kaiserfraud ([info]corphq) wrote,
@ 2007-02-15 06:01:00
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Entry tags:kaiser patients, kaiser permanente, kaiser tech, kaiser workers

L.A. Time Investigates Kaiser EMR Fiasco
An article in the front page times details the myriad problems with Kaiser's over-hyped and under-performing EMR. There have been many incidents putting patients at risk, including an infant in the NICU, and I hope this article helps patients understand why the technology issues are directly relevant to them.

However, what did the TV news report this morning? They parroted a Kaiser press release about their intention to launch the quote unquote "BIGGEST" health care study on diet and genetics. Don't the TV news editors even GLANCE at what's in the newspapers? This BIGGEST member survey is blatantly timed to distract people from and/or preempt the L.A. Times article. What a coup for the Kaiser PR people who had a hotline to the ABC news room, where the same pseudo-story about Kaiser's BIGGEST member survey has mentioned three times so far this morning, while the revelations of the L.A. Times article have not been mentioned at all.

Update: Kaiser's decoy story has now been added to the rolling headlines on the bottom of the screen! This is usually reserved important news alerts that need to continue to be communicated even when the reporters are talking about something else.

Once again Kaiser has chosen to exercise low PR tactics instead of addressing the problems. And once again the mainstream media has gone slithering after the money instead of bothering with the hassle of investigative reporting.

Kaiser must not be allowed to get away with putting PR before patients. To bring home how important it is to not let Kaiser substitute "thriviness" for problem-solving: I found out this morning that the Roseville cancer patient mentioned in my previous post DIED this morning. Even though the patient could eat, Kaiser withheld all medication except for morphine. Kaiser representatives claimed that the patient didn't need medication (for diabetes and a heart condition) because "his brain would take over". Two family members with M.D.s tried to intervene. One was allowed to speak to the attending physician, but no one was allowed to see the medical records.

The saddest part of all this is that Kaiser sowed dissension in the family by asserting that if the family moved the patient to another hospital, they would be stuck with a bill they could never pay off. Who knows what options the family would have found if they looked, but while they were trying to figure everything out, the patient died.

In other news, Kaiser lost another laptop containing the medical information of as many as 22,000 people. Why isn't this being reported instead of Kaiser's strategic deployment of the word "BIGGEST"?

For People Leaving Comments: An emergency came up, and it's hard for me to get to a computer to approve the comments. Please do leave your comments - I care about them a lot, and I think it's important for Kaiser to hear a community of voices. I will get to the comments as quickly as I can, and I will reply at some point during the day.


(14 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Kaiser
(Anonymous)
2007-02-15 06:20 pm UTC (link)
How many times will they get away with this. I wrote about their last problems in my blog back in November http://www.iwantmyess.com/?p=134 . Its amazing to see new organizations look the other way as Kaiser says again and again that they will be improving security.

The only way to get these companies in gear is to hold hem accountable like provisions are supposed to. Two of these losses being punished as HIPAA ( article describing HIPAA http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Modern-Medical-Office:--Balancing-Success,-Technology,-and-HIPAA&id=397130) dictates would require companies to make actual changes.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Kaiser
[info]corphq
2007-02-15 07:58 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for the links - I remember iwantmyess.com, and I will read up as soon as I can!

(Reply to this) (Parent)
EMR and accurate reporting
(Anonymous)
2007-02-15 07:07 pm UTC (link)
Wanted to comment about this up here.

I'm now receiving healthcare, ironically from a facility that also uses Epic.

While my experience with Kaiser/technology left a lot to be desired (zero patient empowerment, many more ways for Kaiser to manipulate the patient), my experience with this new facility has been eye-opening.

I can make appointments online. Not *request*, make. Schedule. As in, I see the dates and times available, and choose, not Kaiser's version (I dropped them over a year ago, so this may have changed) where I request an appointment, and get a card in the mail telling me to be there at some pre-determined time, or reschedule, which just puts you back at the end of the months-long waiting list.

I can see each and every visit I've had with a doctor, the reason, what was done, the follow up instructions, any medications, etc.

I can see all my vitals, and other pertinent health data, charted over time, to see improvement (or lack thereof).

I can see all lab results, similarly charted.

I can email my doctor directly.

I can request prescription refills, and am not told to make an appointment unless the prescription actually requires such.

This system is so vastly superior to the tripe I experienced at Kaiser, the tripe they loudly proclaimed as the barometer of electronic healthcare delivery quality. Bah. Tripe.

Even more interesting being in another state is the handling of my healthcare records.

Most doctors would look at the fat envelope and just say forget it. They didn't want to store them, copy them, or have anything much to do with that huge mess. New facility is anxious for me to bring them in, will help me sort through them, and get them into their system. All for the price of one meager co-pay. Holy cow. Medical ethics is no longer an oxymoron.

After half a decade of Kaiser abuse, I can not put words to how healing it is to be treated like a human being, not a nuisance, liability, or hypochondriac.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: EMR and accurate reporting
[info]corphq
2007-02-15 08:00 pm UTC (link)
It's amazing that Kaiser can just keep asserting how great they are, despite the actual experience of patients. Part of the problem, as illustrated by the avid TV coverage of fake news is that the media seems to be more in touch with what PR agents are pressing on them than any actual news.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: EMR and accurate reporting
(Anonymous)
2007-02-15 08:43 pm UTC (link)
I'm with you. I just don't get that with so many bad experiences from so many different people why they really think they are fooling anyone. They're a joke and everyone knows it. It's only a matter of time before people decide they've had enough of the inhumane treatment and the corruption and coverups. No matter which part of the country you talk to...kaiser patients on the west coast or east, hawaii, the midwest, northwest or south... it's all the same, they are told that they are imagining things when they go to Kaiser for treatment. Looks like a conspiracy to withold healthcare to me. If this is the "leader" in cutting edge technology and healthcare then I would hate to see what the bottom of the barrel looks like and I think for anyone who has experienced Kaiser, they already know what the bottom of the barrel is.

They are like a drunk saying (with alcohol on his breath) "no, I haven't been drinking" to a room full of sober people.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: EMR and accurate reporting
[info]corphq
2007-02-15 10:44 pm UTC (link)
That's an interesting point. I read a lot of books about the development of fascist and totalitarian culture in graduate school. One of the first symptoms is that corruption becomes a joke that everyone gets, but no one can do anything about it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Kaiser EMR
(Anonymous)
2007-02-15 10:03 pm UTC (link)
Problems with electronic medical records put patients at serious risk due to possible inaccuracies with the display of accurate patient history. Add this in combination with Kaiser’s negligent business model already in place and this brings to the patient a world of hurt, negligence and coverups. This is just another way for Kaiser to invite disaster and when that disaster happens, it will make it all too easy to go in and alter and delete critical medical records so they can avoid arbitration. Also, look at all the money wasted on poor planning and judgement. This would have been well spent on revamping their cost-cutting, greedy, business practices aleady in place.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Kaiser EMR
[info]corphq
2007-02-15 10:48 pm UTC (link)
Even if the technology was top notch (which it isn't), there's always a human element that can turn the system toward malicious ends. I'm not a technical luddite: I believe electronic tools can make life better for patients and people in general. But I have an even stronger belief that institutions and laws to protect the individual from system-manipulation attacks need to be in place before they start handing over their lives. We need to put the rights and safety of individuals before any reason of the machine.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
KP Leadership with the EMR implementation
(Anonymous)
2007-02-21 12:39 am UTC (link)
Here is some INSIDE info on the management practices within the KP-HEALTHCONNECT (EHR) implementation in Northern California:

First - read this article
http://www.sfweekly.com/2000-09-27/news/how-to-kill-a-nonprofit/full


Vijaya Rogers is virtually 'running' this project as she is behind all of the unethical management practices within this project. I REALLY and TRULY hope someone actually investigates.........

She is directly in charge of all the entire Ambulatory (outpatient clinics) implementations across Northern California.

She has numerous "Site Leads" reporting to her who have Sub Team Leads reporting to them on down to Analysts and then BAC's.

There is blatant nepotism throughout the project - as there was in the above article. It seems this is how she secures her position by strategically maneuvering and befriending the right people - stratching eachother's backs so to speak. If you simply reviewed the list of leads and then surveyed whther or not they are either related to or knew someone in top management - it would be obvious.

Vijaya has her hands in every aspect of the implementation and often makes rash wasteful decisions. For instance she decided that our implementation in Central Valley needed more staff at the last minute and had 3 people scrambling buying hotel rooms for about 10 people to come out and help ... we actually did NOT need these people who spent the day standing around doing nothing. That is one example of her penchant for quick decisions and waste.

She reports directly to Dr. Steve Bornstein and Linda Vaurs (who replace Donna Young), the co-leads for the entire Ambulatory Healthconnect Suite in Kaiser Northern California. She is an incredibly powerful woman here and it is known by many that you do NOT go against her or you will no longer be working here. She is known for either firing people OR if she cant fire them demoting them and sending them out into the field on short notice until they quit.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: KP Leadership with the EMR implementation
[info]corphq
2007-02-21 04:46 am UTC (link)
Wow - thanks for reporting this. I hope your effort to point out the problems will go the right people. Bornstein was affiliated with my department at one point, so I think it can safely be said that the slime is flowing from the top.

Once again, fixing (and enforcing) HR policies would go a long way toward addressing situations like this. When HR looks the other way, it's practically an invitation for managers to do whatever they want. And their subordinates are the ones who get hurt.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
Re: KP Leadership with the EMR implementation
(Anonymous)
2007-02-27 06:18 pm UTC (link)
Who is Linda Vaurs? This person doesn't even know their bosses name! How credible can they be?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: KP Leadership with the EMR implementation
[info]corphq
2007-02-27 07:12 pm UTC (link)
LOL - this post is from Kaiser. How credible can it be? :D

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]pinksoap
2007-02-22 03:16 pm UTC (link)
Seems like companies loosing laptops is an on-going problem. But no issue with HIPAA compliance there! =\

Sorry to hear about your Roseville Cancer patient. I try to drill that into my new employees' heads - the fact that these are all people waiting for relief so there's no time to dick around with their lives in the balance. Do that and you just might get back one of the worst enveolpes - the returned mail that's got 'DECEASED' written on it. Those wreck me every time.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]corphq
2007-02-22 11:16 pm UTC (link)
That's my thought exactly: and being all political and polite about the problem is getting us nowhere. People have been dying. Anyone could be next. Transparency has to start happening NOW!

I have a ton of stuff to post related to the L.A. Times article. Unfortunately I'm at a conference and the WiFi is sucking. In the meantime, check out what http://www.kaiserthrive.org has been posting...

(Reply to this) (Parent)

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