Kaiser Permanente

After a vigorous debate among experts, the state medical board this week dismissed accusations of negligence against a perinatologist at Kaiser Permanente's Fresno Medical Center who was involved in two tragic deliveries. The Medical Board of California had accused Dr. Hamid Safari of mishandling the procedures. One child died in the delivery room in April 2005, and the other died months after her January 2004 birth.

One of the state's largest employers, healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente, said it would eliminate more than 1,800 positions as it struggles with drooping membership, uncertain healthcare reform and shriveling Medicare reimbursement rates. Job reductions will occur within the next few months, the Oakland-based nonprofit said Tuesday. Many of the purged positions -- just under 2% of Kaiser employees -- are temporary, on-call or short-hour. Most Kaiser medical centers in California will be affected.

If Kaiser Permanente's Fresno hospital had acted on complaints and kept a closer watch over its medical staff, two babies might still be alive, federal health inspectors concluded in a report released this week. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began investigating the hospital in October, two days after the Los Angeles Times reported that doctors and nurses had complained repeatedly to higher-ups about perinatologist Hamid Safari's medical and interpersonal skills.

The administrator of Kaiser Permanente's Fresno hospital stepped down Monday, days after the release of a federal report that criticized the way the medical center responded to complaints about a doctor who handled high-risk pregnancies. In a written statement released late Monday, Kaiser said Fresno hospital administrator Susan Ryan had resigned, effective immediately. Last week, the U.S.

Kaiser Permanente has suspended a physician who handled high-risk pregnancies at its Fresno hospital, more than four months after the Los Angeles Times reported that doctors and nurses there had repeatedly questioned his competence. In a statement released late Friday, interim hospital Administrator Linda Monte said that, effective immediately, perinatologist Hamid Safari would not be able to provide care to any Kaiser member in a hospital or outpatient setting.

Patients treated at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Southern California were less satisfied than many of those at other hospitals in the region and across the country, according to data released Friday from the first nationwide satisfaction survey. None of the 10 Kaiser hospitals in Southern California that participated in the survey exceeded the regional average when patients were asked if they would "definitely recommend" the hospital to friends and family.

About 3,400 Californians whose health insurance was canceled by Kaiser, Health Net and PacifiCare after they got sick will soon receive notification that they may be eligible for new coverage and for compensation for medical bills they paid while they were uninsured. In a deal with state regulators, the insurers agreed to offer former members new coverage regardless of preexisting medical conditions and to reimburse them for medical expenses.

Kaiser Permanente got a perfect four stars for medical care on an annual HMO score card that California officials hope consumers will use to shop for health coverage. The state's largest health maintenance organization consistently comes out on top in the 8-year-old survey, but it was the first time that any HMO had scored a four-star rating.

A Los Angeles jury has ordered Kaiser Permanente to pay a former radiologist $3.9 million for wrongfully forcing him to resign after he tried to improve medical standards at its Hollywood hospital. The decision involving Dr. Michael Martinucci was announced Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

A former employee has sued Kaiser Permanente, claiming that the HMO "blackballed" her for participating in a criminal investigation into the alleged dumping of a homeless woman on skid row. Irene Hernandez, 50, of Downey said Kaiser's hospital in Bellflower quit employing her as a registry nursing assistant after she cooperated with the Los Angeles city attorney's office investigation into alleged patient-dumping by the hospital giant.