More than 1,300 physicians and practitioners who work for Northwest Permanente Medical Group – the provider arm for Kaiser Health Plan – had an opportunity to decide whether their executive medical director should be forced to resign.
Dr. Jeffery Weisz, who joined Kaiser in 2012 and became known as a “ruthless administrator” according to a lawsuit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, faced Dr. Alicia Ahn, an internist in Kaiser’s Tualatin office, for a board seat – a three-year term.
Physicians knew the outcome would be decisive because Weisz could not have remained on the staff had he lost that election. Worried that Weisz could be ousted, the management at Kaiser beat their drums on his behalf.
When asked about the outcome of the election, Michael Foley, communications manager, told The Lund Report, “NWP Medical Group governance is not a public process.”
But this reporter was determined to know the result of this election. After sleuthing around and contacting several physicians who work for the medical group, the truth became known – Weisz actually beat his opponent and can remain as president and executive medical director for another three years. None of the physicians contacted, however, knew the actual vote tally, and those numbers will probably remain hidden from public view.
Unlike the health plan, Northwest Permanente Medical Group is a for-profit enterprise and therefore it’s virtually impossible to know how much Weisz earns – or the bonuses he’s received for allegedly doing wide scale cost cutting to enhance the profitability of Kaiser, according to the multi-million dollar lawsuits filed against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Northwest Permanente and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals – in which Weisz is named as a defendant.
Drs. Jennifer Lycette and Radhika Breaden that Weisz “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.” 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.”
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].
