The Excellence of Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente (KP) has delivered high quality health care for more than 50 years. Our integrated model of care delivery is remarkably effective plus we continue to work hard to improve both our quality and our service. Multiple organizations now recognize the outstanding work we are now doing. Let’s take a look.

The National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) rates health plans across the country. Three years ago they rated KP as “Excellent” in both commercial and Medicare. NCQA recent survey of KP again resulted in excellent ratings. Their 2002 Annual Report recognized KP integrated approach to cardiovascular disease as one of the five best practices in the country. KP’s program was featured in an article titled Doing Cardiovascular Care Right: The Nation’s Number One Killer – Cardiovascular Disease – Has Met Its Match in Northern California. NCQA followed their 2002 Annual Report with a recent publication Of Managed Care/SOHCREPORT2003.pdf The State of Health Care Quality 2003. In this report, they identify the top five plans in each region around the country. For the Pacific Region, the plans were Group Health (affiliated with KP), KP-Northwest, KP-Northern California, KP-Southern California and KP-Hawaii.

The October issue of a leading consumer magazine presents their annual review of Health Plans. KP did very well with KP-Southern California and KP-Northern California finishing 7 and 8 nationally. The next highest California HMO was ranked 36. The magazine suggests “quick picks for readers who do not want to wade through all the data. Their quick pick for HMOs was Kaiser Permanente. “The nation’s largest nonprofit healthcare provider, covering 8.1 million consumers in nine states and Washington, D.C., receives consistently high marks from our readers. . . ”

The Insurance Journal recently published an article on the partnership between KP’s Occupational Medicine Program and State Fund. KP did much better than the competition on multiple measurements including two important ones:

1. 19% lower temporary disability days per claim; and
2. 33% less attorney involvement.

The World Health Organization recognized KP’s Chronic Conditions Management Program as a worldwide best practice.

The California Cooperative Health Reporting Initiative’s 2003 Report on Quality rated Kaiser Permanente’s Quality as tops in California.

HEALTHSCOPE is an independent public information source provided by the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) to help people with decisions about their health care. They rated Kaiser Permanente the top health plan in California.

The California State’s Office of The Patient Advocate produced the Quality of Care Report Card that gave top marks to Kaiser Permanente.

The University of California conducts an annual survey to assess the satisfaction of their employees with the health plans they provide. Kaiser Permanente was the top choice of UC employees.

Kaiser Permanente’s high ratings on multiple independent surveys are no accident. The accolades are appropriate recognition for the effectiveness of our integrated system for the delivery of health care and the outstanding work done by our physicians and staff.

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

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