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Kaiser Permanente is bringing its unique brand of medical care to Fredericksburg Date published: 1/3/2009
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
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 1/3/2009
My husband and I have been Kaiser members for 31 years. We remember when they opened on the 3rd floor in Springfield and wrote everything out by hand.! We moved to F'burg 23 years ago and we are so excited they are finally here! WELCOME KAISER!
I have been a happy Kaiser patient for years and am glad I won't have to trek up to Woodbridge any longer. Treatment is very thorough and preventative care/education is excellent. It is nice not to have to deal with insurance companies, deductibles, billing departments etc. My plan has a very low co-pay for visits and prescriptions ($10) and the blood test that cost me over $300 on the local economy is free.
I'm glad to see Kaiser is here. There is something fundamentally wrong with the idea of health care as a for-profit industry.
If youre chronically ill. I was paying $90 a week for Kaiser back in 2001 for just my daughter and I, but neither of us was ever sick enough to get our money's worth of services. They also have a history of filling prescriptions with the wrong medicines.
Kaiser is a good insurance provider and I'm glad to see them coming the the Fredericksburg area. These lcal doctors are so expensive, they along with other insurance providers need some good competition. However, I hope Kaiser realizes that Mary Washington Hospital isn't the only hospital in the area. I wouldn't want to be a patient at Mary Washington Hospital. As the program expands I hope they extend their services to the new Spotsylvania and Stafford hospitals.
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