State attorney general to oversee Kaiser's medical arbitration system under new law
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Set us as preferred The California attorney general will help oversee healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente’s medical arbitration system to ensure it operates fairly under legislation Gov.Gavin Newsom signed late Sunday.Patients, their families and lawyers have complained that Kaiser’s private and confidential system of handling medical malpractice complaints is designed to favor the health plan over those bringing the claims.Under legislation known as Assembly Bill 1770, the attorney general will decide what actions justice officials should take to ensure private arbitrations required by any health plan are handled fairly and in line with state law.To do that work, the state plans to add as many as four deputy attorneys general, a legal analyst and three legal secretaries, according to a legislative analyst’s report.
Business Plaintiffs attorneys, legislators and patients say that Kaiser’s private and confidential process for arbitrating legal disputes over medical care still has key flaws that favor Kaiser over patients bringing malpractice cases.“We look forward to continuing to resolve claims through an independently administered system that provides a fair and efficient process for members and patients,” Kaiser Permanente said in a statement Monday.Roughly 1 of every 4 Californians get healthcare from Kaiser.To join the plan, each one had to check a box, agreeing to use arbitration to settle any dispute.Many companies and other organizations, including some hospitals and physician groups, require customers or patients to take their complaints to private arbitration rather than to court.But unlike most other companies, which send claims to large arbitration firms, Kaiser created its own system.Under Kaiser’s system, once a neutral arbitrator is selected, either party can opt to disqualify that person without ...