Compliance Hotline at
Kaiser Permanente
Help when you need it -
1-888-774-9100
Compliance means doing
things right-following all
laws, regulations, standards,
policies and procedures.
Compliance helps us foster
an environment of safety
and trust for our members,
employees, physicians, and
all of our business partners.
Everyone who works with
Kaiser Permanente is
accountable for helping to
keep things right-and to
speak up when something
isn't. If you have a
compliance concern, or
think that a compliance,
ethics or integrity standard
has been violated, call the
toll-free Kaiser Permanente
Compliance Hotline at
1-888-774-9100.
The Compliance and Ethics
Hotline is available 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week, 365
days a year. When you call,
you can choose to remain
anonymous. A trained
professional will note your
concerns and provide them
to a compliance consultant
for follow up and corrective
action.
Examples of compliance
issues include:
Theft, fraud, waste, and
abuse
Violating health, safety, and
environmental regulations
Conflicts of Interest
Accepting inappropriate gifts
and gratuities
Discrimination and
harassment
Improper use of Kaiser
Permanente property and
systems
Falsifying documents
Inaccurate or incomplete
documentation and coding
Ignoring regulatory
requirements
Disclosing confidential
information
Kaiser Permanente
Help when you need it -
1-888-774-9100
Compliance means doing
things right-following all
laws, regulations, standards,
policies and procedures.
Compliance helps us foster
an environment of safety
and trust for our members,
employees, physicians, and
all of our business partners.
Everyone who works with
Kaiser Permanente is
accountable for helping to
keep things right-and to
speak up when something
isn't. If you have a
compliance concern, or
think that a compliance,
ethics or integrity standard
has been violated, call the
toll-free Kaiser Permanente
Compliance Hotline at
1-888-774-9100.
The Compliance and Ethics
Hotline is available 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week, 365
days a year. When you call,
you can choose to remain
anonymous. A trained
professional will note your
concerns and provide them
to a compliance consultant
for follow up and corrective
action.
Examples of compliance
issues include:
Theft, fraud, waste, and
abuse
Violating health, safety, and
environmental regulations
Conflicts of Interest
Accepting inappropriate gifts
and gratuities
Discrimination and
harassment
Improper use of Kaiser
Permanente property and
systems
Falsifying documents
Inaccurate or incomplete
documentation and coding
Ignoring regulatory
requirements
Disclosing confidential
information
People
Diagnostic Imaging
Diagnosis
Medical Records
Other
Kaiser Compliance Department
Are laws and medical standards ignored?
The Compliance Department won't say.
Are laws and medical standards ignored?
The Compliance Department won't say.
Doctors
Kaiser Papers.org
LIST OF WEB SITES THAT
SPECIFICALLY STUDY KAISER
PERMANENTE AND PROVIDE
ADVOCACY AND OFFER
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE
PATIENT
LIST OF WEB SITES THAT
SPECIFICALLY STUDY KAISER
PERMANENTE AND PROVIDE
ADVOCACY AND OFFER
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE
PATIENT
Conahan v. Sebelius and Kaiser
Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
Cases and news
Patient advocates
Doctors who cause death
Doctors who go along
with Kaiser tactics
with Kaiser tactics
San Diego
Education Report
Education Report
Doctors in charge of
cover-ups
cover-ups
Kaiser Fired Woman in Retaliation, She Claims
By PHILIP A. JANQUART
Courthouse News Service
March 27, 2015
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (CN) - Kaiser managers said a woman was not trustworthy,
but retaliation was the reason she was fired, she claims in a Los Angeles Superior
Court complaint.
Belinda Branch began working at Kaiser's Parkview Building as a medical
assistant in 1978, earning "exemplary" job performance evaluations over the next
34 years.
In 2014, she became the focus of an investigation after reporting a Kaiser
employee for sharing a patient's private medical information with two other
employees without consent, in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA).
This medical information released and obtained by the other employees contained
private and sensitive medical information including information from the General
Surgery File, according to the complaint.
Branch was called into two meetings where she was confronted by "compliance"
officers who she says were hostile, angry and repetitive in their interrogation-style
questioning.
She was called into a third meeting on June 4, 2014 and told that, "her
employment with Kaiser was being terminated and gave [her] an ultimatum of either
resigning and be allowed to receive unemployment benefits or being fired and to not
be able to obtain unemployment benefits," the complaint states.
She added that the Human Resources department informed her that she had to
write the resignation letter immediately and that she would be fired if she didn't write
it using the exact wording provided to her. Branch says it was only under "coercion
and manipulation" that she did so.
"Ironically, plaintiff was being punished for following the law and reporting HIPAA
violations and for doing the right thing in looking out for the privacy rights of a
Kaiser patient," the complaint states.
When asked why she was being fired, Kaiser said she committed "egregious acts"
and that she "was no longer a trusted employee at Kaiser."
No action was ever taken against the employees who violated the federal law,
according to Branch who noted that all three are younger, "outside plaintiff's
protected class" and were "treated more favorably."
She says she believes Kaiser's actions against her were retaliatory, her
"whistle-blowing" used as a guise to fire her because she is older.
Branch was fired for false and pretextual reasons, in retaliation for her
whistle-blowing and based on age, the complaint states.
Branch sued Kaiser Permanente and Southern California Permanente Medical
Group for age discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, wrongful
termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violation of state
labor laws.
She seeks general and special damages for loss of past and future earnings, and
benefits; damage to reputation; failure to advance employment; and loss of job
privileges.
Branch is represented by Michael Carr, in Monrovia; and Roman Otkupman, in
Woodland Hills.
By PHILIP A. JANQUART
Courthouse News Service
March 27, 2015
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (CN) - Kaiser managers said a woman was not trustworthy,
but retaliation was the reason she was fired, she claims in a Los Angeles Superior
Court complaint.
Belinda Branch began working at Kaiser's Parkview Building as a medical
assistant in 1978, earning "exemplary" job performance evaluations over the next
34 years.
In 2014, she became the focus of an investigation after reporting a Kaiser
employee for sharing a patient's private medical information with two other
employees without consent, in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA).
This medical information released and obtained by the other employees contained
private and sensitive medical information including information from the General
Surgery File, according to the complaint.
Branch was called into two meetings where she was confronted by "compliance"
officers who she says were hostile, angry and repetitive in their interrogation-style
questioning.
She was called into a third meeting on June 4, 2014 and told that, "her
employment with Kaiser was being terminated and gave [her] an ultimatum of either
resigning and be allowed to receive unemployment benefits or being fired and to not
be able to obtain unemployment benefits," the complaint states.
She added that the Human Resources department informed her that she had to
write the resignation letter immediately and that she would be fired if she didn't write
it using the exact wording provided to her. Branch says it was only under "coercion
and manipulation" that she did so.
"Ironically, plaintiff was being punished for following the law and reporting HIPAA
violations and for doing the right thing in looking out for the privacy rights of a
Kaiser patient," the complaint states.
When asked why she was being fired, Kaiser said she committed "egregious acts"
and that she "was no longer a trusted employee at Kaiser."
No action was ever taken against the employees who violated the federal law,
according to Branch who noted that all three are younger, "outside plaintiff's
protected class" and were "treated more favorably."
She says she believes Kaiser's actions against her were retaliatory, her
"whistle-blowing" used as a guise to fire her because she is older.
Branch was fired for false and pretextual reasons, in retaliation for her
whistle-blowing and based on age, the complaint states.
Branch sued Kaiser Permanente and Southern California Permanente Medical
Group for age discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, wrongful
termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violation of state
labor laws.
She seeks general and special damages for loss of past and future earnings, and
benefits; damage to reputation; failure to advance employment; and loss of job
privileges.
Branch is represented by Michael Carr, in Monrovia; and Roman Otkupman, in
Woodland Hills.