A while back I came across an article that caught my attention and thought I would share it with you. The article “What health systems can learn from Kaiser Permanente: An interview with Hal Wolf” can be found here (you will need to register to read this article – but it is free, quick and easy).
Kaiser Permanente (KP) is the largest non-profit health provider in the United States, and is renowned for its tight integration of clinical services. Hal Wolf is the senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Permanente Federation, the national umbrella organization for the Permanente Medical Groups (the physician component of KP).
For me, this fascinating article shows that by doing few key things right can have a powerful, positive effect across any health care system. The key tenets of the KP approach are:
ü Health systems need to establish an effective method for creating and implementing care pathways;
ü Integrating care throughout the various pathways can improve the quality of care, make care delivery more convenient, increase communication, find efficiencies and reduce costs, improve or maintain quality, and foster innovation; and
ü Electronic Health Records (EHR) are central in delivering the best possible care.
Now, I understand that every health system policy wonk in Ontario and Canada has said similar things time and time again. What sets KP apart is that they identified areas for improvement, acted, and reaped system-wide improvements. In my opinion, KP’s commitment to continuous quality improvement through aggressive implementation is one we should emulate here in Ontario.
I hope that you enjoy the article.