gained access to the patient-management tool in late 2023.

After learning that sensitive consumer data was accessible to an unauthorized party, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center reviewed the compromised files to determine what information was leaked and which consumers were impacted. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name, medical record number, date of birth and medical information.

Since then, PVHMC has stopped using the vendor.

On March 22, 2024, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center sent out data breach letters to anyone who was affected by the recent data security incident. These letters should provide victims with a list of what information belonging to them was compromised.

More Information About Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center

Founded in 1903, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center is a healthcare system located in Pomona, California. PVHMC operates 14 service locations in Pomona, Claremont, Chino Hills, and La Verne. PVHMC has more than 700 physicians on staff. Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center employs more than 3,500 people and generates approximately $663 million in annual revenue.

---