Kaiser Permanente Earns Top Ranking in California Health Plan Report Card (6/7/2005)
Source: BusinessWire

Kaiser Permanente earned the top rating in the just released 2005 HMO Quality report from the California Office of the Patient Advocate (OPA).

Kaiser Permanente Southern California was the only health insurance plan to earn two excellent or three star ratings. Those came in categories described as Care for Getting Better and the Member's Rating of their Health Plan. Overall the OPA report showed Kaiser Permanente Southern California with ten of a possible twelve stars. Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Region was the next highest rated plan with nine stars.

Kaiser Permanente Southern California also led the way in clinical quality, with eleven top scores in the 29 clinical measures cited in the report. For example, 84 percent of children receive the four vaccinations recommended by the Centers for Disease Control by the time they are two years old. Diabetic patients were most likely to receive eye exams to watch for a disease that can cause blindness and kidney function tests to watch for signs of kidney damage at Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

Kaiser Permanente Southern California was the only health plan in California to rate good or excellent in all four categories measured by the OPA report card and was the only health plan to rate two stars or good in the category, Care for Staying Healthy. "This is a testament to the people of Kaiser Permanente who come to work each day with one goal in mind--to keep our members healthy and prevent illness," said Benjamin Chu, M.D., President of Kaiser Permanente's Southern California Region.