Kaiser Kills...To Harvest Transplant Organs?
The police are investigating whether a Kaiser surgeon hastened a man's death to get his kidney. I don't even know what to say to that.

Kaiser whistleblower Justen Deal has published an article about patient safety at Kaiser in The News is Now Public. If you think these issues are important vote for the article on Digg here.

I'd like to shout out a thank you to Matthew Holt for his recent help. I look forward to meeting him at the Healthcare Blogging Summit.

ROTFLMAO Update! Should I apply for this Kaiser job? Leave it to Kaiser to stomp on and priggishly ignore their critics while creating a new bureaucratic position to pretend like they're taking action. What Kaiser doesn't get is that Doing the Right Thing starts with...actually Doing the Right Thing. Further Update: Kaiser blocked and email-bounced my application for Culture Change Leader. Should I interpret this as Kaiser symbolically blocking culture change? :D

Here is the text from some recent Kaiser memos attempting to shape public perceptions of their EMR project. Is it possible to overdose on Koolaid? I'm not posting pdfs of the originals because I received them as text.


Important Announcement from George Halvorson, CEO Chief Information Officer (CIO) Appointment

February 26, 2007

I am pleased to announce that Philip (Phil) Fasano has joined Kaiser Permanente as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, effective immediately. As the leader of KP-IT, he will focus on the service, products and people essential to the success of KP’s technology agenda. Phil will be a member of the National Leadership Team and will report directly to me.

Sincere Thanks to Bruce Turkstra
I want to thank Bruce Turkstra for his excellent leadership during his tenure as interim CIO. As you know, Bruce also did a wonderful job overseeing the KP HealthConnect roll-out and advancing our electronic health record to where it is today. His valued contributions throughout the KP HealthConnect project and during his recent work in IT are greatly appreciated. Bruce will be working with me to develop and execute a transition plan.

Phil Comes to KP With an Impressive Background
Throughout his career, Phil has managed teams and organizations whose scope and complexity are very similar to our IT organization. His proven ability in a number of settings to interrelate system support and the overall strategy of the organization will be of great value to us. Kaiser Permanente will benefit from his business acumen, strategic approach and deep technical skills.

Phil has more than 20 years of corporate experience as a business leader and has successfully served as CIO for several companies including Deutsche Financial Services, JP Morgan Chase and Capital One. With each opportunity, he brought a transformational vision that was key to the evolution of the company’s business strategy and success.

Most recently, Phil was President and CEO of Capital Sourcing Group, Inc., in McLean, Virginia, where he provided advice, consulting and services to Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Phil received an M.B.A. from Long Island University, and a B.S. in Computer Science from the New York Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Judy, have five children. They will relocate to the SF Bay area in the near future.

Please join me in welcoming Phil to KP, and in thanking Bruce for his strong performance. I am confident that we will all support Phil in our ongoing efforts to drive an effective technology agenda that enables optimal care for our members.

This is a broadly distributed message. Please do not reply.
Please share this message broadly with your peers.


A message to KPSC managers and physician leaders from
Benjamin K. Chu, MD, president KFHP/H, Southern California, and
Jeffrey A. Weisz, MD, executive medical director, SCPMG

The February 15 edition of the Los Angeles Times reported on concerns with the implementation of our Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect TM system, and questioned its safety.

Many of you have wondered where the reporter from the L.A Times received his information. He interviewed numerous people within KP including CEO George Halvorson and other national leaders. We also hosted him for a full day at Baldwin Park Medical Center, where he spoke with two of our physicians closely involved with KP HealthConnect. He also talked with nurses and other staff, and we gave him unrestricted access to our hospital and clinics with KP HealthConnect. While many spoke candidly of some of the earlier challenges, nearly everyone commented on the benefits the system provides to enhance care for our members.

We know, and the article acknowledges, that Kaiser Permanente has already improved the care for our members because of KP HealthConnect. After mastering the system, the overwhelming majority of our doctors and nurses agree that KP HealthConnect has improved their ability to deliver the highest quality of care.

No comparable scale electronic health record has ever been deployed so rapidly. With a project this large and an organization as diverse as Kaiser Permanente, we have had to overcome our share of obstacles. For the first time, all eight of our regions are operating on a common technology platform through KP HealthConnect. A change of this magnitude required significant IT infrastructure upgrades, as well as a level of cross-regional collaboration that had not been required to date.

This conversion also has had a profound impact on the day-to-day work of our physicians, clinicians, and staff. More than moving from paper to electronic processes, we did extensive examinations of workflows and care practices to optimize the care our members receive throughout our system. This has required significant training and support.

We have always been forthcoming regarding the challenges we have faced and overcome, as well as the success. We expected these challenges in infrastructure, deployment, and adoption given the size and scope of our implementation and we are pleased with our progress to date.

We thank all employees and physicians whose tremendous work has advanced us to this point in our system’s implementation. Your efforts, professionalism, and results make the difference in our ability to deliver and meet our members’ and patients’ needs in the 21st century.

Because you may receive questions about the article from members, family and friends we have provided a brief overview and a link to a Q & A regarding questions about KP HealthConnect below.

Sincerely,

Benjamin K. Chu, MD, MHA Jeffrey A Weisz, MD
President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Hospitals Executive Medical Director, SCPMG



KP HealthConnect Facts

KP HealthConnect is Improving Care Delivery
KP HealthConnect's built-in treatment guidelines are helping us improve the management of common/chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. We are also improving patient safety by increasing the accessibility of the patient medical record. Industry studies show that a paper medical record is missing up to 30 percent of the time for an office visit and paper medical records are almost never available for patient care in an emergency room. With KP HealthConnect, the electronic health record is available when and where it is needed.

Because KP HealthConnect includes more comprehensive patient information, it is helping caregivers address multiple problems or the provision of multiple services in a single visit. This reduces the need for additional follow-up appointments.

Our new online features, such as secure e-mail to your doctor’s office, will bring our members unprecedented access to Kaiser Permanente care.

By logging on to kp.org, members now have the ability to address some of their needs online, instead of coming in for an office visit or spending time playing phone tag. Preliminary surveys show high satisfaction with these opportunities to save both time.

System Availability is Close to Our Goal
Our goal is to have KP HealthConnect available for use everywhere and every time it is needed to provide care and service to our members. Our goal for system availability is 99.7 percent. We currently average 99.2 percent and we are aggressively working to meet our ultimate availability goal.

We’re Continuing to Move Forward
The world recognizes the KP HealthConnect project as a groundbreaking tool that will allow us to set ever higher standards of health care. The dedication of our many outstanding professionals who deploy, support, or use it every single day ensures that we will meet the challenges ahead of us, and distinguish Kaiser Permanente as the best place to receive quality and compassionate care.

For Answers to Additional Questions
Go to the KP HealthConnect Web site for answers to additional questions.



How to Get Kaiser Permanente’s Side of the Story

Ever wish you could go online to get Kaiser Permanente’s side of the story when KP appears in the news? Kaiser Permanente’s Brand Strategy, Communications and Public Relations Department launched an external Web site accessible from KP.org on February 1 so that you can do just that.

The new Web site, KP News Center, highlights the latest news and commentary from across the Program and provides a channel for Kaiser Permanente leadership to tell KP’s side of stories that appear. For example, the feature story on the site today responds to an LA Timesnews article that describes KP’s electronic health record efforts.

The site is designed to inform audiences such as KP members and potential members, KP employees, legislators, purchasers and customers, and the media with facts and information. We are working to identify the best way to make the public aware of the news Web site.

The site also features stories on a variety of topics including Health Research, KP HealthConnect™, Community Benefit and Clinical Excellence. In addition to our own news features, the site includes links to other news sources, health resources on KP.org and Kaiser Permanente podcasts. Readers can also subscribe to news and receive regular updates through an RSS feed. Bookmark it now: http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/index.html


Please be sure to check this site regularly for ongoing updates and information.

Thank you,
Diane Gage Lofgren