Kaiser Permanente news from FierceHealthcare
News
New initiatives under way to coordinate mental health, primary care
It's well-documented in research literature that primary -care physicians often miss the signs of common psychiatric illnesses like depression, leading to the avoidable complications that mental... Read more...
Kaiser hospital hit with another fine for privacy violation
If California officials were hoping to make a point, they're certainly going about it great guns. In 2008, California became the first state to enact a law requiring providers to let individuals know... Read more...
Blue Shield of California wins recission ruling
Over the past couple of years, California health insurance plans have been getting their clocks cleaned over rescissions of individual health insurance policies. Largely, courts and state agencies... Read more...
Sanofi-Aventis will pay almost $100M to settle Medicaid pricing charges
Drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to pay $95.5 million to settle False Claims Act charges that corporate predecessor companies cheated the Medicaid program. Under the terms of the settlement,... Read more...
Kaiser Permanente runs farmers markets
Looked at one way, it makes perfect sense: Sure, Kaiser isn't in the farming or retail businesses, but it is in the business of promoting good health. That, at least, is why Kaiser executives decided... Read more...
Kaiser fined $250,000 for staff snooping into octuplet mom's records
As if mother of octuplets Nadya Suleman hasn't gotten enough press, now she's in the news again--this time because someone violated her rights. California's health regulators have fined Kaiser... Read more...
Coalition forms to promote energy efficiency in hospitals
A new coalition has formed to promote the use of advanced energy efficiency and renewable technology in the design and construction of hospitals. The coalition, the Hospital Energy Alliance, includes... Read more...
Study: Emailing doctors reduce office visit volume
So, what happens when doctors make themselves accessible to patients via email? Well, at least at Kaiser Permanente, patients make significantly fewer office appointments. Kaiser found that office... Read more...
CA investigating Kaiser call centers
The state of California is investigating Kaiser Permanente's three call centers, responding to concerns that the health plan may be letting unlicensed staffers effectively make medical decisions by... Read more...
California's policy-cancellation war
This year the California health insurance industry fought an entrenched battle with regulators over the right to cancel individual policies--even retroactively--whenever they saw fit. The regulators... Read more...
