From labor contracts to new leadership appointments, here are nine things Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente have done in the last month:
1. Roughly 2,400 mental health workers ended a strike that began Oct. 21, after reaching a tentative labor contract with Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente. The agreement covers members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers in Southern California.
2. Dale Gold, MD, is stepping down as chief medical informatics officer for CommonSpirit Health’s Mountain Region to join Kaiser Permanente Medical Foundation.
3. Kaiser Permanente laid off 38 California employees across multiple locations April 21. The positions were primarily business function-related and do not provide patients direct care.
4. Kaiser faces $819,500 in fines after state officials said the organization delayed handling complaints from health plan members. The California Department of Managed Health Care, which is responsible for overseeing health plans in the state, announced the fines April 25.
5. Kaiser Permanente has appointed Neil Cowles as its new chief information and technology officer. Mr. Cowles will lead the organization’s information and technology operations, including the development, integration and deployment of technology.
6. Kaiser Permanente has activated the largest hospital-based renewable energy microgrid in the U.S. at its Ontario (Calif.) Medical Center. The microgrid provides daily electrical power for the hospital and serves as its initial backup system during outages. It can supply emergency power to the hospital for 10 consecutive hours.
7. Two medical groups caring for Kaiser Permanente members have forged a closer alignment to increase patient access and improve quality of care.Northwest Permanente in Oregon and The Permanente Medical Group of Northern California formally unveiled their affiliation April 16, shortly after the Oregon Health Authority’s Healthcare Market Oversight Program approved the transaction April 11.
8. Kaiser Permanente has terminated its national director of corporate security investigations, Craig Chew, amid allegations he received confidential data from a California criminal database accessed by an Oakland police officer. Mr. Chew, a former police officer, was fired along with several subordinates after allegedly receiving information about threats against at least one Kaiser employee from the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, which includes criminal and driving records, as well as access to national law enforcement databases.
9. Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente plans to construct a new hospital tower at its Sunnyside Medical Center campus in Clackamas, Ore. The new tower is slated to open in 2029, and construction will begin in early 2026.
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