Nothing is written.
The Los Angeles Times today has a number of letters to the editor that were written in, most praising the paper for its in-depth coverage of important health issues at California hospitals. One, though, criticized the paper’s editors for not printing more positive stories about Kaiser Permanente:
The [Devin Valenzuela] story is the latest in an ongoing series portraying Kaiser Permanente in a negative light. As a Kaiser Permanente physician, I see firsthand the excellent quality of care we provide to our members on a daily basis. I cannot recall the last time I read a positive story about our organization in The Times. When we commit to the costly deployment of one of the largest electronic medical record systems in the country to benefit our members, we are criticized by you unfairly. When we are compared quite favorably with other healthcare providers by independent national evaluators, nothing is written.
We do not claim to be perfect. However, we are committed to delivering the highest quality of care and access in a cost-effective manner. Kaiser Permanente should be the type of health plan you judge objectively, rather than publishing only negative stories (as exhibited by your track record).
Stephen Munz, M.D.
Anaheim
The Los Angeles Times certainly doesn’t need my help, but I believe Dr. Munz has missed a number of recent stories in which the paper has, in fact, noted Kaiser Permanente’s achievements. The truth is that Dr. Munz has a point: there are nearly 170,000 people at Kaiser Permanente doing the right thing every day. Unfortunately, under George Halvorson and Daniel Garcia, a culture of corruption at the highest levels has grown, a culture that covers up wrongdoing instead of addressing it. In Baby Devin’s case, for example, the Times article said that the head of the Northern California physician group, Dr. Robert Pearl, was aware of issues surrounding Hamid Safari, and did nothing.
Until George Halvorson is gone, until the leadership of Kaiser Permanente recommits itself to the principles it was founded on, I can only imagine that horrific stories will continue to come to light, like the kidney transplant program breakdown, like the systematic, unethical treatment of homeless patients, like the electronic medical record system fiasco, like the coverup of an allegedly incompetent perinatologist accused of killing babies.
It’s worth, remembering, though, once again, that there are over a hundred thousand caregivers at Kaiser Permanente, including people I care deeply for, who believe passionately in their work, who go to work every single day to try to help make our members’ lives better.
Just in case Dr. Munz missed it, from earlier this week:
“…For overall clinical quality, Kaiser Permanente got the highest score…notching three out of four stars, or a ‘good’ rating.” [Los Angeles Times, October 18, 2007]
This story was originally posted at justendeal.com.
“Character is what you are in the dark.”
— Unknown
Kaiser could easily improve its reputation and generate more genuinely positive press (not generated by its PR department) by reducing the gap between its actions and its words. Instead they choose to lie and/or buy their way out of trouble every time.
It’s about how you behave when no one is looking, Dr. Munz.