Entry tags:

kaiser patients, kaiser permanente, kaiser tech, kaiser workers

Kaiser's New Approach to Compliance: Use ALL CAPS!
Kaiser's California credentialing department (responsible for tracking physician board certification, continuing education, etc.) has been demanding that the professional staff sign and fax back the following statement:

I AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE BYLAWS and RULES & REGULATIONS OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF for KAISER FOUNDATION HOSPITAL EAST BAY, OAKLAND/RICHMOND CAMPUSES AS NOW ADOPTED AND AS AMENDED IN THE FUTURE, and THE LAWS & REGULATIONS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

No one I've talked to has ever seen anything like this before. Moveover, no copy of the BYLAWS and RULES & REGULATIONS, which may change at any time, were circulated with the signature-required form. Therefore Kaiser expects people to sign off when they have no way of knowing whether they are in compliance: this is what Kaiser did with HIPAA (patient privacy) training, too.

In speaking of privacy, if you ask Kaiser to restrict your medical records, they have a policy to ignore your request. This policy seems pretty silly given that one of the main justification's of Kaiser's 3-4 billion dollar (and counting) Electronic Medical Records (EMR) project is to create centralized access to patient data. I.E., the patient data shouldn't "reside in many locations" anymore. Also, people should keep this article in mind the next time a Kaiser doctor suggests they try a "free" therapy appointment before proceeding with any diagnostic tests.

Kaiser has already started to share medical records with the State for law enforcement purposes. If this gets to the point where patients are afraid to trust doctors with their medical problems, what will the alternative be? Will there be two medical establishments - the "official" establishment that constitutes a form of surveillance, and an underground medical system where actual treatment and care happens? By the time we have universal health care, it may not even matter in terms of where people actually go for help!

In other news, Kaiser PR is still busy trying to retroactively demote whistleblower Justen Deal to a mere peon shuffler of brochures, fliers and posters. I predict that when Justen eventually gets the paperwork converting him to unpaid leave, he will find out he's been the janitor of the lowest level of the parking garage all along!

Update: Someone just pointed out to me that the signature-form might actually be related to Kaiser sharing medical records with the State - i.e., physicians are being put on notice that they have to comply.