Paradise Valley Hospital Suing Kaiser Over Unpaid ER Bills

National City’s Paradise Valley Hospital said Feb. 11 that it has filed a lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente for failing to pay emergency room bills for its HMO members.

Seven other hospitals, all owned by Victorville-based Prime Healthcare Services Inc., also filed suit in four of the state’s counties and are seeking $25 million, according to Prime Healthcare’s news release.

The hospital management company claimed that Kaiser made excessive demands for medical records, stated that care may not have been medically necessary, and demanded patients transferred back to Kaiser facilities without regard to safety.

Spokesman Jim Anderson said that Kaiser’s coordination of care policy ensures that patients who are stable be moved to Kaiser hospitals.

He also called it an unusual and exceptional situation. In the past year, Kaiser awarded $1.2 billion in ER and related claims for HMO and PPO care across the state, according to Anderson.

“Most of the time, the system works,” he said.

Prime Healthcare operates nine acute-care hospitals in Southern California. Paradise Valley Hospital is a 301-bed facility serving the South Bay.

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Child Obesity Activist Named A Top Communicator:

Cheryl Moder was awarded a health care communicator award for her advocacy work with a public-private partnership fighting childhood obesity.

Moder is director of the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative, a partner of the Coalition on Children