Press Releases: Southern California
September 30, 2003
Two reports rate Kaiser Permanente highest in Southern California for quality of care
PASADENA, California—Kaiser Permanente is one of only two Southern California health plans to receive an excellent rating for service in the just released HMO Quality report from the California Office of the Patient Advocate (OPA.) Overall the OPA report showed Kaiser Permanente Southern California with one three-star or excellent rating and four two-star or good ratings. Only one other Southern California health plan achieved a similar ranking from the state.
In another report, Kaiser Permanente Southern California received more top ratings than any other health plan on quality measures in the 2003 California Cooperative Healthcare Reporting Initiative (CCHRI). Kaiser Permanente Southern California was rated highest in 10 of the 27 clinical measures and was among the top three plans in 20 of the 27 categories.
"These two quality reports provide us with valuable information to critically evaluate our performance and set goals to meet the needs of our members," said Oliver Goldsmith, MD, Medical Director and Chairman of the Board, Southern California Permanente Medical Group.
Kaiser Permanente Southern California has been the top rated Southern California health plan for all three years that the OPA report has been in existence. The state report rates health plans in such categories as: care for staying healthy, care for getting better, care for living with illness, doctor communication and service and plan service. Kaiser Permanente received an excellent rating for plan service and good ratings for each of the other categories.
For the past seven years, no other Southern California health plan has earned higher marks for clinical care than Kaiser Permanente in the annual CCHRI report. The CCHRI is a statewide coalition of health plans, large employers and healthcare providers. Kaiser Permanente Southern California is consistently one of the highest rated performers in the CCHRI report on health care in California.
In the CCHRI report, Kaiser Permanente rated highest among Southern California health plans on the following clinical measures: postpartum care, childhood immunizations, adolescent immunizations, chlamydia screening for women 16 to 20 years old, chlamydia screening for women 21 to 26 years old, comprehensive diabetes care (for nephropathy monitoring and retinal examination), cholesterol testing, cholesterol testing after acute cardiovascular events and effective antidepressant medication treatment(both acute and continuation phases).
"Kaiser Permanente remains a strong advocate of CCHRI and we feel a duty to provide comparative information on clinical and service performance that helps consumers make informed health care decisions," said Joel D. Hyatt, MD, assistant associate medical director, Southern California Permanente Medical Group Clinical Services.
Findings for the clinical measures were obtained by the OPA and CCHRI from participating health plans based on the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS), the managed care industry's most widely utilized performance standards.
The Consumer Assessment Health Plan Study (CAHPS) member survey was compiled by the NCQA and administered by the CCHRI. The CAHPS standardizes the measurement of member perceptions of service and access across California health plans.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program with Southern California headquarters in Pasadena, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 3.3 million members in Southern California. Today it encompasses the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Southern California Permanente Medical Group. Kaiser Permanente's Southern California Region includes more than 49,900 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 6,000 physicians representing all specialties. More information about Kaiser Permanente can be found at kaiserpermanente.org.
