Learnings from the Kaiser Permanente Model

The programme will be of interest to senior managers and clinical leaders who have visited Kaiser Permanente in the past and who are now seeking refreshment and update, as well as those who wish to visit for the first time.

From previous experience, there is particular benefit if two or three colleagues from the same organisation or health system take part, ideally comprising commissioners and providers. This helps to facilitate application of the learning on return.

For many years senior managers and clinicians in the NHS have visited Kaiser Permanente to learn about its work in delivering excellent outcomes for its members.

Key features of Kaiser Permanente are:

• well-developed medical leadership in which physicians are involved in managing budgets and services and working towards higher standards of performance
• a fully functioning information technology system, including an electronic medical record, that is contributing to improvements in care and changing patterns of service use
• the extensive use of information on a real-time basis to compare the performance of physicians and medical offices, and to promote changes in working practices eg, in improving outcomes and responding to members
• the integration of funding and provision through the relationship of mutual exclusivity that exists between the health plan, the medical group and hospitals that is at the heart of how Kaiser works
• an emphasis on care close to home including higher priority for prevention and the management of people with chronic diseases, resulting in much lower use of acute hospitals than is the case in the NHS.

The programme will take the form of a series of master class sessions organised around the following four themes.

Using hospital inpatient services efficiently

What systems and processes are used to keep the use of hospital beds to an appropriate minimum and to release resources for other purposes?

What lessons are there in admission avoidance, improving flow in hospital, and ensuring effective discharge?

What role is there for hospitalists (physicians whose primary focus is hospital medicine) and discharge planners, and what is the contribution of care pathways and step-down services such as skilled nursing facilities?

Focusing on prevention

What programmes have been developed to help members remain healthy and to avoid the use of expensive treatment services?

What forms of risk assessment are used to analyse the needs of the population served and to target interventions at those likely to develop chronic diseases or other conditions?

What impact have these programmes had on health outcomes?

Chronic disease management

What use is made of predictive models and how has the Kaiser triangle evolved?

What models of case management are deployed for people most at risk and how is the small proportion of members who drive a high proportion of costs managed?

What approaches to disease management and self-management support have been developed?

Information, incentives and leadership

How is information used to drive performance improvement?

What role do financial incentives play, for physicians and for teams?

How are physicians involved in leadership and what preparation, training and support is provided?

How do physician leaders work with managers in the organisation?

Facility visits

During the programme there will also be opportunities to visit health care facilities to see at first hand how care is delivered to members.

Vijaya Nath is a Senior Consultant within the Leadership Directorate at The King’s Fund with significant senior experience in the design and development of innovative leadership programmes and of senior organisational development consultancy.

A visiting lecturer at Milan’s SDA Bocconi School of Management, Vijaya has experience of working in both the private and public sectors and is an experienced facilitator of highly interactive, whole systems change events. Before joining the NHS, Vijaya had a successful career as a manager and management trainer/consultant in the private sector, where she has worked for a number of large national and international companies.

With over 20 years’ experience in developing successful leaders, Vijaya is the director of The King’s Fund’s Strategic Medical Director programme, co-director of its female executive leadership programme, Athena, and directs several Aspiring Directors’ programmes. She is an European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) accredited coach with a specific focus on developing the impact and influence of leaders to create sustainable teams and organisations in which individuals thrive and develop their own leadership and in so doing provide the best health care for their patient populations.

The study tour in April is now fully booked. New dates will be announced soon. 

The study visit will take place at Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, Northern California. 

The cost of the study visit is £2,350 + vat per participant, excluding travel and hotel costs.

The hotel is the Harbor Court Hotel, San Francisco. Accommodation can be booked at a discounted rate of $179.00 (roughly £112.50) a night plus tax. Make your hotel reservation here.

Note, there is a co-ordinated programme from University of California Berkeley directly before the April Study Tour; the Global Health Leadership Forum, designed to provide a broader perspective of payment and delivery innovations from around the world, prior to visiting Kaiser Permanente. There is a discount for attending both programmes.

If you are interested in applying for this study tour, please contact Wei-Ying Cheung, Programme Co-ordinator, on 020 7307 2596 or by email at wcheung@kingsfund.org.uk.

• Equal opportunities document (56 kb)
• Cancellation policy (45 kb)