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Kaiser Malpractice
Medical malpractice claims do not affect hospitals' bottom line--bad investment practices do.
Posted by: Michael A. Kelly
May 25, 2008
What’s that? Yes, recent filings with the state department of corporations and state health regulators disclosed last week that Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan saw a 64 percent drop in net income in the first quarter year over year due to investment losses.
Kaiser reported $250 million of net income for the quarter ended March 31, compared with $698 million in the first quarter a year ago. Total operating revenue was $10.1 billion for the first quarter, up from $9.4 billion in the first quarter of 2007.
Kaiser attributed its drop in net income to "turbulence in the financial markets" impacting its investment portfolio. There was no mention of frivolous lawsuits or other urban-myth-talking-points typically mouthed by health care apologists. Kaiser should be congratulated for telling the truth.
Healthcare is a business – when patient injuries get in the way of profit, it is not fair to blame the patients or their legal representatives for compromising the bottom line.
Kaiser’s operating income in the first quarter of 2008 increased slightly to $545 million from $521 million in the same period last year. Kaiser gained 25,000 new members in the first three months of the year. Total membership is now nearly 8.7 million.
Interestingly, the actuaries Kaiser and other healtcare providers and insurers use to set aside a proper amount each year to compensate those injured through medical malpractice can forecast the risk of medical malpractice much better than anyone can forecast the fate of the stock market. That means that a real, uncontrolled and potentially devastating risk facing healthcare insurers and providers is severe investment loss--not medical malpractice lawsuits.
The bottom line here is that injured patients have every right to pursue medical malpractice claims against Kaiser and other healthcare practitioners whose care was negligent.
