Things are looking rough for Kaiser Permanente, which could lose a staggering $7 billion over the next two years if it doesn't make some changes. Kaiser's operating costs are going up 10 percent per year, according to internal projections. If Kaiser could hold those cost increases to 5 percent per year, however, it could go from losing buckets of money to making $2 billion a year, according to CEO George Halvorson. The scary numbers weren't public, but last week a frustrated project supervisor sent the loss projections out to 180,000 other employees. The supervisor--who has been put on administrative leave--was concerned about problems with Kaiser's EMR system, but felt he had been ignored by Kaiser's board. Halvorson has since defended the $3 million Epic Systems [1] EMR installation.
Get more background on Kaiser's troubles:
- read this article [2] from the San Francisco Chronicle
Related Articles:
Kaiser fined $2 million for transplant problems. Article [3]
Kaiser avoids Medicare funding loss. Article [4]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/children-s-hospital-plans-25m-it-investment/2006-10-23
[2] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/07/BUG5PM7AT11.DTL
[3] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/kaiser-fined-2m-for-transplant-problems/2006-08-10
[4] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/kaiser-avoids-medicare-funding-loss/2006-09-14