Dr. Jeffery Weisz is on the hot seat once again. Not only could he be ousted as executive medical director and president of Northwest Permanente Medical Group in a board election underway, but Weisz is also been named as a defendant in two multi-million dollar lawsuits against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Northwest Permanente and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals.
The lawsuits filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court allege that Weisz is a “ruthless administrator who found ways to minimize payrolls by shrinking staff while patient loads skyrocketed, often leaving the remaining staff members trying to cope with impossible patient care demands, which ultimately harmed Kaiser’s patients.”
In related news, Kaiser has also hired primary care physicians in the Eugene area and will begin admitting patients to McKenzie Willamette Medical Center, an investor-owned acute care hospital in Springfield. Kaiser is also "currently communicating with both PeaceHealth and Oregon Medical Group about how we will work together. Our plan is to open a medical office building in October of 2015," according to Michael Foley, Kaiser's communication manager.
Turning to Weisz, he assumed his current role in 2012 after Dr. Sharon Higgins was ousted in a board election. She became Kaiser’s first woman medical director in 2007, and had joined Kaiser in 1979 as an otolaryngologist/head and neck surgeon
In the current board election – being held electronically -- Dr. Alicia Ahn, an internist in Kaiser’s Tualatin office, is running against Weisz. If she’s successful, Weisz will be forced to step down as executive medical director since that person must hold a board seat, according to Michael Foley, Kaiser’s communications manager.
While physicians cast their ballots, high-ranking Kaiser officials are beating the drum on behalf of Weisz, urging his re-election. The outcome will be known Sept. 22.
Meanwhile, two physicians formerly on the staff of Northwest Permanente – Drs. Jennifer Lycette and Radhika Breaden -- have filed lawsuits claiming whistleblower retaliation, gender discrimination and wrongful discharge. Lake Oswego attorney Roderick Boutin who’s representing them expects both cases to come to trial in mid-2015.
In court, the allegations by these physicians will be strongly disputed, according to Foley. “As the healthcare industry undergoes rapid transformation, we will continue to ensure our patients come first, while setting the standards for quality,” he told The Lund Report. “Kaiser Permanente is recognized nationally and in the Northwest for providing the highest quality healthcare. Today, Kaiser Permanente Northwest is the top ranked private health plan in the Northwest and ranks second in the country.”
When Weisz became executive medical director in January 2012, it wasn’t long before he rankled the medical staff saying, in an interview with The Lund Report, that Kaiser members would no longer be able to see physicians at Oregon Health & Science University for such care as heart transplants and complicated pediatric treatments – unless they’d be willing to pay the bill.
“OHSU has a great training program and 60 percent of our doctors are trained there, and we’re spending millions of dollars in care at OHSU,” said Weisz during a February 2012 interview. “Up until now, it’s been a fairly easy path to go over there. I believe we have the same quality care.”
Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are better at niche care, and should become an expert in one or several diseases, he said, “Don’t forget I went to medical school, and it’s complicated to take care of patients.”
Weisz acknowledged everyone might not appreciate this new focus, mentioning that he’d developed a similar approach while working in southern California for Kaiser.
“Anytime you change anything in healthcare people are always upset,” he said. “But, you have to do what’s right for the patient. It’s very hard for a doctor to assess a patient, and they went to medical school for four years. If someone comes in with acute abdominal pain, it’s a complicated thing. Can they feel the spleen, feel the liver, do they know what tests to order? It’s hard for doctors to figure out and even harder for people who haven’t gone to medical school.”
Latest Lawsuit Filed Sept. 8
Dr. Radhika Breaden, 45, who joined Kaiser as an internist in 2000, started focusing on sleep medicine in 2007.
Her lawsuit alleges that Weisz’ decision to maximize profits by decreasing outside referrals created a zero-tolerance policy for patients needing to be seen by physicians outside the Kaiser setting, and that decision jeopardized the lives of many patients.
“Before Dr. Weisz’ arrival, Kaiser had a culture of open dialogue and putting patient care first,” her lawsuit alleges. “The primary goal of all discussions was preservation and improvement of the quality of patient care.”
Breaden found it difficult to help her patients find adequate treatment at sleep medicine clinics because they were restricted to the Kaiser facility and often had to drive long distances after being evaluated and treated were in danger of getting in sleep-related vehicle accidents.
Sharing her concerns led to Breaden being “retaliated against, humiliated and ostracized for interfering with Kaiser’s attempts to make as much money as possible at the expense of patient care,” her lawsuit alleges, yet Breasen refused to remain silent.
Kaiser’s reluctance to allow patients to seek treatment at outside clinics led, she says, to at least one motor vehicle accident where a sleep medicine patient fell asleep while driving home to Salem from Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center, resulting in severe injuries.
Breaden’s suit claims she was retaliated against after encouraging another physician, Dr. Alistair Scriven, to appeal a decision after Kaiser denied a request to allow his patient to seek outside care for a sleep disorder. In response, Dr. Praseeda Sridharan, chief of Kaiser’s sleep medicine department, sent Breaden an email in January 2012, urging her not to blame Weisz for that decision, saying “We as an organization have been irresponsible in loosing [sic] dollars at outside cost and providing poor care at outside facility and bleeding large amount of $$ to physicians who are trying to milk out of Kaiser …. We also are great at reimbursement and hence made several folks like Dr. Gaber [sic] millionaires.”
As a Kaiser member, Breaden was also denied a corneal transplant procedure by a local ophthalmologist outside the Kaiser system that had been approved prior to Weisz joining the medical group. Later, her appeal was successful.
Breaden insists she was repeatedly humiliated, forced to provide substandard care and was put in a position where she could have violated the law. In August 2012, she lost her job and is asking for $5 million in non-economic damages and $4 million in economic damages.
Similar Lawsuit Filed in April
The lawsuit filed by Dr. Jennifer Lycette, 40, who specializes in hematology and medical oncology, shares many of the same issues, saying Weisz was more concerned with maximizing profits.
Before joining Kaiser’s staff in 2006, Lycette’s colleagues had assured her that they had never experienced any limitations on treatment protocols and could refer patients for outside expert consultation or to clinical trials. Lycette says she needed such assurances after fearing “Kaiser would reject her patients from life-saving clinical trials or expert consultations just to increase profit,” but was told that was not the case.
After Weisz came on board, however, things changed drastically, she alleges, and he demanded that medical oncologists perform bone marrow biopsies during a patient’s initial consultation, telling Lycette she should rush through the patient on their first visit to maximize profits.
When Lycette challenged his authority, saying his demands were not feasible and were outdated, Weisz began shouting at her in angry and threatening manner which led Lycette to tell Weisz she had more knowledge than he had about the current practice of medical oncology, and had the highest patient satisfaction rating in the department at 89 percent.
Later, in February 2013, Weisz announced that all part-time positions in the department would be eliminated even if that would disproportionately affect the number of women in the department – among them Dr. Phoebe Trubowitiz and Dr. Kathleen Kemmer. Since then, Lycette claims that other outstanding female physicians have resigned rather than be forced to endure further humiliation and pain or be fired – including Kemmer, Trubowitz,and Drs. Tarun Bains and Michele Chernesky.
Lycette, who resigned in April 2013 because of her oath to do no harm and her belief that Kaiser policies were "making patients suffer," she alleges, is asking for $5 million in noneconomic and $2 million in economic damages.
Diane can be reached at [email protected].
