Three Kaiser services to transition out of Good Samaritan by early July

By Liz Withers, MD, MBA, Good Samaritan Hospital Chief Medical Officer

As expected, Kaiser Permanente will transition three services out of Good Samaritan in the next week. Please review the below information to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible for you and your patients.

Psychiatry
New patients: Starting Monday, June 30, at 5 p.m., KP Psychiatry no longer will cover new consults for KP patients. All new consults, regardless of payer, will be served by an on-call locums psychiatrist.

Existing patients: KP patients already consulted on by KP Psychiatry prior to this time will continue to be followed by KP Psychiatry until discharge.

Neurology
New patients: Starting on Monday, June 30, at 5.p.m., Blue Sky Neurology will be the only on-call service for neurology, including for KP patients.

Existing patients: KP Neurology will sign out any existing consults to Blue Sky Neurology at this time.

Oncology
New patients: Starting Tuesday, July 1, at 7 a.m., (practice) will accept all new consults, including KP patients.

Existing patients: KP will continue to follow any existing consults until Monday, July 7. The plan for managing existing consults after this date is in development.

My sincere gratitude to the partners, leaders and team members who have developed a thoughtful transition for our patients and who join me in supporting you during this next phase.

As KP proceeds with its planned departures, we look forward to building new relationships and strengthening our alignment with current partners. Change always creates opportunity, and this major market shift has revealed much of it – both for Good Samaritan and for those who've always wanted to work with us.

We are rising to meet this moment, to reimagine how we can continue to deliver patient-centered, best-practice care with new colleagues and different processes. We'll share details as they're finalized.

Until then and always, thank you for your loyalty to Good Samaritan, for your faith in our ability to effectively manage this shift and grow from it, and, most importantly, for your commitment to our patients and this community.