November 8th, 2007 at 8:37 am
[We're practically speechless, so we'll just ask one question: How can a non-profit double its net income -- with zero membership growth -- and still call itself a non-profit?]
From San Francisco Business Times:
Kaiser Permanente’s 9-months’ profit more than doubles to $2.5 billion
by Chris Rauber
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries announced gigantic jumps in net income, operating income and investment income for the third quarter ending September and the year’s first three quarters, including startling increases sure to raise questions about the organization’s non-profit status.
Operating income more than doubled from $868 million in the first three quarters of 2006 to $1.8 billion this year, and first nine-months’ net income soared from $1.1 billion to $2.5 billion, officials said Nov. 7.
Net income in the third quarter, meanwhile, jumped 56.8 percent, from $417 million last year to $654 million for the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
In other major developments, officials at the Oakland-based health-care giant said Wednesday:
* Third-quarter operating income jumped 26.5 percent from last year’s $355 million to $449 million.
* Operating revenue for the quarter was $9.4 billion, up 8 percent from $8.7 billion a year earlier.
* Operating revenue for the first nine months jumped 9.3 percent, from $25.8 billion to $28.2 billion.
Kaiser also posted $205 million in non-operating third-quarter income, resulting in a quarterly net income of $654 million, up nearly 57 percent from $417 million in 2006’s third quarter. Kaiser attributed that explosive growth to a strong performance in finanical markets.
* Capital spending totaled $641 million for the third quarter, compared to $631 million a year earlier, while year-to-date capital spending for the nine months ended September 30 was $1.8 billion, compared with $1.9 billion during 2006’s same nine-month period.
Membership remained “relatively flat” at 8.7 million members. Officials at the Oakland-based health-care giant said “ongoing efforts to address health-care delivery costs and administrative efficiencies” contributed to the strong financial results for the quarter.
Full Story
Previously:
November 7th, 2007 at 8:06 am
[Another day, another lawsuit settled. In an unprecedented move Kaiser Permanente admitted no liability, even while handing over the check. Ha ha. That was supposed to be funny, but it's difficult to see the humor when you realize that there are real human lives that are being disrupted -- and in some cases ruined or ended -- because this organization has taken refusing to accept responsibility for its actions to the level of absurdity. It's this simple: you can't correct problems that you won't admit exist.]
From the Associated Press, via Forbes.com:
Kaiser to Pay to Settle Lawsuit
By JAYMES SONG 11.07.07, 9:48 AM ET
HONOLULU - Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. will pay $180,000 to a labor and delivery nurse to settle a lawsuit that claimed the woman’s promotion was rescinded after she disclosed her pregnancy, officials said Tuesday.
Margaret McIlroy was offered a promotional transfer in 2003 from Kaiser Permanente Southern California to a clinic on Maui. Two weeks before starting the job, she disclosed her pregnancy and in less than 24 hours, she was told the offer had been withdrawn, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.
“Standing up for my civil and God-given rights has come at an incalculable and a never-ending cost to my family and myself, but I felt strongly that I had to speak out,” McIlroy said in a statement.
McIlroy, who was 44 at the time, eventually lost her job. She and Kaiser also entered into a separate confidential agreement to settle her non-civil rights claims.
“Pregnancy discrimination strikes its victims at a time when they are quite vulnerable,” said Joan Ehrlich, EEOC’s San Francisco district director.
In a statement, Kaiser said it has always been an advocate for fair hiring practices and respects and adheres to all equal opportunity requirements.
“From the outset of this case, we have maintained that we followed all state and federal hiring laws; however we agreed to resolve the matter in the interest of all parties concerned,” Kaiser said.
It added that the settlement was reached with no admission of liability on Kaiser Hawaii’s part.
Besides the monetary settlement, Kaiser agreed to revamp its pregnancy policies and training programs. The company must also provide annual reports to the EEOC detailing its investigation and resolution of any internal complaints of pregnancy discrimination in Hawaii.
Kaiser, based in Oakland, Calif., serves nine states and operates 16 clinics on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.
“We have an outstanding record of supporting and caring for staff and physicians throughout their pregnancies and as they transition back to work,” the company said. “We will augment our already extensive policies and training programs to better reflect what our actual practices have always been.”
A record 4,901 pregnancy discrimination complaints were filed with the EEOC last year.
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:20 am
[In early September we posted a letter written by Kaiser victim Jupirena Stein, that had been previously mailed to Kaiser CEO George Halvorson. Ms. Stein's health has literally been ruined by a botched surgery at Kaiser, and over a six year period she has collected extensive documentation supporting her claims. Halvorson's response? Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The man's organization has practically ruined this poor woman's life and he couldn't even be bothered to reply. Instead, she had to call him.
Rather than a return call from the man himself, Mr. Halvorson saw fit to have his senior attorney, Mary Parks, call Ms. Stein back, and all Ms. Parks would say in response to Ms. Stein's heartfelt letter was that "Kaiser has no knowledge of any wrongdoing." Of course they don't; they never do. Except in this case it was an even more obvious lie than usual, because Ms. Stein has certainly informed Kaiser, on more than one occasion, of copious amounts of wrongdoing.
Mr. Halvorson has been sending out weekly email updates to all of his employees, and whenever the opportunity presents itself he makes a point of saying something similar to this quote from his 5-year anniversary post: "As an organization of caregivers, we all feel collective pain any time we mis-deliver care." Every chance he gets, he also likes to repeat that he sympathizes with people who have been harmed when a mistake has been made. But actions speak louder than words, and the reality of how Kaiser treats everyone who complains certainly doesn't include the kind of sympathy that involves willingly making restitution to anyone whose life has been destroyed by Kaiser; or even acknowledging any wrongdoing, as Attorney Parks made perfectly clear. We haven't been able to find one single Kaiser member who has been treated like a human being in a dispute with this "sympathetic" organization, and believe me, we have been actively trying.
Below is Ms. Stein's latest write-up, which describes in detail the hell Kaiser put her through while trying to get her issues addressed. If you think it can't happen to you, think again. You also might want to think twice before choosing to renew your Kaiser membership now that open enrollment time is approaching, or risk finding yourself among the future ranks of the harmed and ignored.]
The first year after my surgery
Please Keep in mind that I have all proper documentation to support my words. I believe (my opinion,) that KP’s doctors are treating patients to an extreme level of lacking medical knowledge, with disrespect, intolerance, and indignity.
Here’s why:
ABOVE ALL DO NO HARM
For centuries those words from the Hippocratic Oath have guided physicians in the care and treatment of their patients. This Oath became the nucleus of all medical ethics. In its most compelling portions, it emphasizes the profundity of the medical covenant, patient dignity, the confidentiality of the transaction, and the physicians responsibility to guard against abuse or corruption of his knowledge and his/her art.
American Medical Association (AMA) Principal of Medical Ethics — Rule number 1:
A physician shall be dedicated to providing competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human dignity and rights.
What I am about to write is so absurd it is hard to believe it, but this is all true.
I did not see Dr. Wolgat, Kaiser’s ENT/Professor in charge of my surgery before my surgery — at all. I did not see him during my surgery because I was obviously under general anesthetic. I have no idea if he was there or not. He said he was. He did not come to see me after I woke up, nor for those 2 days that I stayed in the hospital.
The first thing I can remember after I woke up, was that I had the most devastating type of headache one can imagine, and Dr. Timoth Wild asking me to smile. “Smile. Smile. I need you to smile for me.” Later on I came to understand, if I would be able to smile at that point in time, he would know his scalpel did not “hit” my facial nerve. He was certainly worried about it.
My family came to see me and so did Dr. Wild. On the second day before I went home, I saw Dr. Wild for the very last time. I asked him, “My head hurts badly, did everything go ok?”
He answered, “Yes, with the exception that at one point your blood was squirting out of your neck.” I was so impressed with his words, it reminded me of the movie M.A.S.H.
For the next 10 months I was in and out of Kaiser doctor’s office, at my request, being sent from one to another to another doctor. All of them told me that I was OK. That I was perhaps in need of psychiatric help because I could not accept the fact that I was diagnosed with cancer.
All of them lied to me about my injury. They “worked” carefully together, and all of them hid this devastating vascular injury from me and from my family.
NOTE: Ten days after my surgery Kaiser Permanente Pathology, come up with the diagnosis of a rare type of cancer (at that time) named Acinic Cell Carcinoma. It was found in my parotid gland, and involved 1 lymph node. KP cancer diagnosis is our next subject.
Continue Reading »
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:06 am
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Doctor admits to perjury in trial of man he sponsored in drug rehab
Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
A San Francisco surgeon has pleaded guilty to perjury, admitting he lied under oath in an effort to get a man he had sponsored in a drug rehabilitation program off the hook for gun charges.
Bruce Barker, who remains a physician for Kaiser Permanente, was the key witness in the 2002 trial of Marvin Washington, a felon accused of illegally possessing a gun outside his home in San Francisco’s Holly Courts public housing project.
Prosecutors said a security officer at the housing project reported hearing gunshots at 5 p.m. on May 1, 2002, and saw Washington running with a gun. Police officers responded to the scene and found a semiautomatic pistol on the ledge outside Washington’s kitchen window and found a substance on his hands that tested positive for gunshot residue.
But Barker testified at length that he had been visiting Washington at the time and that he had been carrying a cell phone, not a gun. Barker had sponsored Washington in an organization he called Men in Motion.
“I know he’s innocent,” Barker testified. “I was there. I saw this. I know he’s innocent.”
Prosecutors said Barker’s account was impossible because the doctor had been performing surgery at the time - 4 miles away at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center on Geary Boulevard. Hospital records showed he’d been working in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit until 5:35 p.m. that day.
Washington’s trial ended when he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a gun with an altered serial number. A judge sentenced Washington to more than eight years in prison.
The FBI began an investigation into Barker’s testimony. A federal grand jury indicted him last year on three counts of perjury and one count of making a false statement to law enforcement.
Barker pleaded guilty to one count of perjury on Wednesday, admitting he knowingly and intentionally provided false testimony in Washington’s trial.
The sentencing of Barker is scheduled for 11 a.m. Feb. 8 He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Barker is not in custody pending sentencing.
Kaiser spokeswoman Meg Walker said, “Dr. Barker does practice here at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, and we are reviewing this latest development.”
Previously:
Kaiser surgeon indicted for perjury
November 1st, 2007 at 9:36 am
It’s our guess that most Kaiser Permanente members aren’t aware that Kaiser was run out of Texas like a stray dog with its tail between its legs, but that is about to change, thanks to Vickie Travis and The Kaiser Papers:
In 1997 the State of Texas, Division of Insurance took formal action against Kaiser Permanente. This action and the resultant Kaiser ceasing of conduct was the start of serious financial concerns for the Permanente.
This information is just as relevant as the Nixon tapes are. Do not allow anyone to try to tell you differently.
This is one of the key actions that resulted in numerous patient deaths, for the next several years.
In this instance Kaiser had been found to be deceiving the public, harming the public and endangering the public and the people of Texas did not like it. The standard Kaiser excuse of poverty just didn’t work for them in Texas. The people of Texas also have a very long memory.
The State of Texas has provided to us the documents showing why the Insurance Commissioner took the steps that he did, what he did and what Kaiser had to do. I wish that the state of California would do something solid like this instead of being a bunch of wishy, washy fools.
The text version leads on the following page. Following the text are the actual documents. Again why can’t California be grown up enough to do the same?
http://fines.kaiserpapers.info/texasorder.html
October 26th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
[kaiserthrive.org editor's note: Surprise, surprise! Kaiser Permanente spits in the face of its victims once again, with another empty expression of sympathy while refusing to take responsibility for killing yet another innocent Kaiser member. Do you suppose this is what they mean by "Thrive"? An even bigger surprise is that George Halvorson can't seem to grasp where all of the bad PR is coming from. Drop us a line, George, we might be able to enlighten you.]
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Kaiser Santa Clara to appeal $25,000 fine imposed after infant’s death
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Clara hospital plans to appeal a $25,000 fine assessed by the California Department of Public Health for a medication error that led to the death of an infant earlier this year.
Although the hospital admits that an error occurred, Kaiser contends its corrective actions had passed federal review and met state standards. “Therefore, we are appealing the DPH’s action,” said hospital vice president Mary Ann Barnes.
The California health agency announced the administrative penalty against the Kaiser hospital on Thursday. At the same time, eight other hospitals throughout the state were assessed similar penalties for life-threatening infractions - the first medical centers to be cited under a new law that became effective on Jan. 1.
According to documents disclosed by the state, a baby boy born on Jan. 6 at the Kaiser facility was diagnosed with a rare congenital metabolic disorder. He was transferred to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford for a month of specialty care. Two weeks after he returned to Kaiser, he was rushed back to Stanford in liver failure. He died Feb. 24.
An investigation determined that, after he returned to Kaiser, he was tube-fed a mixture of nutritional supplements and drugs. But the powdered material had been repackaged with a mislabeling of the weights, a mistake overlooked by a pharmacy technician. The child, therefore, was fed an overdose of the mixture.
Kaiser attorney Mary Parks declined to say whether there has been litigation or a financial settlement with the child’s family.
Barnes said the hospital will not be fined or sanctioned by the federal government, which has approved of Kaiser’s “plan for correction.”
However, in its citation against Kaiser, the state health agency said that, five weeks after the error, hospital pharmacy technicians still had not received promised training on correct use of scales to prevent similar repackaging errors.
In her prepared statement announcing the appeal, Barnes apologized for the incident. “Unfortunately, individual human error does occur, as it did in the case DPH is referencing,” she said. “We are deeply sorry for the family that experienced this sad event, and have expressed our sympathy.”
The new state law allows the California Department of Public Health to assess penalties against hospitals for situations that create “immediate jeopardy” - violations of rules that have caused or are likely to cause death or serious injury. The sanctions are separate from federal rules that can lead to loss of Medicare and Medicaid funding and loss of licensure to operate.
Full Story
Previously:
October 16th, 2007 at 9:16 am
[The only thing more reprehensible than Kaiser's failure to protect its patients from this known repeat malpractice offender, is its PRBS release defending its despicable actions. Kaiser Thrive Exposed joins Justen Deal in his demand for the resignation of The Permanente Medical Group CEO, and lead obfuscater, Dr. Robert Pearl. In the meantime, Kaiser CEO George Halvorson wants you to "be well and be green" (as in keep giving Kaiser your money for its repeated failure to provide the basic standard of medical care.)]
From the L.A. times:
Kaiser doctor, accused of negligence, remains on the job
“I’ve been telling these guys for years that he was going to kill someone,” said Dr. Gilbert Moran, the former ob-gyn chief. “And no one would listen.”
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
Late one April night, the first of Sarah Valenzuela’s twins arrived with little trouble, but the second stayed put.
Though the baby was not in distress, Kaiser Permanente perinatologist Hamid Safari attached a vacuum extractor to the boy’s head to draw him out. Again and again he tugged, but still the baby would not come.
He vigorously shook the vacuum, up and down, side to side, according to government documents and hospital incident reports.
It took 90 minutes and six tries — the last with Safari on his knees, pulling. Horrified staffers — and the boy’s father — looked on as baby Devin finally emerged. His skin was a bloodless white, his neck elongated and floppy.
His spinal cord had been severed.
Safari lashed out at a nurse. “What did you do to that baby? I gave you a good baby,” he said, according to a complaint letter the nurse sent to her union representative.
Staffers at the Fresno birthing center were devastated and angry — and not just because of the twin lost that night in 2005.
Over the years, doctors and nurses repeatedly had complained to higher-ups — including Kaiser’s top medical officer in Northern and Central California — about problems they saw in Safari’s skills and behavior, according to interviews and documents.
This is a story not just of tragic medical outcomes, but of a health plan that did not prevent them.
A year before Devin’s death, the doctor had waited more than three hours to do a Caesarean section even though the baby girl was in distress and her family said they had been pleading for the procedure, according to interviews and government records. She was severely deprived of oxygen and died months later.
As far back as 2002, a physician review committee at the hospital concluded that Safari provided “inappropriate” care and that his “conduct needed significant improvement,” according to a lawsuit later filed by two of his peers.
Still, the doctor continues to work at Kaiser Fresno, practicing under restrictions that staffers say have not been explained to patients.
Regulators acted only recently. This July, the state Department of Managed Health Care fined Kaiser a record $3 million for its haphazard handling of complaints and physician errors throughout the state. Officials said in an interview that the Safari matter played a significant role in their decision to investigate the HMO’s practices.
Late last month, the state medical board accused Safari of gross negligence, seeking to revoke or suspend his license.
The board also has faulted Kaiser, the nation’s largest HMO with 6.5 million members in California. The health plan made the board’s investigation of Safari “protracted and difficult” by providing incomplete medical records, a spokeswoman said.
Kaiser did not allow senior officials to be interviewed for this story — and warned staffers at Kaiser Fresno not to talk, several said. In a statement, hospital administrator Susan Ryan said the HMO has cooperated with the medical board and is “committed to ensuring the safety of our patients.”
In July 2005 — three months after Devin’s death — Kaiser imposed its restrictions on Safari, barring him from performing vaginal deliveries and requiring him to be monitored by another physician or an advanced-practice nurse, Ryan said. The restrictions became permanent in April 2007. Kaiser and other hospitals typically do not notify patients of such actions, officials said.
Safari, 49, declined to comment. His lawyer, Stephen D. Schear, said the accusations are “completely unwarranted” and that Safari intends to challenge the medical board’s action in a hearing. Safari, he said, has the support of many at the hospital and in his department.
“If you’re doing thousands of high-risk deliveries over the years, it’s almost inevitable that there’s going to be some unfortunate cases where children die, where things don’t go right,” Schear said.
“You’re talking about one minute maybe where he pulled too hard to try to extract this baby. . . . Just look at his whole record, 10 years.”
But doctors and other staffers allege that Devin’s death was the culmination of Safari’s troubles, not a fluke.
“We do not feel that our perinatologist is competent,” reads an August 2005 petition signed by eight of Safari’s peers, about half of the ob-gyn department. “Over and over again he put our patients at risks and most recently with the undeniably terrible outcome.”
Kaiser was “misleading our patients and the public” by advertising that it had a perinatalogist on staff even though his practice was restricted, said the petition, which was addressed to the hospital’s medical director.
The petition, complaint letters, depositions and other documents used in preparation of this story are part of the ongoing lawsuit by the two doctors and arbitration cases against Kaiser, or have been provided to state regulators investigating Kaiser and Safari.
Dr. Gilbert Moran, one of the doctors who sued Kaiser and its affiliated Permanente Medical Group, alleges that they punished him and others who complained, rather than address their legitimate concerns.
“I’ve been telling these guys for years that he was going to kill someone,” said Moran, the former ob-gyn chief. “And no one would listen.”
Continue Reading »
September 18th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
[kaiserthrive.org's editor's note: We love birthday parties -- especially our own -- but even so we were taught to be humble on these occasions, and that it would be less than polite to toot our own horn. Not so George Halvorson, who appears to revel in insulting Kaiser Permanente victims by refusing to address their complaints about Kaiser, while giving awards to himself and misrepresenting his non profit in name only organization as the preferred model for the future of American health care. George can be so convincing that even we might be tempted to believe the hype -- that is until we remind ourselves that his own market research found that 75% of health care consumers who weren't forced to wouldn't touch Kaiser Permanente "health care" with a ten foot pole.
Speaking of parties... Lehna Jordann Brewer would be around 18 months old today, and there isn't much her parents and sisters wouldn't give for the privilege of writing an announcement to the world, celebrating the milestones she should have achieved by this age. Instead, parties for Lehna and her family look a lot like memorial services, thanks to Mr. Health Care Reform and Kaiser; and Halvorson's lawyers don't even think the loss of her life is worthy of an accurate representation of her medical records. In short, George C. Halvorson is a liar.
A couple of people sent us Halvorson's self-congratulatory memo below, but we couldn't resist posting it along with the following commentary from a long-time anonymous reader, who reminds us what George really means when he designates himself as an "industry leader".]
It’s Halvorson’s fifth birthday! He decided to send a message to all Kaiser employees so they could share in his joy. Some of the “good news”…Halvorson says: ” I expect us to pass (the Mayo Clinic) in the total capabilities of (HealthConnect) by mid-2009″–which is PRBS? for: “HealthConnect’s roll-out has been delayed again”. And out of 40,000,000 patient encounters, Kaiser provided 250,000 “charity” encounters to poor people. So giving away 0.006% of your services is enough to make you non-profit! Some one should call Blue Cross…I bet they want to stop having to pay taxes, too…I bet the write-off rate for Wellpoint is considerably higher than 0.006%. If they can start “giving” those services away instead of writing them off, they can keep a good 25% of the profit they have to fork over to Uncle Sam as corporate income tax. Then they can “reinvest” it in “care delivery” (wink wink).
Last line’s the best: “Be well. And let me hear from you”.
September 18, 2007
To: All KP Employees and Physicians
From: George Halvorson, Chairman and CEO, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
Re: Sharing Kaiser Permanente’s Good News
People in various settings often ask me, “What exactly is Kaiser Permanente?”
That’s not an unreasonable question. As you know, we don’t fit into any obvious box or category. There aren’t many organizations in the world that look exactly like us. There are very few in the U.S. and only a few in the rest of the world.
The county-based health systems in Sweden do look quite a lot like us. The Swedish county-based care systems provide health care “insurance” coverage for their local people and then also care for them in the context of organized, patient-focused hospital/physician caregiver teams. Much like us, the Swedes also have vertically integrated, tightly linked care delivery and financing systems. But very few people in the U.S. know about the care teams in Sweden, so I usually can’t answer that question here — about who and what we are — by pointing to the Swedes.
So how do I answer? I tell people that we are at our core a community of caregivers. We are inherently a care system. We are people who deliver care. We are, in total, a fairly complex set of organizations that are mutually organized and aligned around improving total health and the delivery of care.
That basic fact of being caregivers gives us a certain consistent and collective set of values at our very heart. More than 160,000 people work at Kaiser Permanente. Roughly 140,000 of our people work in care delivery — in our hospitals, medical centers, pharmacies, laboratories, and related care sites. So we truly are basically caregivers. That explains a lot. That’s why we all start with a consistent set of values. Caregivers go into the caregiving professions to deliver care . . . to care for people.
Helping people is what we do — and we are an organization of people who deliberately choose to spend our lives and careers helping people. It is very much a matter of free will, free choice, and self-selection. No one is forced into nursing or cardiac surgery. People individually choose to be pediatricians, internists, pharmacists, lab technicians, and therapists in order to be of personal service — to make a positive personal difference in other people’s lives. Think of all the job classifications you see in the want ads seeking people to join us. Overwhelmingly, those jobs are caregiver jobs.
So, we begin both our organizational processes and our personal job choices around the delivery of care, and we have built our entire organization around care delivery. Our IT people who are building our robust new array of care support computer systems are also, in our new electronically-supported world, engaged in caregiving — and our IT people aren’t even in the 140,000 count of caregivers.
“But, don’t you also provide health coverage?” people sometimes ask me. “Isn’t health coverage at some level really what you do?” The answer is, “Yes, we also do provide health coverage.” We are both a health plan and a health care delivery organization. We definitely do provide health coverage for people, and we are proud to do that. But, the basic point that people very often miss is that, for us, coverage is very much a tool of care.
Continue Reading »
September 7th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
[kaiserthrive.org's editor's note: Kaiser Hawaii is technically part of Kaiser California, so the statement that "Kaiser does not report numbers for California alone" is very telling. Since the Hawaii region had a net loss of $3.2 million so far this year, this means the California region made up for that deficit and still raked in more than double the combined total of Blue Cross, Health Net and PacifiCare in the first half of the year. Anyone still believe Kaiser Permanente is not for profit? If you answered yes, you might be interested in this really cool bridge we have for sale...]
From Sacramento Business Journal:
Kaiser reaps big profits for first half of year
Health giant out-earns for-profit HMOs
by Kathy Robertson
Staff writer
Kaiser Permanente earned more cash and had a higher profit margin in California than Blue Cross, Health Net and PacifiCare for the first half of the year, even though Kaiser is a nonprofit and the others are expected to earn money for their shareholders.
The Oakland-based HMO and healthcare system reported net income of $1.8 billion from operations in California and Hawaii, more than double the combined California proceeds at the three for-profit health plans, according to financial statements the companies filed with the state. Kaiser does not report numbers for California alone.
Image from connecting*the*dots
Update 9/9/07: A link to the full article has been posted in the comments.
September 4th, 2007 at 3:11 am
[kaiserthrive.org editor's note: After six years of investigating and documenting the heinous medical crime committed against her by a Kaiser surgeon -- and related Medicare fraud -- Kaiser victim Jupirena Stein is challenging George Halvorson to put his money where his mouth is. For the last few months George has been squawking to anyone who will listen about fake health care reform, but the one question he pointedly refuses to answer is the one most relevant to Kaiser members and its victims, past and future: How dare you hold yourself up as an expert in health health care reform when you can't even reform your own murdering organization? Please George, tell us, we would really like to know.
Despite failing health (thanks to Kaiser), Ms. Stein has never given up, and she has chosen to help others by becoming a patient advocate. When asked if there was anything she would like readers of this open letter to know, Ms. Stein repeated her favorite saying: "Evil prevails when the good people are silent or take no action." We couldn't agree more, and we believe she deserves an answer to her questions.]
Friday, August 24th, 2007
Mr. George C. Halvorson
Chairman and Executive Officer
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
1 Kaiser Plz. Ste. 2600
Oakland, California 94612
RE: Medical Crime, Dr. Timothy W. Wild, DDS, MD, ENT — Surgeon, Kaiser Permanente Redwood City, Ca. (1999) and Medicare Fraud; Mr. George E. Clause Kaiser Permanente’s defense attorney (2001)
Dear Mr. George C. Halvorson:
My name is Jupirena Stein, and I am a former patient at Kaiser Permanente Redwood City, California. I am writing this open letter and demanding your response. Please tell me if you are aware of the crime and Medicare fraud mentioned above on this letter RE. Before you took office on March 2002, I took my suspicions about these facts to the attention of Mr. David Lawrence. He ignored its importance. It is now your turn.
Medical Crime:
On November 19th, 1999, Dr. Timothy Wilfred Wild (unbeknown to me at that time) performed a needless Parotidectomy surgery and an invasive, life threatening vascular surgery on several of my right cervical vessels for his own gain, without medical need, without my knowledge and without my permission. I became severely ill. I saw 8 medical specialists at KP Redwood City, California, but none of them “were able to figure out” what was wrong with my health. Why didn’t they just simply asked Dr. Wild, “What have you done to this patient?” But instead, these physicians simply chose to cover up his crime against my health. Even I, think they can’t be that incompetent! Subsequently, I filed a lawsuit; Stein vs. Kaiser.
Medicare Fraud:
KP was represented by Mr. George E. Clause, a partner at Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley, in San Jose, California. Mr. Clause claims in his Law Firm’s website that he is an experienced Health Care attorney, a member of many reputable legal institutions and that he have represented KP on medical malpractice cases. Because of this public information, one would think that Mr. Clause clearly, wouldn’t have to seek to the use of Medicare fraud when defending Kaiser Permanente in matters involving Medicare and medical malpractice health insurance legal liability. But in my case, he chose to. By doing so, he saved KP money by reversing future medical legal liability from Kaiser to our Federally Funded Health Care System, Medicare.
Of course, Mr. George E. Clause can not claim this illegal shifting of the burden of ALL my future medical care from Kaiser’s future liability to our tax payers, - an act of his own. Mr. Bruce Albion Bailey (my representing attorney cooperated with him by choosing not to correct Mr. Clause’s Legal Brief fraudulent information about my health insurance coverage legality to retired judge Rebecca Westerfield from JAMS San Francisco, Ca. (”…who is known for her ability to grasp legal and factual issues quickly,”) cooperated with Mr. George E. Clause by choosing to stay silent about the subject of future medical care, when signing her final award.
And finally the involvement of the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) through Mr. Lewis Chartrand’s Legal Department and his illegal destruction of my files, when I asked them for help in these matters. I often ask myself if Ms. Lucinda Ehnes, DMHC Director (she will receive a copy of this letter) is aware of KP’s involvement in medical crime and fraud, in my case or in any other. It seems to me that neither Kaiser nor the DMHC worry about whose credibility is in danger to be damaged.
Medicare as a secondary payer is protected by federal laws and must ALWAYS be properly observed in cases such as mine, and be considered as such. Section 1862(b) of the Social Security Act 42 USC Section 1395Y(b)(5) Applicable regulations found at 42 CFR part 411 (1990).
Retired judge Rebecca Westerfield, the attorneys Mr. Bailey and Mr. Clause chose not enforce federal laws, as well as neglect KP’s rules and regulations contents found in Kaiser’s Evidence of Coverage Book pertaining to Medicare health care coverage liability of patients such as myself.
In my opinion, Kaiser Permanente could never be successful in such matters, (fraud and crime) if they would handle things on their own. Kaiser had to have the complete cooperation and the blind loyalty of all these professionals mentioned in this letter. Without this kind of cooperation and loyalty, this HMO could be considered safe for ALL their patients.
Mr. Halverson, you may whish to clear these facts with me by using our legal system. I invite you to do that. After all, my claims of medical crime of this serious nature and of Medicare fraud, are NOT something Kaiser Permanente nor the DMHC should take lightly. I know, I don’t.
Dr. Wild has the mental and physical capability plus he has the medical knowledge to commit such a horrendous crime, and he is willing to take chances with his medical license and with his Board Certification. Dr. Wild, should NOT be permitted to perform surgery. Watch my words: chances are, - he will do it again (if I am indeed the first one).
No wonder Kaiser and their attorney Mr. Clause, couldn’t find Dr. Wild for his deposition, even though he was still working at KP. As a resident, (physician in training) he would have never been allowed to operate without supervision (as per court documentation.) Much less, become board certified after committing a crime against my health and for that, he would not qualify to work for the Permanente.
These serious matters involving Dr. Wild showing his clear intentions other than helping me with my health, and Kaiser Permanente Mandatory Binding Arbitration System involvement (in my case, through their defense attorney) in Medicare fraud, is, as you receive this letter, being announced to the world.
If you chose to stay silent as KP’s executive officer, and chose NOT take a position of ethics and legality, I will take it as your public admission of guilt and as reckless disregard to protect Kaiser Permanente’s patients health and safety.
“Evil prevails when the good people are silent, or take no action.”
Regards,
Jupirena Stein
j_u_stein@yahoo.com
www.kaiserpapers.org
CC: Open letter
Kaiser Thrive Exposed would like to personally thank Dr. Geoff Galbraith - Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute board member; and Vice President, Hawaii Permanente Medical Group, Quality Improvement Management - for inspiring us to create this website. Did we make it into the top 5?