Keck Hospital sues Kaiser Permanente


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Keck Hospital of USC has sued the California-based healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente for not paying a $544,000 hospital bill accrued by one of its patients for open-heart surgery, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The lawsuit, which was filed on May 15 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, states that Kaiser Permanente did not notify Keck prior to the surgery that the patient had used up a $75,000 limit on their insurance benefits.

USC states in the lawsuit that the patient was treated in October 2013 and in December of that same year, Kaiser declined to pay for the Keck Hospital treatment.

Keck and Kaiser Permanente have been in an agreement since 1994 for USC to treat certain Kaiser patients for which Kaiser would pay for, the lawsuit states.

In a statement, Kaiser Permanente maintains that Keck was previously aware of the coverage cap.

“We are confident that Keck’s allegation that it was not informed about coverage limits is not accurate,” the statement said.