Kaiser Permanente Colorado is climbing its way to the top among the state’s health-insurance companies, snagging a No. 1 national ranking and along with it, a significant chunk of the competition’s business.
In what some see as a telling statement about the company’s success, physicians’ offices outside the Kaiser network and even one Colorado hospital are switching their employees to the health plan.
Kaiser, known for its efficiency and lower premiums, is reaping the benefits of an economic downturn that caused employers to seek cost savings wherever they could find them.
Kaiser Colorado tripled its customers covered in the small-business market from 2008 to 2009 and is expecting another substantial jump when the 2010 numbers are tallied. Among the new customers are seven doctors’ and dentists’ offices.
The health plan also has had notable success luring big companies away from Colorado’s other insurance carriers. New clients for 2010 include National Jewish Health in Denver, which has about 1,800 employees, and the Pueblo City School District.
Kaiser nabbed 17 new large businesses last year and 19 this year.
The positive news in sales comes at the same time as a major coup in one of the industry’s most sought-after honors. Kaiser Permanente Colorado’s Medicare plan was ranked No. 1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and the National Committee for Quality Assurance this month — a first for a Colorado health plan. Kaiser Colorado ranked 13th nationally for its non-Medicare plans.
The next-closest Colorado Medicare plans were PacifiCare at 54th and Rocky Mountain Health Plans at 98th. In non-Medicare plans, the next closest Colorado competitor was Cigna at No. 72.
The rankings are based on customer surveys as well as health-plan data on chronic-disease management and prevention.
Kaiser’s Medicare plan landed on top nationally due in part to its close monitoring of older patients with diabetes, emphysema and heart disease. The company uses electronic medical records to determine which diabetics are due for a yearly eye exam and which patients with heart disease failed to fill their prescription for blood-pressure medication, for example.
The system keeps patients healthier, but also helps the company maintain costs, said Dr. Michael Chase, associate medical director of quality.
Kaiser’s small-business rates typically are 20 percent to 30 percent lower than its main competitors. In the large-group market, Kaiser’s rates are about 10 percent lower.
Signing physicians’ offices onto the Kaiser plan — which means a doctor’s own staff would have to seek out a Kaiser clinic — shows Kaiser has a reputation of respect among fellow health care professionals, said Leo Tokar, Kaiser’s vice president of marketing, sales and business development.
Among the physicians’ offices that recently signed on with Kaiser is Yang Plastic Surgery in Lone Tree, which is insuring three employees plus four family members for $1,000 per month, the office manager said.
National Jewish is switching all of its employees to Kaiser in January to keep the cost of health benefits from increasing. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield said the hospital’s rates would go up 27 percent to keep the same benefits in 2010, and other competitors offered similar bids — except for Kaiser, said hospital spokesman William Allstetter.
Allstetter, who gets his allergy shots at National Jewish, soon will have to switch to a Kaiser physician. “I won’t be able to go downstairs; I’ll have to leave the building,” he said.
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com
