UC San Francisco takes over last part of Kaiser's kidney transplant programBy Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Times Staff WritersFebruary 15, 2007 UC San Francisco has taken over a post-transplant clinic for kidney patients at Kaiser Permanente's San Francisco hospital, bringing to an end Kaiser's brief — and scandal-plagued — foray into the organ transplant business.The takeover means that UC doctors now will care for Kaiser's kidney transplant patients before, during and after their surgeries. Kaiser had been caring for about 1,500 patients who had already received transplants."This is the last piece of the puzzle," said Dr. Stephen Tomlanovich, medical director of UC San Francisco's renal transplant program. "It's been a long journey."The giant HMO announced in May that it was closing its fledgling kidney transplant program after The Times reported that hundreds of patients had been endangered during its start-up in late 2004. Kaiser had forced patients to leave established programs at two outside hospitals and join its own waiting list. In the process, Kaiser lost track of many patients and delayed critical surgeries.Since May, nearly 2,000 Kaiser patients awaiting transplants have been transferred to kidney programs at UC hospitals in San Francisco and Davis. Fewer than 40 remain to be shifted.Tomlanovich's team will take over from Kaiser's transplant medical director, Dr. Sharon Inokuchi. Inokuchi, who has been faulted by federal regulators for her role in Kaiser's troubles, will become a non-transplant nephrologist with Kaiser's affiliated Permanente medical group once the last patient is transferred and the program officially closes. Dr. Phil Madvig, associate executive director of the Permanente group, said the closure of the transplant program and the subsequent transfer of patients are a "very significant undertaking" that the HMO is pleased to have nearly completed."That is a good feeling … that we have accomplished this and put this behind us," Madvig said.In the nine months since the program announced its closure and began transferring patients, the pace of transplants has picked up considerably. Nearly 120 Kaiser patients have received new kidneys, more than in the prior 20 months. Some patients received transplants within weeks of transferring.But the fallout from Kaiser's missteps continues.Last month, the president of Kaiser's Northern California region, Mary Ann Thode, said she would retire by early 2008. She was the HMO's public face after the scandal broke and alternately apologized and defended the program's quality.In addition, Kaiser settled a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former kidney transplant administrator David Merlin, who was fired in early 2006 after eight weeks on the job. Merlin contended that Kaiser retaliated against him for raising concerns about the way the kidney program was operating.In June, the administrator of Kaiser's San Francisco hospital, Mike Alexander, stepped down. Two months later, Kaiser agreed to pay a $2-million fine to state HMO regulators and make a $3-million donation for organ donor outreach. And in December, the national regulatory group overseeing transplantation stripped Kaiser of its good standing despite pleas from the HMO's representatives not to do so.The state Department of Managed Health Care continues to investigate Kaiser for the way it handled patient complaints, including those from kidney patients who said they were ignored.The results of that inquiry are expected next month.*--------------------------------------------------------------------------------tracy.weber@latimes.comcharles.ornstein@latimes.com
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