Kaiser Permanente Thrive Exposed

KP Southern California Sports Medicine Complaint

Admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:06:26 +0000

Received by email a few days ago. Unfortunately this is all too typical, and here’s why: Kaiser Permanente doctors are trained to minimize your symptoms, and pressured to always default to the least expensive treatment. In fact, nearly all of the grievances we hear about are at least partially due to this cost-saving practice. Many [...]

Catch Up Post — Part 6

Admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:18:53 +0000

We’ll call this one the “George Halvorson, first reform your own organization” Edition.

An Elite Notary explains why it is so difficult to obtain legal representation in California in medical malpractice cases. Hint: it’s all about MICRA and mandatory binding arbitration, and claims against Kaiser have decreased 20% as a result. Just the legal filings, [...]

Kaiser ordered to stop denying therapies for non-physical conditions

Admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:00:37 +0000

At the end of February, the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) issued a cease and desist order against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, for denying physical, occupational and speech therapy to members with “non-physical conditions.” This action was in response to more than 100 complaints that were received by the department since 2009.

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Why isn’t Kaiser less expensive?

Admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:10:36 +0000

An interesting podcast from Sarah Varney of KQED’s The California Report, on why Kaiser’s premiums have risen in recent years to levels often on a par with traditional health insurance rates. Among others, she interviews KP CEO George Halvorson, who as usual would like his customers to disbelieve their own experiences in favor of his [...]

Catch Up Post — Part 5

Admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:20:53 +0000

And the fraud just keeps on coming, albeit somewhat delayed on our part.

Dr. Hamid Safari, the Kaiser Fresno perinatologist who was accused of unsafe practices and causing the deaths of two babies, was cleared by the Medical Board of California and tried to get his job back. Of course the MBC practically requires a [...]

New Kaiser Thieves Parody

Admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:52:48 +0000

We haven’t done one of these Thrive ad parodies in awhile. Hope you enjoy it, and as always, feel free to copy, email and share.

The rest of the parodies can be found here.

Related Posts:They want me backNew Kaiser Permanente Thieves ad parodyKaiser Thrive Ad Parodies RevisitedAnother case of missing records and unnecessary [...]

Catch Up Post — Part 4

Admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:55:32 +0000

Kaiser News and Scandals Part 4, Privacy and ‘Thrive’-acy Edition.

Another case of inappropriately accessed electronic medical records. This happens a lot. Anyone at KP with a Health Connect login can access your records at any time. Yes, there are access logs, and if it is discovered the person will be disciplined — but that [...]

KP’s website down? What does George Zimmerman have to do with it?

Admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:33:57 +0000

We have been receiving a lot of visits from folks accessing via search engine queries for variations of the term “Kaiser website down.”

Don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but we did receive the following email a couple of days ago:

Please let your readers know that they must be very [...]

Catch Up Post — Part 3

Admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:46:03 +0000

So many scandals, so little time. Enjoy Part 3 of our belated Kaiser Permanente News Roundup.

Kaiser involved in Pay-to-Play scheme intended to provide lobbyists with off-the-record access to Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the Washington Post’s reporters and editors. So what else is new? The Colorado Division of Insurance fined Kaiser $367,000 [...]

Catch Up Post — Part 2

Admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:04:12 +0000

Part 2 of the Kaiser Permanente stories we missed during our hiatus from posting:

After an initial refusal by Kaiser, California Department of Managed Health Care officials finally obtained the documents needed to complete investigation of a complaint that call center scripts sometimes lead to misdiagnoses and delayed care. Two Bay Area residents filed a [...]