KAISER PERMANENTE: Growth Results in Diverted Patients
Kaiser Permanente's "healthy" membership growth in the Sacramento area has proven costly for the health system, as the influx of new enrolles has outpaced its ability to serve its new members, the Sacramento Bee reports. Consequently, Kaiser Permanente often has been forced to divert patients to "costly non-Kaiser facilities," particularly for emergency care. "Our current quarters are undersized and when it's very busy we do have to divert ambulances to other hospitals," Dr. Kieran Fitzpatrick said. To help resolve the problem, Kaiser plans to triple the south Sacramento emergency department's size over the next year. The new facility will be 27,000 square feet and have 23 beds. Cinde Breedlove, a spokesperson for Kaiser's Sacramento service area, said, "Treating more our of members in our own facilities is a big part of our efforts to stay financially healthy." Kaiser Permanente officials blamed the "mounting costs" of treating members in non-Kaiser facilities as "one of the key reasons it ... racked up" national losses of more than $550 million over the last two years. The system announced last week that its net loss for the 12 months ending Dec. 31 was just $6 million -- an "encouraging sign that the organization's turnaround plans are working." Kaiser Permanente is the nation's largest not-for-profit health system and serves about 530,000 members in the greater Sacramento area (Fisher, 3/10).
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