Pursuant to Standard 8(b)(1) of the Ethics Standards for Neutral Arbitrators in Contractual Arbitration (Ethics Standards), the OIA makes the following disclosures:

A.  The Office of the Independent Administrator (OIA) does not have a financial interest in any party.

B.  No party, lawyer in the arbitration, or law firm with which a lawyer in the arbitration is currently associated is a member of or has a financial interest in the OIA. 

C.  No party, lawyer in the arbitration, or law firm with which a lawyer in the arbitration is currently associated has given a gift, bequest, or favor to the OIA.

D.  Marcella Bell has a contract with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Arbitration Oversight Board to independently administer the mandatory arbitration process between Kaiser Permanente and its members.

The Arbitration Oversight Board (AOB) is an unincorporated association, funded by a trust that was established by Kaiser.  The AOB consists of thirteen individuals, and is chaired by Richard Spinello, retired Executive Director of Financial Risk and Insurance, Children's Hospital of Orange County, and vice-chaired by Donna Yee, MSW, Ph.D., retired Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Community Center of Sacramento Valley. According to its bylaws, no more than four members may be Kaiser-affiliated. The AOB was created to ensure that the OIA would be independent from Kaiser.

E.  See D.

Pursuant to Standard 8(c) of the Ethics Standards, the OIA makes the following disclosures:

1.  The OIA has no financial relationship with any person on its panel of neutral arbitrators. 

2.  Arbitrators are recruited and added to the OIA's panel of neutral arbitrators continuously.  Arbitrators who wish to be added to the panel complete and submit an application.  The OIA, acting alone, reviews the applications and selects arbitrators based upon the qualifications which are posted on the OIA website under Forms for Neutral Arbitrators.  Any individual who applies will either be admitted to the panel or cited to the specific qualification which the person failed to meet and given an opportunity to show that he or she actually meets the qualification.  The OIA provides arbitrators in its panel with information about statutory and regulatory requirements regarding consumer arbitration including the Ethics Standards.

3.  Neutral arbitrators are selected for a specific case in the following manner. The OIA sends both parties a List of Possible Arbitrators (LPA).  The LPA contains 12 randomly computer-generated names of neutral arbitrators from the appropriate geographic panel - - Northern California, Southern California, and San Diego.  Along with the LPA, the OIA provides the parties with password-protected access to information about the neutrals named on the LPA.  The information includes each neutral arbitrator's application and fee schedule, and subsequent updates to the application, if any.  The information also includes copies of any evaluations that have been submitted about the arbitrator by previous parties, and any redacted awards or decisions the neutral arbitrator has written within the last five years.

The OIA uses the LPA that the parties return to determine which neutral arbitrator the parties have selected.  Each side may strike up to four names and rank the remaining names in order of preference.

The parties may also jointly select anyone they want to serve as neutral arbitrator provided the arbitrator agrees to follow the OIA Rules and comply with the Ethics Standards.

4.  If the OIA receives a party’s timely notice of disqualification following the statutory disclosure by a neutral arbitrator, or following the failure of a neutral arbitrator to send such a disclosure, the neutral arbitrator is disqualified and another neutral arbitrator is selected pursuant to the OIA Rules.

The OIA complies with court orders addressing either appointment or disqualification of neutral arbitrators.

10/11/22