Regulators to investigate Kaiser oversight

The never-ending story continues: Along with yesterday's announcement that Kaiser faces a $2 million fine [1] for its kidney transplant debacle, California HMO regulators also revealed that they are investigating whether Kaiser's north California operation regularly mishandles patient complaints. They're concerned that since the HMO overlooked such massive problems with the transplant program, their oversight may be lacking in other areas as well. "If they weren't hearing these complaints about something this large, is there anything else that they may have been missing because of the way that they are monitoring their grievances?" Cindy Ehnes, director of the HMO agency, told the Los Angeles Times. If the regulators find any other quality lapses, it will result more fines for Kaiser. I don't think any of us would be shocked if that comes to pass.

- read the Los Angeles Times report [2] for more

PLUS: The folks at Corporate Ethics question whether Kaiser is getting off easy with a $2 million fine. Blog [3]