Kaiser Told to Reveal Data on Patient Care

In a big victory for Northern California nurses involved in a bitter labor dispute, a federal administrative law judge ordered Kaiser Permanente to turn over extensive information about the quality of patient care that the nation’s biggest HMO provides to 2.7 million Californians.

Judge Jay R. Pollack, in a decision released Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board, upheld most of the unfair-labor-practice complaints brought by the California Nurses Assn., which is seeking unprecedented access to closely held medical quality information at Kaiser hospitals and clinics in Northern California.

A Kaiser spokeswoman said the Oakland-based HMO had not yet decided whether it would appeal the decision. A union official said he expects Kaiser to appeal, which could delay disclosure for six months or longer.

The union’s executive director, Rose Ann DeMoro, hailed the judge’s decision as a “stunning victory” for patients, nurses and organized labor. “This is one of the most significant rulings the NLRB has ever done in health care by requiring that an employer must bargain over quality-of-care issues,” she said.

Kaiser and the CNA have been locked in a nasty labor dispute since 1996, when the nurses’ previous collective bargaining contract expired. Following several one- and two-day strikes earlier this year, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services scheduled a mediation session between the two parties for Thursday in Oakland.

The union has waged a relentless campaign attacking Kaiser for what it claims is deteriorating patient care as the giant HMO seeks to reduce medical costs. Earlier this year, the union brought attention to problems with emergency care services at Kaiser facilities in the Bay Area involving several patient deaths. Regulators later cited Kaiser for failing to meet federal licensing standards.

Pollack’s ruling found that Kaiser violated labor laws when it refused the CNA’s September 1996 request for detailed medical quality information.

In upholding the union’s claims, Pollack ordered Kaiser to turn over information regarding Kaiser’s policies, procedures and guidelines for determining quality of care; information on patient outcomes and medical performance, as well as other information.