Kaiser fined for failing to provide Medicaid data

Kaiser Permanente is being fined $2.2 million by the state of California for not submitting data on patient care to Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.

This is the second time the healthcare giant has been fined for failing to provide Medicaid data following a $2.5 million penalty in January. The California Department of Health Care Services said these are the first fines it has imposed against a Medicaid managed-care plan since at least 2000.

Kaiser isn’t contesting the fines, according to the San Jose Mercury News. While it’s seen as an early adopter in utilizing electronic health records and data, the system said its technology wasn’t designed to collect information in the format the state requires.

“We have recently made significant investments in new technology to help us comply with the new administrative data reporting requirements,” Nathaniel Oubre, Kaiser Permanente’s vice president for Medi-Cal, said in a statement. “We are committed to full compliance.”

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John Gregory, Senior Writer

John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.

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