San Diego County health officials have severed ties with a local vaccine provider following allegations that it had distributed COVID-19 shots to ineligible patients.
A medical group, a San Francisco-based medical practice, operates offices across the country, including here in San Diego County, and county officials said it was briefly allowed to distribute vaccines locally. But the county said it stopped once it discovered the group was acting as “a payment facility for members.”
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“We learned [One Medical] it functioned as a payment center for members and immediately informed them to the state, ”said a spokesman for the San Diego County Department of Health and Human Services.
The chief medical officer of one of the doctors has vehemently denied any wrongdoing when it comes to the provider’s vaccination efforts.
“Any statement that we generally and knowingly ignore eligibility guidelines is in direct contradiction to our actual approach to vaccine administration,” read in part a statement from medical director Andrew Diamond, MD. “Recent media reports on One Medical perpetuate misconceptions about dangerous public concepts about our protocols against the COVID-19 vaccine.”
An NPR investigation released Wednesday found internal communications from One Medical staff members raising questions about the national provider not monitoring eligibility requirements for members seeking COVID-19 traits through the provider’s website. NPR found that “patients who were disqualified from receiving the vaccine, however, were allowed to jump the line ahead of other high-risk patients.” (NBC 7 Investigates has not independently reviewed internal communications reported by NPR).
NBC Bay Area reports that the San Francisco Department of Public Health, along with a list of other state and local health departments, have stopped allocating vaccines to health practice after receiving individual complaints that the provider vaccinated patients not eligible.
San Diego County officials told NBC 7 that they had allowed One Medical to distribute vaccines here “early” in their vaccination efforts.
Officials said One Medical ordered 2,000 vaccines, but the county only gave them 900 doses. The county stressed that advanced officials will no longer assign vaccines to the health care provider.
San Diego County officials said they had reported One Medical to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) for further investigation.
One Medical’s office in downtown San Diego.
A doctor would not say how many of the 900 assigned doses were distributed locally.
The medical director of the medical services provider has defended his actions and told reporters that they did not “consciously vaccinate ineligible patients.”
“Patients do not have to pay to get vaccinated at One Medical. As we did with the COVID-19 tests, we have opened up access to the One Medical technology platform for patients, free of membership fees, to provide equitable access to vaccine appointments, ”a statement said. “We will routinely routine for people who do not meet the eligibility criteria.”
One Medical went on to say that, according to its data, 96% of people who were vaccinated by One Medical in the United States have eligibility documentation for their health care provider, and the remaining 4% “were generally vaccinated according to zero waste protocols “.
The spokesman added that One Medical’s online platform requires patients to confirm their eligibility for the vaccine, with “numerous checkpoints established – online at the time of booking the appointment, prior to the appointment through a process intensive “hourly scanning” and checking the person at the point of care, as needed, to mitigate the abuse of our vaccine reservation system ”.
(To read One Medical’s full statement on NBC 7 Investigates, click here.)
According to the One Medical website, the health care provider “is not a normal medical office,” offering patients a primary care subscription for $ 199 a year. The website says subscribers receive 24-hour support through a la carte services. Patients who do not want to pay the membership fee can also sign up for the free services offered by the provider.
But when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines, the provider said it is not a requirement to be a member.
“Most people vaccinated by One Medical in the United States are not their own members who pay annual dues, but have been referred to health departments, including health care workers, nursing home patients, educators, and the homeless.” said Diamond.
When users try to sign up for vaccination appointments in San Diego, the One Medical website states that the appointments are “Currently unavailable … We are working with local health officials to get additional vaccines as soon as possible.”
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Internal communications posted by NPR were found on the walls of One Medical, employees raised alarms for months to impose eligibility requirements for vaccine-seeking patients.
NPR reported that these communications include a One Medical staff member who wrote, “I have questions about our approach of not requiring it. [patients] to provide evidence of vaccine eligibility … A quick Google search indicates that this is not consistent with the requirements of many states. I’m concerned about announcing an overly permissive approach. “
One Medical has responded to various elements of NPR’s reports and reported at the outset that it has since “fired several members of its clinical staff due to negligence of eligibility requirements”.
Diamond told NBC 7 despite the reports, the provider remains committed to the community it serves.
“While this type of information is discouraging for members of our team who have worked tirelessly nights and weekends facing the complexities and challenges of vaccine deployment, we remain committed to serving our communities and look forward to this. report does not prevent our continue doing this vital task, “a statement said.
But another state discovered problems with One Medical and stopped allocating vaccines to the provider for distribution.
The Washington State Department of Health told NPR that it had received a complaint about One Medical on Feb. 10 and that it “stopped distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to the company.”
Back in California, San Mateo and Alameda counties also confirmed Thursday with NBC Bay Area that they will no longer assign vaccines to the provider. San Mateo County health officials said the move was due to a complaint he had received. Alameda County officials said they stopped assigning vaccines to One Medical “after learning that the practice planned to vaccinate more than its health care workers.”
In Los Angeles County, public health officials confirmed to NBC 7 that they continue to work with One Medical and have so far assigned more than 5,800 doses to the company.
Los Angeles officials said they too had received a complaint about One Medical and in response sent a notice to the health care provider.
“In late January we received a report that vaccinated someone who was not a health worker and that public health tracked them down and made them explain their process,” a Los Angeles County statement said. “Public Health made it clear that they have to validate that the people vaccinating are HCW or people over 65 on site at the time of the appointment or we can’t assign them more doses. We haven’t received any more complaints.”
The California Department of Public Health did not respond to requests for comment on any pending investigations.
A spokesman for the state Medical Board confirmed that One Medical Group and its medical director Andrew Diamond have not faced any disciplinary action according to a review of its licensing history dating back to 2004.
Diamond told NBC 7 that no state or local health department has contacted him with any claims or active investigations.
“None of our healthcare partner departments have informed us that there are current or pending investigations,” Diamond told NBC 7 Friday. “As with other major health care providers, it is common for a health department to be informed of any concerns that may be raised. This is by no means unique or specific to One Medical.”
For more information on vaccination efforts in San Diego County, including how eligible patients can book an appointment, click here for the county website.