After an initial refusal by Kaiser Permanente, state officials investigating the health plan's call centers have obtained the documents they need, according to the state Department of Managed Health Care.
The department is looking into whether unlicensed telephone crews are making decisions about when a Kaiser member can get medical care, or are in any way violating a 2003 law that regulates telephone medical services.
In addition, in response to Bee articles about the investigation, the Medical Board of California has begun studying whether Kaiser's call procedures cross the line into practicing medicine without a license, said medical board spokeswoman Candis Cohen.
Kaiser runs three Northern California call centers that handle about 14 million calls annually, ranging from giving directions or office hours to setting up appointments.
Front-line telephone crews at the call centers have no medical licenses but are taught by Kaiser to follow a series of scripts written by doctors, asking yes or no questions. Answers to those questions can affect how quickly someone is allowed to speak with a nurse or how quickly the caller schedules an appointment.
The Department of Managed Health Care began investigating in response to a nurse's complaint that the scripts have sometimes led to misdiagnoses and delayed care.