Southern California Permanente Medical Group Honored by Integrated Health Association as Top Performers for Seven Consecutive Years

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kaiser Permanente service areas throughout Southern California have been named top performers by the non-profit Integrated Healthcare Association for the seventh consecutive year. The Southern California Permanente Medical Group has been recognized as one of the 2012 “Top Overall Performing Physician Organizations” in California, in the categories of clinical quality, patient experience, and meaningful use of Health IT.

“We are honored to be recognized for the outstanding care that our physicians provide to our members”

The Southern California Permanente Medical Group has 4,471 partner physicians and provides medical care to 3.5 million Kaiser Permanente members in 13 geographic service areas from Kern to San Diego County.

“We are honored to be recognized for the outstanding care that our physicians provide to our members,” said Edward M. Ellison, MD, executive medical director of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. “These ratings further confirm that, with our integrated health care model, chronic disease management programs, and electronic medical record system, we are consistently delivering high quality and innovative health care to our members, improving both their health and their quality of life.”

All Southern California Permanente Medical Group service areas are receiving Integrated Healthcare Association recognition: Antelope Valley, Baldwin Park, Downey, Fontana/Ontario, Kern County, Los Angeles, Orange County (Anaheim and Irvine), Panorama City, Riverside/Moreno Valley, San Diego, South Bay, West Los Angeles, and Woodland Hills/Ventura.

The Southern California Permanente Medical Group in Fontana/Ontario is one of only four organizations in the state this year that received both the Most Improved and Top Performer Awards at the 11th Annual IHA Pay for Performance “P4P” Stakeholders Meeting on September 20, 2012. The “Top Performer” award winners represent the top 25 percent among the 197 physician groups statewide.

This recognition is just one of several top honors that Kaiser Permanente Southern California has received in 2012. For the fourth straight year, Kaiser Permanente is the only health plan in California to earn the highest possible rating – four stars – for overall quality of care in the Health Care Quality Report Card from the California Office of the Patient Advocate.

About the Integrated Healthcare Association

The Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) is a not-for-profit multi-stakeholder leadership group that promotes quality improvement, accountability, and affordability of health care in California. IHA administers regional and statewide programs, serves as an incubator for pilot programs and projects, and actively convenes all healthcare parties for cross sector collaboration on health care topics. For more information on IHA, please visit: www.iha.org.

About Kaiser Permanente Southern California

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 3.5 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.