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About Dignity Health Medical Foundation

Dignity Health Medical Foundation—established in 1990—is a not-for-profit organization providing award-winning, patient-centered health care in a variety of areas, including primary and specialty care, diagnostic imaging, vision, occupational health, urgent care, and behavioral health. 

​​We believe exceptional care means listening and guiding, as well as healing. Your relationship with your doctor is a valuable asset in the pursuit of health and life satisfaction. To help our patients live healthy lives, Dignity Health Medical Foundation offers great doctors and a full range of services—from preventive care to special programs for chronic conditions.

Our 130+ clinics across the state of California deliver high quality, patient-centric care with an emphasis on humankindness. Through affiliations with Dignity Health hospitals, along with our joint ventures and partnerships, we offer a robust, state-of-the-art health care delivery system in the communities we serve.

Find care near me

With locations across California, Dignity Health Medical Foundation is just right around the corner. Schedule an appointment with a primary care physician, in person or virtually.

nurse practitioner with a patient

What is an Advanced Practice Provider?

An advanced practice provider (APP) is a healthcare professional who has advanced education and clinical training, allowing them to take on a broader scope of practice and perform tasks traditionally carried out by physicians. This category includes nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), certified nurse midwives (CNMs), and clinical nurse specialists (CNSs).

Many of our practices throughout California employ APPs to assist our physicians. These professionals play a crucial role in providing healthcare services, including diagnosing and treating medical conditions, prescribing medications, and offering preventive care. Advanced practice providers are essential members of healthcare teams, contributing to the delivery of comprehensive and accessible patient care.

Patient resources

  • Billing

    Pay your bill any time with one of our convenient methods—online, by phone, or by mail.

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  • Insurances accepted

    We contract with most health insurance plans and provide health care services that fit your health plan benefits. Find your location to get specific information.

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  • New patients

    Our physicians are dedicated to providing you with high-quality medical care tailored to your needs.

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  • Patient portal

    MyCare portal provides a convenient and secure way to view portions of your medical records and communicate with your provider’s health care team.

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  • Patient advocate

    If you ever have a problem with a Dignity Health Medical Foundation service, or have billing or referral questions, the patient advocate is here to help.

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  • Referrals and authorizations

    Our utilization management (UM) program description specifically prohibits the use of incentives for its UM programs or coverage determinations.

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Open enrollment frequently asked questions

Whether you're outside exploring or just hanging out, our doctors and specialists want to help keep busy families healthy. This open enrollment, choose a provider who can do just that. Choose humankindness.

  1. Have a new job or new insurance? Select an award-winning Dignity Health provider who is covered by your new insurance plan. Dignity Health Medical Foundation contracts with most health insurance plans and provides healthcare services that fit your health plan benefits. 
  2. Did you have a change in your dependents? Get married? Have a baby? Be sure your family is covered! Dignity Health Medical Foundation offers health care services for the entire family, including Family Medicine, Pediatrics and Internal Medicine. Find a primary care provider that meets your needs.
  3. Are you looking for quality specialists? Dignity Health Medical Foundation has some of the best specialty care providers in the county. Providing seamless, comprehensive care programs, our primary care providers work with our specialists to provide you with a seamless care team. Our specialities include cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, family medicine, infectious disease, internal medicine, general surgery, neurology, urology, pulmonary disease, women’s health, and sports medicine.
  4. Does your doctor offer online appointment scheduling? Many of Dignity Health's providers offer the convenience of scheduling an appointment online. As a Dignity Health patient, you'll have access to our Online Patient Center.
  5. Want a convenient location? Dignity Health Medical Foundation has many clinic locations to choose from. Find a Medical Group near you.

Step 1: Assess your medical care needs

The best plan is one that affordably covers all your medical needs—and connects you with a conveniently located medical group. Step one is simple: Assess your medical needs, consider the last 12 months. How many times did you see the doctor? Were most of your visits with your primary care physician or did you see specialists? If your health plan covers your spouse or children, consider their medical visits, too. And don't forget urgent care and emergency room visits.

Using this list as a guide, think ahead to what you might need during the next year. Be sure to include annual preventive care services, such as an annual check up, medicare annual wellness visit, and any screenings that may be due like a colonoscopy or mammogram. If you are expecting a baby or planning a pregnancy, factor in prenatal care visits and a hospital delivery. Some health plans cover genetic counseling and infertility services. If you anticipate the need, write it down.

If you have young children, be sure to include well-baby and well-child check-ups, immunizations and school physicals, along with periodic office visits for illness or injuries.

Once you've compiled this master list of medical needs, you can begin to objectively evaluate each health plan.

Step 2: Consider differences in coverage

Step two is to compare benefits. At first glance, every health plan may seem about the same. In terms of covered benefits, you'll find the biggest differences in the following areas:

  • Mental health coverage: What coverage is offered for individual or family counseling services? How large is the panel of providers and what type of referral is needed?

  • Fertility services: Are these covered? What are the services provided?

  • Chiropractic care and complementary medicine: Are chiropractic services covered, and to what extent? Is acupuncture covered?

  • Vision care: Does the plan cover annual eye exams and eyeglasses or contact lenses?

In addition, check on your prescription costs and drug coverage—how much will each prescription cost you? Also, how responsive is your health plan to its members? If you want wellness classes to help you manage stress, does the plan cover member education classes?

Take, for example, Western Health Advantage. They offer many benefits including:

  • Full benefit coverage for all your needs

  • Conveniently located doctor panel

  • Copay cost per office visit

  • Copay cost for emergency care

  • Copay cost for prescriptions

  • Freedom to choose own doctor

  • Freedom to see specialists in many medical groups

  • Customer service accessibility

  • Health education provided

  • Choice of hospitals

Compare these features and benefits to your own health plan or HMO and this will help you gauge benefit differences.

Step 3: Estimate your costs

Dropdown: Your final step should be determining a plan's affordability. Here's where your master list of medical needs really comes in handy. Begin by noting your monthly paycheck deduction for each of the plans in which you are interested. Then add in your cost for each anticipated medical service. With managed care plans, your cost is a fixed amount called "copayment." Copayments for routine office visits are low; copayments for after-hours urgent care and emergency medical care are much higher.

If you prefer a health plan that allows you to see physicians outside the designated networks (non-network provider), estimating costs is trickier. Under this system, every time you see a non-network provider, you must pay a percentage of the cost of that medical service. If you want the security of knowing exactly how much a trip to the doctor will cost, choose a plan with a fixed copayment.

 

Medicare is health insurance for people 65 or older. You’re first eligible to sign up for Medicare 3 months before you turn 65, but you may be eligible earlier if you have a disability, end-stage renal disease, or ALS.

Most people sign up for Part A (hospital insurance) and Part B (medical insurance) together, adding Medicare Advantage and Part D (drug coverage) when needed. You typically want to sign up as soon as you become eligible. Otherwise, there could be a gap in your coverage, or you may have to pay a penalty. 

To sign up for Medicare, contact your local Social Security office.

Find a Doctor

With Dignity Health, quality health care is easy to access anytime, anywhere. Schedule an appointment with a physician near you.