Kaiser

On Wednesday, February 25, 2004WILLIAM beloved husband of Susan E. Kaiser; devoted father of W. Steven Kaiser, Tim Cantwell and Brandi Conawey; loving son of William and Evalyn Kaiser; brother of Carroll M. and Brian S. and the late Robert Kaiser. Friends may call on Thursday and Friday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Stallings Funeral Home, P.A., 3111 Mountain Road, Pasadena where funeral services will be held on Saturday 10 a.m. Interment Glen Haven Cemetery. Memorial contributions to the American Diabetes Assoc.

Michael and Sherrie Kaiser, of Churchville, announce the engagement of their daughter, Heather Lynn Kaiser, to Matthew Brandon Schnell, son of Michele Schnell, of Joppa. The bride-to-be is a 2004 graduate of C. Milton Wright High School and works at Point Breeze Credit Union in Bel Air. The prospective groom is a 2004 graduate of Joppatowne High School and works at Alban Tractor in Essex. An October wedding is planned.

On November 16, 2003 IRENE ANN KAISER; beloved wife of the late Joseph E. Kaiser; devoted mother of Thomas A. Kaiser; loving grandmother of Thomas A. Kaiser and Kaitlyn Kaiser; sister of Frank and Leo Pucklis. Friends may call at THE JOHNSON FUNERAL HOME, P.A., 8521 Loch Raven Blvd. (Beltway exit 29B) on Tuesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 PM. Family and friends are invited to attend a Funeral Mass on Wednesday, in The Church of the Immaculate Heart Of Mary at 9:30 AM. Interment Holy Rosary Cemetery.

Kaiser Permanente will open a new medical facility in Lansdowne next year as part of a long-term strategy to double the number of patients it serves in the Mid-Atlantic region in the next decade. The health care provider said Wednesday that the 130,000-square-foot building will take a one-stop-shopping, approach, with many specialty services offered under one roof, much like California-based Kaiser's facilities on the West Coast. Kaiser also will build three other new facilities by 2013 in Montgomery County, Fairfax County, Va., and Washington.

On March 24, 2004 THOMAS E. KAISER JR., beloved son of Susan Parsons Bradford and Thomas E. Sr. and his companion Barbara Lytle; brother of Judith Ruth, Andrew Kaiser, Nellie Bradford and the late Tracey Ann Kaiser; beloved nephew of John and Jacqueline Kaiser. A Memorial Service will be held at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home Inc., 1050 York Rd (beltway exit 26A) on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Inurnment Woodlawn Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Monday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.

Kaiser Permanente intends to buy Humana Group Health, a Washington, D.C.-based HMO, both parties announced yesterday.Humana bought Group Health, one of the country's oldest HMOs, just 2 1/2 years ago. The plan lost $13 million last year.Humana Group Health has 117,000 members in the Washington area; Kaiser has 397,000 in the Baltimore and Washington areas.The deal would strengthen Kaiser in the Washington market and would open Humana's 1,850-physician network to patients at Kaiser's centers, including five in the Baltimore area.

Marine Staff Sgt. Miles N. Kaiser, who last week received a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered in El Salvador 11 years ago, died Monday of complications from injuries he suffered while in the service. He was 43.Gen. Alfred M. Gray, a former commandant of the Marine Corps, bestowed the medal Thursday on Sergeant Kaiser at Stella Maris Hospice at Mercy Medical Center, where he was dying of AIDS. Sergeant Kaiser was injured in a land mine explosion in the summer of 1985 while on a mission in El Salvador.

Constance Carol Kaiser, who devoted her life to preserving the memory of her late husband, a Baltimore police officer who died 41 years ago, died Wednesday from a stroke at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. She was 87. Known as Minnie, Constance Carol Fertitta was born to Italian immigrant parents and grew up in the 300 block of N. Paca St. She had wanted to study engineering at then all-male Polytechnic Institute, but attended Western High School and graduated with honors in 1933. About 1940, she met and then married Carroll Becker "Fritz" Kaiser, a Baltimore police officer and musician.

When Kate Kaiser made Notre Dame Prep's varsity lacrosse team as a sophomore, coach Mary Bartel considered her "wonderfully wild."Kaiser brought a natural aggressiveness to her game that Bartel did not want to stifle. But she also brought a wild stick that had to be tamed before she could start in the Pirates' defensive midfield."I used to just swing," said Kaiser, "but I had to learn when you can check and when you can't. It's just a matter of knowing when to be aggressive."The lesson wasn't easy for Kaiser, but it didn't take long to learn.

Kaiser Permanente again posted the top marks on the state's annual HMO report card, released yesterday. Kaiser scored above average on 10 of the 24 measures, based on medical records (whether patients got needed immunizations, tests or medications) and on patient satisfaction surveys. M.D. IPA posted six above-average scores; BlueChoice and Coventry, five each; Cigna, four; and Aetna and Optimum Choice, three each. This is the 10th year the Maryland Health Care Commission has compiled the consumer guide.

Health-care firm Kaiser Permanente and the federal government both have major plans to expand in the Baltimore metro area, which could mean hundreds of new jobs as the region tries to dig itself out of a deep recession. Kaiser signed a lease for a 40,000-square-foot building in Howard County, the landlord said Tuesday. Kaiser, which intends to widen its footprint in Maryland, said it hasn't yet "finalized" how it will use the space. But St. John Properties, its landlord, said the plan is for a 300-job call center in the Maple Lawn space.

General Motors made my first car. It was a 1955 two-tone Chevrolet with stick shift and black tires. It had an AM radio and air conditioning, if I hand-cranked the window down in summer. It came with bench seats, the better to have your date close to you. I bought it used (this was before cars were "pre-owned") in 1961. My dad co-signed the $750 note, which I paid. Those were the days when you could fill up for pocket change. Somewhere I have old Esso receipts that show a full tank of regular gas cost me $3. Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac and Cadillac were the mainstays of GM, as Fairlane, Crestline Skyliner, Falcon and later Galaxie were for Ford, some of which I would own as an adult.

Kaiser Permanente and Mid Atlantic Medical Services Inc. ranked highest in an annual report of managed-care insurers published yesterday by the Maryland Health Care Commission. The report acts as a guide for consumers hoping to make sense of the region's vast array of insurers. For 12 years, the commission has produced the "report card," which offers rankings on such matters as breast cancer screening, diabetes care and the quality and efficiency of behavioral health care. The scores are determined from a combination of questionnaires filled out by the companies and from health plan records.

Kaiser Permanente posted the most top scores in the state's annual HMO "report card" published yesterday - as it has done for most of the past decade - but two others, Coventry and UnitedHealthcare's M.D. IPA, were close behind. Officials at the Maryland Health Care Commission, which prepares the annual consumer guide, said HMOs had been improving their performance since the state began making the data public, leading to a narrowing of differences. "The state average has gone up, and the plans move in tandem," said Joyce Burton, the commission's chief of health plan quality and performance.

Like the thousands of Howard County residents who are without health insurance, Carol Ray cannot afford preventive health care or visits to the dentist. A mother of two teenage boys, Ray, 45, said her $25,000-a-year secretarial job at a small extermination company can cover her apartment's rent and utilities and other necessities, but not private health insurance. "I'm not looking for handouts. I'm just looking for something I can afford," Ray said about finding insurance. The Ellicott City resident said she believes she has found affordable coverage as part of the Howard County government's initiative to provide health insurance for every low-wage resident in the county.

In what he called "one of the building blocks" of a proposed health care plan for uninsured residents in Howard County, Dr. Peter L. Beilenson announced yesterday the county's participation in a program to provide up to two years of low-cost coverage for 175 county residents. Kaiser Permanente will make available the health maintenance organization coverage to uninsured participants as part of the company's national "Bridge Plan," which is designed to help people left without insurance because of job loss, divorce "or some other life-changing event," said Derek A. Barnett, director of Kaiser Permanente's Community Benefit Division.

Kaiser Permanente again posted the top marks as the state issued its annual HMO report card yesterday. BlueChoice, the HMO run by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, showed the most improvement. Last year, BlueChoice ranked above average on only one of the 30-plus measures used by the state and below average on 13; this year it was above average on eight and below on five. Only Kaiser had better scores. It ranked above average on 15 of the 33 measures, and was designated a "star performer" on 10 of those, meaning it had been above the state average for three years in a row. This is the ninth year the Maryland Health Care Commission has published the report card, compiled both from medical records (how many women, for example, enrolled in each HMO got mammograms?

NEW YORK -- Mark P. Kaiser, former marketing chief of Royal Ahold NV's U.S. unit, was falsely accused of helping lead a fraud at the company by a colleague trying to win leniency from prosecutors, his lawyer told jurors yesterday at the start of Kaiser's trial. Kaiser is the last of more than 15 people to face criminal charges stemming from what the government says was an $800 million fraud at Columbia, Md.-based U.S. Foodservice. In his opening statement, defense lawyer Richard Morvillo said his client was falsely implicated by former purchasing chief Timothy Lee, who later pleaded guilty.

I FEEL LIKE DR. PHIL UP HERE," MICHAEL Kaiser says, looking out at rows of arts administrators gathered at a Capitol Hill hotel to soak up the wisdom of the "Turnaround King."