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KQED highlighted our union’s endorsement of Katie Porter for governor of California.
Oaklandside reported that Kaiser Permanente has agreed to pay $556 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting invalid diagnosis codes for Medicare Advantage enrollees to obtain higher payments from the federal government. Under the program, insurers are paid a fixed monthly amount per beneficiary, adjusted based on patient health status. According to the settlement, plans receive higher payments for sicker patients, based on diagnosis codes that must be supported by documentation from face-to-face provider visits and must have affected patient care, treatment, or management. Between 2009 and 2018, Kaiser allegedly engaged in a scheme to inflate risk adjustment payments in California and Colorado, the Justice Department alleged in a complaint filed in October 2021.
Sutter Health is seeking to grow its footprint outside of California for the first time, Modern Healthcare reported. The system hired Scott Nordlund to oversee potential mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and other strategic collaborations outside the state as the health system’s first executive vice president of corporate development and partnerships. Sutter has no facilities or other business outside of California, a spokesperson said.
Governor Gavin Newsom is blocking Louisiana’s attempt to extradite Remy Coeytaux, a physician in the San Francisco Bay Area who faces a criminal charge and risks spending up to 50 years in jail if convicted for mailing abortion pills. According to the Associated Press, Louisiana has some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, while California law aims to protect abortion providers from criminal prosecution for treating out-of-state patients.
Current or former Kaiser Permanente members in California who accessed Kaiser websites or mobile apps between November 2017 and May 2024 are eligible to receive a portion of a $46 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging that the health care provider improperly shared patients’ personal and health information through its websites and mobile applications. ABC10 reported that the settlement stems from multiple lawsuits alleging that Kaiser’s websites and mobile apps used third-party tracking tools that transmitted confidential personal and health data without users’ consent to companies including Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Twitter.
Providence plans to transition 250 clinical engineering employees in March as it establishes a new clinical engineering partnership with Indianapolis-based TRIMEDX, an independent clinical asset management company, Becker’s Hospital Review reported. A Providence spokesperson told the Puget Sound Business Journal the group includes 50 employees from Seattle-based Providence Swedish and 200 others across Providence’s footprint. Affected roles include biomedical technicians, imaging technicians, and clinical engineering managers. The company said those transitioning to TRIMEDX will be offered comparable pay and benefits, along with training and certification opportunities, according to the health system.
