California praises Kaiser health plans for quality of care

Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Kaiser Permanente Northern California were the only health plans to earn the maximum four stars for "meeting national standards of care" in the just-released HMO Quality Report from the California Office of the Patient Advocate.

Kaiser executives credited the dedication of the healthcare team and a focus on wellness for helping drive quality care while cutting costs.

This marks the third straight year that the two Kaiser Permanente plans have earned praise for clinical quality.

"Prevention is the key to healthcare in America today," said Jeffrey Weisz, MD, executive medical director of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, the physicians who care for Kaiser Permanente patients in southern California. "Prevention means improving the quality of people's lives, sparing them from needless suffering and helping them to remain well."

[See also: Kaiser approves $22M in community benefit grants for care and coverage.]

Kaiser Permanente Southern California received the highest ratings in 19 of 37 clinical measures detailed in the report – especially in the area of preventive medicine.

According to the report:

• 96 percent of Kaiser Permanente patients in southern California with asthma receive medicine to control their asthma;
• 93 percent of patients with diabetes have kept their blood sugar under control;
• 98 percent of patients with diabetes have had their kidney function tested; and
• 96 percent of children aged 3-17 have had their body mass index calculated, helping physicians to identify potential obesity problems and intervene with lifestyle and diet changes.

Physicians from the Southern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group earned the most stars in each of the 10 geographic areas covered by the report.

[See also: Survey: Kaiser Permanente ranked number 1 for customer loyalty.]

"This report shows what can happen when we combine a dedicated healthcare team with 21st Century technology, including our industry leading electronic medical record system, KP HealthConnect, in a daily effort to improve the health of our patients," said Benjamin Chu, MD, president of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region. "The results represent the efforts of all our team members, from the receptionist to the nurse to the laboratory technician to the physician and all the other caregivers involved."