UnitedHealth Group Invests $5.87 Million in Petaluma Health Center to Enhance Health Care Access in Southern Sonoma County

Petaluma Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center that offers primary care and mental health services, received $5.87 million in capital lending to help the organization deliver quality primary health care services to residents in southern Sonoma County.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) purchased Petaluma Health Center’s tax-exempt revenue bonds through the California Health Care Investment Program, which gives California health care entities access to capital at rates that are highly competitive with those of conventional financing. Additionally, given the dollar size of the bond issue, Petaluma Health Center also qualified for a cost of issuance subsidy of about $620,000, which covered nearly the entire amount of the organization’s bond issuance costs. The cost of issuance was subsidized by UnitedHealth Group’s Capital Access Small Issuance Program.

UnitedHealth Group’s California Health Care Investment Program is a 20-year, $200 million commitment to health care organizations that provide services to underserved, low-income and underinsured communities and populations throughout the Golden State.

Petaluma Health Center used the proceeds to purchase a 53,000-square-foot office building that will more than double their capacity to provide much-needed health care services to southern Sonoma County residents. Currently, the clinic serves more than 15,000 patients who make 70,000 visits each year, providing primary care, mental health services, dental care and chronic disease management for such conditions as diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

The new facility will be completed next year and allow the clinic to expand and enhance its services by adding a pharmacy and other diagnostic services. The facility will also include the new "Center for Healthy Living,” which will focus on preventing obesity and diabetes, and encouraging area residents to adopt active, healthy lifestyles.

The new clinic will also include an integrated medicine program that combines Western medicine with alternative therapies such as acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga, nutrition and meditative techniques to manage stress and anxiety disorders that cause chronic illnesses.

"The generous funding from UnitedHealth Group will assist Petaluma Health Center in truly transforming the delivery of primary health care services,” said Kathryn Powell, CEO, Petaluma Health Center. "This new facility will allow us to implement our new, fully integrated approach to health and wellness.”

"UnitedHealth Group’s $5.87 million investment in Petaluma Health Center will allow it to more than double its capacity and provide care to thousands of additional Sonoma County residents. This investment means better health care and health outcomes and a stronger safety net for a community in great need,” said Carmela Castellano-Garcia, president and CEO of the California Primary Care Association. "I want to thank UnitedHealth Group for its deep and continued commitment to the state’s health safety net.”

"UnitedHealth Group is committed to investing in California’s health care infrastructure to help ensure that all Californians have access to quality care,” said Steve Nelson, West Region CEO, UnitedHealthcare. "We are pleased to be able to help Petaluma Health Center meet its community’s health care needs, and we believe it is essential that medically underserved residents in the southern Sonoma County area continue to have this important health care resource in their community.”

UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare business offers health benefits, including commercial and Medicare health plans, to more than 2.8 million Californians, and partners with about 50,000 physicians across the state.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to making health care work better. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through six operating businesses: UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, AmeriChoice, OptumHealth, Ingenix, and Prescription Solutions. Through its family of businesses, UnitedHealth Group serves more than 75 million individuals worldwide.