For the seventh consecutive year, Kaiser Permanente is the only California health plan to earn a four-star rating — the highest possible — for overall quality of care in the annual Healthcare Quality Report Card from California’s Office of the Patient Advocate, Kaiser officials announced.
Kaiser Permanente in both Northern and Southern California also received four stars in the “Patients Rate their HMO” category, which measures members’ satisfaction with their care and service, and Kaiser Permanente Northern California scored three stars – higher than any other HMO in the state – in the “Getting Care Easily” category.
The 2014-2015 report card provides California consumers with side-by-side comparisons of the state’s largest health plans. It ranks these on national standard-of-care measures involving treatment and prevention of a range of conditions with significant implications for personal health. Ten HMOs and six PPOs are compared in the report card, and Kaiser Permanente alone had the highest possible rating for overall clinical-care measures.
The state moved up the report card’s release this year so consumers would have it to use as a reference during this fall’s health insurance open-enrollment period, Kaiser officials said.
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Northern California Kaiser Foundation Hospitals/Health Plan, Inc. President Gregory A. Adams said the organization’s prevention-focused model is helping create a healthier population.
“By offering new settings for care and mobile tools that help our members manage their health when and where it’s convenient for them, we often prevent illnesses and diseases from occurring in the first place,” Adams said in the announcement. “This approach is fundamental to our commitment to high-quality care and affordability.”
This year, Northern California Kaiser earned top scores in nine of the 11 report-card categories for clinical care, including asthma and lung care, cancer screening, diabetes, heart and maternity care and “getting the right care” for adults and children. The ratings mean Kaiser Permanente performs at or above the 90th percentile on clinical standards of care among health-care providers nationally, Kaiser officials said.
Robert Pearl, MD, executive director and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, said the organization’s technologically advanced care, coordinated across all specialties, saves lives.
“Our comprehensive screening efforts help patients avoid cancer, heart attacks and strokes, he said. “Our outstanding physicians provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art care for the most complex medical conditions. As a result, our 3.6 million members in Northern California have a 30 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease and a 10 percent lower chance of experiencing a stroke compared to those who are not members.”
The 2014-2015 OPA ratings follow several other recent honors received by Kaiser Permanente:
• Kaiser Permanente’s Medicare plans in California were the only ones in the state to received a 5-star rating for 2015, and one of only 11 plans nationally to earn the highest rating from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. More than 430 plans were rated, and this was the fourth straight year Kaiser in California has received 5 stars.
• In the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s 2014 “Quality Compass” report, Kaiser Permanente Northern California was ranked best in the nation in controlling hypertension, and in screening for and controlling cholesterol.
• Ten Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California were named Top Hospitals in 2013 in the most recent report by the Leapfrog Group. Only 90 hospitals in the nation – of more than 1,300 surveyed – received this honor.
• Nineteen Northern California Kaiser hospitals got “A” grades in the Leapfrog Group’s 2014 Safety Scores.
• Fourteen Northern California Kaiser hospitals ranked as Top Performers in 2013, the Joint Commission’s most recent report.
• Kaiser members rated the organization’s health plan highest in member satisfaction statewide for the seventh consecutive year in the 2014 U.S. Member Health Plan study by J.D. Power and Associates.
Date: October 18, 2014