COALITION'S SURVEY RATES KAISER BEST; EMPLOYERS RANK HMOS IN SURVEY.Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer Hoping to cut through the clutter of customer-satisfaction surveys performed for many health plans and medical groups, a coalition representing big businesses released its own report cards this week on health care performance. The winner: Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield. , the nation's first private managed-care plan. The Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern divisions of Kaiser were jointly named the top HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, by the San Francisco-based Pacific Business Group on Health for quality of care, cost, relationship with doctors' groups and data management. ``It's our belief that we are very good, and we like to demonstrate that,'' said Dr. Joel Hyatt, assistant associate medical director for Kaiser. ``We may not be perfect, but we're pretty darn good.'' But Chuck Idelson, a spokesman for the California Nurses Association The California Nurses Association (CNA) is the largest and fastest-growing labor union and professional association of Registered Nurses in California. The National Nurses Organizing Committee is a national labor union for Registered Nurses, and is affiliated with the CNA. , a union in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of a contract dispute with Kaiser Northern California, takes issue with the award. Idelson said PBGH PBGH Pacific Business Group on Health , which is funded by some of the state's largest employers, doesn't give enough weight to the quality of service at Kaiser facilities. ``Quality is just one of many criteria they evaluate,'' he said. ``Quality should be the primary consideration and the others secondary.'' In the health plan survey, Kaiser scored at or above average on preventive care and overall satisfaction by patients. Its quitting rate by Medicare patients is the lowest among the plans surveyed. Kaiser scored below average, however, on explaining tests and procedures, on explaining the referral process and on access to doctors during office hours office hours, n.pl See business hours. . Its doctors were below or at the average in the quality of their interaction with patients. Cigna HealthCare of Southern California scored the lowest in overall satisfaction among 21 California health plans surveyed. Among physician groups in Los Angeles, patients gave the highest marks to the Cedars Sinai Medical Group in Beverly Hills. It scored the highest in four of seven categories, including overall satisfaction and overall rating of care. At the bottom is All Care Medical Group of Huntington Park. It scored the lowest in six of seven categories among 15 physician groups surveyed. In Ventura County, Adventist Health Medical Foundation was the lowest ranked while Kaiser Permanente Medical Group-Southern California scored highest. Rating doctors' groups is important since they directly give care to patients, said Barbara Decker, benefits manager at Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. in Rosemead. Edison, which is a member of PBGH, spends $100 million a year on health care for 50,000 employees, retirees and their dependents. ``Employers had a hard time understanding the value of what they were buying,'' said Anne Castles, PBGH project manager, so they initiated the survey. By comparing health plans and physicians' groups by the same standards, Castles explained, the nonprofit group hopes to pressure them to boost the quality and also moderate the cost of health care. PBGH puts results of its surveys on its Web site: www.healthscope.org CAPTION(S): Photo, Chart Photo: (color) Kaiser physical therapist Cheryl Fish watches Margaret Poole exercise after knee surgery. John McCoy/Daily News Chart: REPORT CARD ON HEALTHCARE |
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