BY JIM HALL
Kaiser Permanente will open a Fredericksburg office next week, bringing to the region a different brand of medical practice.
Founded in 1945, Kaiser is the nation's largest nonprofit health-insurance plan. The California-based company has more than 8 million members.
It's also a major medical provider, treating thousands of patients each day.
Its new clinic opens Monday in a building behind Mary Washington Hospital. The office will be its 30th in the Washington-Baltimore area.
The company has more than 491,000 customers in Washington, Maryland and Virginia, including 7,000 in the Fredericksburg area. Until now, the company's closest office was in Woodbridge.
Dr. Muhi Ahmed, the new physician director at the Fredericksburg office, describes Kaiser as the "granddaddy of all HMOs."
Yet it's an HMO with a twist: Those who purchase one of its plans must stay within the company for much of their medical care. It's as if an auto insurance company required its members to use its repair shops.
Kaiser has its own primary-care clinics, staffed by private-practice doctors who work only for the company.
Kaiser also employs specialist physicians, has eight urgent-care clinics for after-hours care, and contracts with nine Washington-area hospitals.
At Inova Fairfax Hospital, for example, Kaiser has its own hospitalists and its own computer system within the building. On any given day, it can have as many as 80 of
The Fredericksburg office will open with a pharmacy, a laboratory and a staff of 30. Imaging machines will be added later, Ahmed said.
The physician staff will include a full-time internist and pediatrician and a part-time gynecologist.
"We don't really know what the workload will be," Ahmed said.
For patients who need specialized care, the company has contracted with 80 local specialists. It also has a contract with Mary Washington to treat those who need hospitalization.
Kaiser's offices operate differently in other ways. For example:
Drug company representatives are not allowed to come into the building, Ahmed said.
"If they do, we're not going to buy their medicine for the next three years," he said.
The downside: Kaiser does not give free drug samples to its patients.
Kaiser was one of the earliest users of electronic medical records. All of the exam rooms in the Fredericksburg office will have computers.
"We don't use our pen except for signing a narcotic prescription or a verification of treatment," Ahmed said.
Patients can make appointments and get lab results and prescription refills online. Doctors are expected to respond to patient e-mails within 24 hours.
The Fredericksburg office will be the company's first in the Washington-Baltimore area to have a camera in one of the exam rooms. Specialists in other centers will be able to see patients with unusual problems and consult with the on-site physician.
Staff librarian Craig Schulin
Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com
National and state organizations that rank HMO plans give mixed grades to Kaiser's Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States. The National Committee for Quality Assurance, a private nonprofit organization, calls the plan "excellent," the highest of its five ratings. U.S. News & World Report in its latest ranking scores Kaiser 86th out of 240 commercial plans reviewed.And Virginia Health Information, the nonprofit organization that collects state health data, says the plan is above average in some areas, such as preventive care, but below average in others, such as member satisfaction. Its premium per member of $286 per month is slightly above the state average. -Jim Hall |