California really makes it hard to have everything on one bill because no hospital can hire a doctor. But businesses and some consumers do want things to be un

California really makes it hard to have everything on one bill because no hospital can hire a doctor. But businesses and some consumers do want things to be under one roof - no surprises on in vs out of network, they don't like separate bills from each doctor that sees them, easy referrals, etc. Kaiser is sort of a funny workaround. The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, the Kaiser Foundation of Hospitals and The Permanente Medical Group = Kaiser Permanente The win for the patient is everything in-network and under one roof. If you are in a Kaiser facility EVERYONE is basically in network (with the exception of some state mandated providers that have to go through their own state flows - yes, that's why sometimes you need to repeat info on forms even at Kaiser) The win for doctors is you really don't have denied claims or the billing pain you might in private practice. CMA I think has really fought these setups before, but now oddly (in part because of medical malpractice and EHR overheads etc) working for Kaiser isn't considered a dump job anymore. Bad news, obamacare put demand through the roof at Kaiser (even though they are not the cheapest plan) so they are shortstaffed I think. If you do or know anything about medical billing - medical providers probably hate it as much as you do. A patient with primary coverage through Kaiser and secondary through Medi-cal - just to bill Medi-cal for $40 - you could spend hours on that as you hoop jump.