Kaiser Permanente Joins L.A. Patient Transfer Network

Kaiser Permanente announced it will join a Los Angeles County patient transfer network that allows emergency departments to quickly transfer patients with severe heart attacks to nearby facilities to receive angioplasty treatment. Previously, the emergency departments at Kaiser's eight Los Angeles County hospitals opted out of the government-run transfer system and instead gave clot-busting drugs to most patients as an initial treatment.

• "Kaiser To Join L.A. County Transfer Network for Heart Attack Care" (Brown, Los Angeles Times, 10/21).