KAISER: RATED BEST CALIFORNIA HMO BY EMPLOYERS GROUP

      Pacific Business Group on Health yesterday rated Kaiser
 Permanente as California's top health plan in its annual report
 card on HMOs in the state, San Francisco Chronicle reports.  It
 was the first time the group singled out a "blue-ribbon HMO" as
 part of the survey process.  Patricia Powers, executive director
 of PBGH said, "Kaiser came out on top when stacked up against its
 competitors.  Kaiser represents good value both for purchasers
 and consumers of health care."  PBGH, a coalition of 33 employers
 with more than 2.5 million workers, rated the plans on quality of
 care, cost, "how well a plan tracks its medical data, and whether
 the plan takes a lead role in improving HMO industry standards." 
 The survey also tracked customer satisfaction and the quality of
 preventive care procedures offered by the health care plan.
      KAISER
      Kaiser was chosen despite well-publicized criticism this
 year over problems with patient care.  Powers said, "We certainly
 are aware of (these problems), and discussed (them) at our board
 meeting, but we felt it shouldn't deter us from our path of using
 objective data.  Kaiser has an 85% consumer satisfaction rate,
 while a lot of other plans aren't even breaking 80%."   Kaiser
 did not rank as highly as other plans in some areas of customer
 satisfaction, including getting appointments and referrals to
 specialists.  However, the plan received higher marks in the area
 of preventive care, including providing childhood immunizations,
 prenatal care, eye exams for diabetics and screening for cervical
 and breast cancer.  Kaiser's doctors group did not score as
 highly as other groups in PBGH's first report card on doctors. 
 Other HMOs scoring high marks were Aetna Health Plans of
 California, Blue Cross/California Care, Lifeguard, PacifiCare of
 California, FHP TakeCare1 and CIGNA HealthCare of Northern
 California.  
      MORE INFORMATION
      More information about the study can be obtained by calling
 1-888-244-2124.  Information will also be posted on the Web by
 the end of the month at www.healthscope.org. (DeBare, 9/17).