I sent the following complaint to Kaiser Member Services:

On Thursday, November 30, 2011, at 5:26 pm, I received an automated phone call purportedly from Kaiser, asking for my medical record number.

I hung up and called the number back. It does seem to be a Kaiser number. The "service representative" I spoke with asked me again for my medical record number, which I declined to give. When I asked her for an explanation of the automated call, she said that these calls are going out "randomly" to remind Kaiser members to get certain tests, such as mammograms.

Seriously?

Who decided that it would be a good idea to ask Kaiser members -- for any reason at all -- to state their medical record numbers in response to a random, unsolicited robocall?

Even though this practice apparently is not a phishing scheme, the very fact of its legitimacy has the effect of encouraging the recipients of these calls to lower their guard and be less than vigilant in safeguarding confidential information.

I find this practice reckless, too, since it undermines my confidence in the security of the information I've shared with Kaiser in the course of obtaining and maintaining medical coverage.

I want Kaiser to stop the robocalls. Until that happens, I will be bringing this practice to the attention of as many other Kaiser members as I can reach, personally and through print and online media, and encouraging them not to cooperate with it in any way.

I got this call. I was a little suspicious, but I figured calling and haging up if I didn't like what they were asking is fine. Plus, I have received messages from my doctor in this fashion before, plus, appt reminders. I called from the phone they called and they said my name and and said I didn't need my seven didgit number. It was all automated, never talked to a person. Then they asked if anyone covered under my insurance at Kaiser was covered by any other insurance company such as blue shield or blue cross. I stated my answer and they said that is all, thank you. They never asked any other identifying questions. did not ask CC info, date of birth, SSN, medical record number, nothing, so I figure it is harmless. The call comes from a different number telling you to call 877-434-5379

I got the same call but the message stated they were from  Pacific Care. Same number and same message - from 2 completely different companies. That's enough to convince me this is not what it is represented to be. I wouldn't even call them back because then that gives them the right to call you continually. It's the way telemarketers get around the current laws - that is those that even bother to observe the laws.

It's a scam, pure and simple.

Got same thing here, but "Pacific Care", not Kaiser.

877-204-1087

"we're looking for _____, are you he?"

yes --> "we need some info" --> no --> "call this number"

i'll just do it on their website.

These Kaiser Permanente calls are from a company called Silverlink Communications, in Burlington, Massachusetts.

You would be horrified to know that inside this company, 50% of the people working there are contractors. About 30% aren't Americans. Foreign workers, H1B-visa types, can do database searches of everyone's medical records and find out if you have cancer or a serious medical condition.

Their health care robocall technology is terrible and their "software" doesn't work very well, as you no doubt have noticed. Silverlink Communication's foreign contractor workforce, people who don't speak English as a primary language, are writing the scripts for these annoying health care robocalls, as you no doubt have discovered to your chagrin.

They did an internal study and found that 57% of all call recipients (people like you) hang up the phone immediately. What a product. Kaiser Permanente is out of their minds for using this 'communications' technique.

But hey - Kaiser Permanente saved a few bucks, right? You don't really believe that they were going to safeguard your medical records, do you?

The CEO's name is Stan Nowak, and his email address is stan.nowak@silverlink.com    

Why don't you let him know how you feel about the quality of his company's product?

more or less the same as above. I called back, being careful to avoid giving any significant personal info. Basically I simply answered "no" to one question.

I think it is legit based on what I read here and on the nature of the call. However, Kaiser should seriously reconsider this process for several reasons. First, it is too close to potential phone phishing scams in terms of the way it works - this not only makes in less likely that people will respond but it also encourages those who do and are not careful to be less cautious about actual scams. (If it is OK to respond to this call from Kaiser, where to draw the line?) In addition, their automated phone system and its voice recognition system are poorly constructed and very annoying. I had to wait quite some time to simply answer "no" to a simple question - while the automated voice droned on about stuff that wasn't relevant to me.

I'm guessing that their response rate on this will be very low.

I got the same recorded message.  I called Kaiser Member Services and they told me that the number is for a company called Silverlink which is conducting surveys for Kaiser.  Apparently it is the same company that mails those annoying "random" surveys that we receive after every Dr. visit.  It is legit.  It is Kaiser approved.  It is annoying.

I got a similar automated message left on my machine at home (the caller id was some 800 number).  They left the same 877 callback number, and a 7-digit "priority code" for calling back.  They claimed to be Kaiser, and said there was key info missing in my records.  They wanted me to insure I got this resolved before July 30th, but didn't mention why.  I was suspicious for the same reasons (no postal mail or online notification), and because I can't imagine what key info would suddenly be missing.

I phoned the official Kaiser Member Services number, and the rep did some research and came back saying that Kaiser is running numerous campaigns for things like working with members on pharmacy benefits, those that may have dual coverage, record updating, etc.  She reviewed my file and said it wasn't obvious what was missing, but to call the number back from the number I got the message at.  She said if you do this, you don't need to enter the priority code.  Then, if I'm not comfortable with whatever transpires, I can choose to hang up, then call Kaiser back with details of what was being asked of me (and then they may be able to verify/confirm the request).  She also said that if Kaiser is unable to reach me after three tries, they will contact me via postal mail (so that's another alternative way to deal with this).

Got the same call -- 1-877-434-5379, with a special "PIN" number, because they were trying to reach their "CalPERS" members.  When I called them, they wanted to know if I had non-CalPERS Health coverage.  I answered "no" and they ended the call.  The entire thing was automated.

same details as above.

said it wanted to talk to Kaiser's "Calpers" members.

I hung up without giving any info.

Got a call on my answering machine and it gave a series of numbers(the 8774345379, and then 7 numbers, which the have a portion of my kaiser number backwards).  when I called the number, it recognized me, after i input the last 4 numbers, but made no indication who they were or why they were calling.  strange, and wierd.

I've gotten 2 messages in the past few days asking me to call "Kaiser Permanente" back at 877-434-5379 and enter a 7-digit extension so I can update my record...I think they mentioned something about medical coverage.  I'm very suspicious about this call too, as I also have an e-mail address they could contact me at.

I did call Member Services at 800-464-4000 to ask about this, and they did confirm that they do have an automated call system and that 877-434-5379 is a Kaiser Permanente number, but I still feel uncomfortable about it.  I told the person there that the whole thing felt like someone was phishing for information.  He was unable to tell me what kind of information Kaiser might be asking for.

Call claimed to be from Kaiser Permanente asking for a call-back to "update your record" and also gave me a 7-digit extension to call which I won't note here as it may be a # used to identify me uniquely.  I figured it was bs and if Kaiser wants to update records they would have postal-mailed me a letter or sent an e-mail as I use their on-line services.

I called 877-434-5379 back from a work phone (so that the caller ID and ANI would not match up with me) and the greeting is "Welcome to Kaiser Permanente. Please enter your 7-digit extension number." I still think it's a phish unless Kaiser is willing to post on their web site or a letter that they own the number.