Kaiser to Pay Record Fine Over Kidney Program
Kaiser Permanente has agreed to pay a $2-million fine after state HMO regulators found that its Northern California kidney transplant program imperiled hundreds of patients, in some cases delaying critical surgeries or losing track of patients altogether, four people familiar with the deal said.
The penalty, expected to be announced today in Sacramento, would be the largest ever levied by the California Department of Managed Health Care. The previous record, $1 million, was collected from Kaiser in 2002 after lapses in care caused the death of a Northern California woman.
The fine is part of a consent decree that stipulates a series of corrective actions Kaiser must take, the sources said on condition of anonymity. For instance, it forces the HMO to contribute about $3 million -- in addition to the fine -- for outreach programs to encourage organ donation. It also requires Kaiser to change some of its practices with monitoring from state regulators.
Additional details of the agreement -- a rare and stinging rebuke by the HMO agency -- were not available Wednesday night. The size of the fine is intended to demonstrate the depth of the problems, some sources said.
Kaiser, the nation's largest health maintenance organization, announced the closure of its San Francisco kidney transplant program in May after reports in The Times described how patients were endangered when Kaiser forced them in 2004 to transfer to its fledgling program from established transplant centers at outside hospitals.
In Kaiser's program, twice as many patients died on the waiting list last year as received kidneys, The Times found. The statewide pattern was the reverse: Twice as many patients received kidneys as died.
Hundreds of patients were stuck in limbo for months -- with little hope of receiving new kidneys -- because Kaiser failed to properly handle paperwork transferring them to its new program. And 25 Kaiser patients who had been treated at UC San Francisco were denied the chance to receive nearly perfectly matched kidneys because Kaiser directed the university to reject the organs during the transition between programs.
All the while, the patients have had to undergo prolonged dialysis, which removes impurities from the blood but can lead to fatal complications and reduce prospects for a successful transplant.
