kaiserfraud ([info]corphq) wrote,
@ 2006-11-28 10:46:00
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Entry tags:kaiser manipulates media, kaiser permanente, kaiser privacy, kaiser tech, kaiser workers

Kaiser Binging on Lost Patient Data? 38,000 People!
Oops, Kaiser released the patient data of another 38,000 people out into the wild! This isn't Kaiser's first laptop incident. In July Kaiser informed 160,000 people that their data was on the loose. Who knows how many times this happened before the HIPAA-enforcers started obliging Kaiser to come clean. Interested parties can find my archive of Kaiser privacy incidents here.

KaiserPapers has a new patient horror story that shows why Kaiser only faces a fraction of the arbitrations/lawsuits it should. Note that Kaiser would have charged the poor woman $3000.00 just for a photocopy of her husband's medical records.

LOL! Lab Soft News translates Kaiser's crafted messages.

LOL Redux! It's no coincidence that a Kaiser employee is featured in this career success article... which ends with the wink wink nudge nudge advice to only relay "sensitive" info by phone (where no one can prove anything). If only half of Kaiser's HR execs are giving advice like this, it may be yet another clue about why Kaiser is so screwed up.

Yet Another LOL! Check out this hilarious Stepford-Kaiser job description: Ensure that all communications collateral is edited to increase brand awareness of and interest in Kaiser Permanente... (Here's the source.) Don't get me started on the irony that this tortuous clump of weasel-wordery is for a "communications" job.

Missing the Obvious: The Mercury Times just posted an article about the end of the HMO advantage implied by rising health care premiums that are now outpacing the rest of the country. The article seems baffled about the cause. I guess the reporters have totally missed years of HMOs passing on out-of-control IT costs and massive bureaucratic waste to consumers. Kaiser has specifically mentioned "IT investment" as its justification for raising rates in Hawaii. It seems to me that someone at the Mercury Times, or Kaiser someone influencing the Mercury Times, just wants to blame "consumer backlash against HMOs" and thus create public pressure to discourage criticism of HMOs.

Wow! Kaiser could really pick up a few tips from Computerworld. Editorialist Frank Hayes has offered an honest, insightful apology to Justen for lumping him in with the Kaisercrats. I have to admit I'm envious - I couldn't even get major newspapers like the SF Chronicle to make *corrections of fact* when I was under Kaiser-siege.

Kaiser Still Using Justen's Name for Their PR! The Kaiser "Sponsored Link" is back on Google:


(20 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Re: 160,000 article
(Anonymous)
2006-11-28 08:25 pm UTC (link)
How funny it is that they can pay these contractors so much money per hour and lay off their own employees to save money! What a joke!

Marie

ps: I can't wait until I can write more freely about such things ;)

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: 160,000 article
[info]corphq
2006-11-28 08:33 pm UTC (link)
What Kaiser pays Covansys consultants is outrageous! It's not linked at all the skills required for the work being done, either. A Covansys consultant gets $125/hr. for putting together the same powerpoint of basic web navigation that an admin assistant could have done! These, days a lot of admin assistants are capable of reaching under their desk for a book of basic HTML and surfing the web for simple javascripts, too. Why does Kaiser pay the Covansys consultant $125-$200/hr. so he can wander over to the admin assistant and mooch off all her skills? This uncredited mooching would be bad enough if they were peers in regard to pay, but lower level admin assistants at Kaiser are making between $20 and $40k a year.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: 160,000 article
(Anonymous)
2006-11-28 11:16 pm UTC (link)
No... "Funny" is that they have to wait for IBM to reduce their rates on products and services Kaiser has purchased from them in order to complete a re-org. (They needed the savings for severance pay.)

Now THAT'S funny..... (Or just plain sad.)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: 160,000 article
[info]corphq
2006-11-28 11:22 pm UTC (link)
It would be funny - except Maria's right, it's the lowest level employees who are get punished for the poor judgment of the honchos at the top.

I wish I had some details on the IBM negations. All I've seen is a Business Week article a couple of months ago.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: 160,000 article
(Anonymous)
2006-11-29 01:39 pm UTC (link)
I would also like more information on that one. This re-org is taking more time than I expected and nobody has come out with any information for us (us being the one's who will be laid off).

Marie

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: 160,000 article
[info]corphq
2006-11-29 05:04 pm UTC (link)
Whatever happened to that Application Services dept. that was moved to India?

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Lost data
(Anonymous)
2006-11-28 10:51 pm UTC (link)
I wonder if Kaiser will get the notification process right. If they aren't careful, they'll screw that up and send the wrong data to the wrong people.

I'd like to know why the HIPAA authorities aren't investigating this, or why it isn't a reportable incident.

And why would anyone allow that much ePHI on a laptop of all things? I don't care who you are in a healthcare organization, you don't walk around with that much ePHI on a laptop that isn't secured.

You would think a company would learn after the first incident, but I guess they didn't get fined and just had to deal with the bad press.

HIPAA - a law that is all bark and no bite.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Lost data
[info]corphq
2006-11-28 10:56 pm UTC (link)
HIPAA enforcement is laughable. I know someone who filed a HIPAA complaing against Kaiser TWO YEARS AGO, and the OCR has yet to investigate. The OCR is quite happy to delay until the evidence trail is cold, while their executive bigshots accept indirect rewards from Kaiser (such as conference keynote speaker slots).

I agree that Kaiser will probably screw up the notification process. They'll probably invade more privacy doing "research" on people where their contact information is out of date, too. At least they haven't tried to frame anyone yet.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: Lost data
(Anonymous)
2006-11-29 03:14 am UTC (link)
Laptops are just insane in the HIPAA age if you claim (like Kaiser does) to care about the HIPAA law.

Of course, Kaiser just makes their employees sign "compliance" forms, as if it's the employee's fault 100 percent of the time when patient data is compromised. It's just another legal edge they can take to fire their employees for something that ultimately is upper managment's fault. I love that term - "compliance". It reminds me of some jack-booted cop taking his sexual issues out on some minority and yelling at him to "comply". Pass the buck and the mashed potatoes, Marge.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Lost data
[info]corphq
2006-11-29 05:28 am UTC (link)
Part of the problem is that gadgets are a sign of status at Kaiser. A person knows they're a valued employee if they get a T/X and/or Blackberry and/or paid cellphone...and of course the baseline is one of those sexy black Dell laptops which double as a badge that signifies you're so committed to work that you take it home every night.

Kaiser actually made me put their software on my own laptop: it caused an immediate bluescreen, and I ended up having to reformat my personal computer, losing years of my personal stuff. And despite that I wasn't smart enough to replicate my Kaiser email at home. Stupid, stupid me.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
ROTFLMAO!
(Anonymous)
2006-11-29 12:54 am UTC (link)
Gee, does Kaiser really think folks are going to pass up that Computerworld article right underneath its paid ad? Not bloody likely, because if they are searching for "Justen Deal" they are searching for info on the scandal. Duh! Won't stop Kaiser from wasting member money on another fake PR campaign!

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: ROTFLMAO!
[info]corphq
2006-11-29 12:57 am UTC (link)
Oops - I just cropped that part. Wait a sec - I'll put back the original.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Mr. Hayes apology
(Anonymous)
2006-11-29 07:05 am UTC (link)
I'm not sure that I'd necessarily call Mr. Hayes apology to Mr. Deal an apology. It was a backhanded apology at best. Mr. Hayes tone towards whistleblowers is still rather negative, calling them disruptive.

I think a better term would be 'consciencious' or 'acting with ethics'. If you don't want whistleblowers then conduct your business in an upfront, ethical manner and you won't have any problems. (Yes, Hayes hints at this, but that isn't the thrust of his editorial.)

It takes a helluva alot of guts for Justen to do what he did, and absolutely none for Mr. Hayes to sit behind his computer and spit out an editorial on a subject that doesn't directly affect him and his back pocket.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Mr. Hayes apology
[info]corphq
2006-11-29 07:17 am UTC (link)
I think it was honest, though. Whistleblowers are perceived as disruptive. No matter how much people say that they want employees to stand up and do the right thing - and "just following orders" is no excuse - they will go out of their way to beat down someone who actually does blow the whistle. They are skeptical, they tear apart the whistleblower's life without regard to the health or future of the person who stood up for them, and their first instinct is to deny the whistleblower and put he or she down. Several studies have shown that choosing to be a whistleblower can be devastating, but these studies don't seem to have had any impact on the general public. And the same people who tore down the whistleblower will wring their hands and wonder why no one stood up for them when a shifty CEO makes off with their retirement investments.

It's amazing that people still keep trying to do the right thing. I guess there's something unconquerable in the human spirit that persuades people to try to do the right thing despite all the evidence they will be punished for it.

Anyway, I think Hayes was at least honest about this, and I don't think I've ever seen a journalist own up like that before.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Speaking of Computerworld ...
(Anonymous)
2006-11-29 07:25 pm UTC (link)
You probably have these aready but just incase.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/search.do?command=basicSearch&searchTerms=dodd

Marie

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Speaking of Computerworld ...
[info]corphq
2006-11-29 07:29 pm UTC (link)
Thanks - I should probably create a feed for that. :-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)
I Resent the Double Standard ...
[info]intrepidliberal
2006-11-30 05:22 am UTC (link)
at how heroic Justen is being portrayed. You were far more courageous and had far more pain inflicted upon you. You deserve far more respect than you've received.

Intrepid Liberal Journal

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: I Resent the Double Standard ...
[info]corphq
2006-11-30 05:29 am UTC (link)
Actually, Justen's the first to admit that. But thanks for sticking up for me!

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Kaiser...unbelieveable
(Anonymous)
2006-12-12 12:45 am UTC (link)
I was looking up Kaiser information to see if they were repeating their same routine yet again with PHI. When I came across your site I started laughing because the exact same shock and humor was used when writing about this article. Not knowing Kaiser's full history when I started writing I was going to give them some credit but after about 30 seconds of research I was stunned. Its so hard to believe that PHI could be handled in such away. The blog posting (http://www.iwantmyess.com/?p=134) is something I think you may find amusing since it seems as though the we were both channeling a lot of the same outrage.

Michael

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Kaiser...unbelieveable
[info]corphq
2006-12-12 01:26 am UTC (link)
ROTFLMAO! Yes, simple password protection would be a good first step. But really, patient info shouldn't be distributed on laptops at all.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

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