Kaiser transplant program faces sanctions

The government inspection of Kaiser Permanente's Northern California transplant program turned up serious deficiencies in the way the provider managed the program, the Los Angeles Times reports. CMS inspectors visited the program last month after the newspaper reported that hundreds of patients were adversely affected by Kaiser's decision to consolidate thousands of cases at the regional center. Regulators sent a stern warning letter to Kaiser, advising that the problems need to be fixed--although exactly what that means is open to interpretation as the transplant center is now officially closed. The HMO could face the loss of Medicare funding for end stage renal transplant cases.

- see this article from the Los Angeles Times