Results-oriented healthcare is definitely a hot topic here at Scott Public Relations because so many of our clients are in the healthcare industry. We found this interview of George Halvorson particularly insightful as he shares how during his tenure at Kaiser Permanente, he helped to transform the medical culture there, with the top priorities being emphasizing quality over quantity, prevention and wellness and doctor/patient communications:

In an interview with USA Today, George Halvorson announced he will step down from his position as chief executive officer (effective December 2013) after being a key decision-maker and influencer for 10 years at Kaiser Permanente. During his interview, he expressed the vital importance of empowering doctors to make health care decisions; he also reiterated that the culture of a company can deeply affect the functionality, progress, and efficiency within that health care system.

Kaiser Permanente, a vertically integrated care system, is not-for-profit, but somehow manages to be more cost-effective than the average HMO; Halvorson is quick to point out that it is 16% more cost-effective than all plans in the markets Kaiser serves.

How is this accomplished is the question. How, in an area of care where fee-for-service is the name of the game, does Kaiser manage to stay the leading medical organization?

Halvorson looks to the competition and comments that Kaiser is successful because as a system, they sell care by the package and not ‘by the piece’.

Halvorson declares that competitors’ “financial model penalizes them if they prevent someone from breaking a bone.” He speaks to the fact that one of their core values in the Kaiser culture is prevention, adding that “thanks to aggressive early detection, we have fewer cases of late-stage cancer. That’s one of our goals: having fewer cancers to get to stage four. Many people are alive today who would be dead if they were getting care from any other care system”.

Also, Kaiser has “the lowest sepsis death rate. Sepsis kills more patients than cancer, stroke or heart disease. Pressure ulcers generate a lot of revenue in a lot of care settings. We make sure people don’t get pressure ulcers. Because we are prepaid, we don’t make our money by having care go wrong.”

According to Halvorson patients want to be able to connect and have a relationship with their health care provider/doctor. As social media demonstrates today, people crave the interaction and the ongoing dialogues/relationships, so why should it be any different when it comes to choosing a healthcare provider?

This Kaiser model of care, which takes care of over 9 million members, is the model of the future. Patients are demanding better overall quality of care, and Halvorson understands that in order to deliver on that, doctors have to be given more power to change the culture in which they diagnose, cure, and follow up.

To read Kaiser Permanente’s press release:
Kaiser Permanente Chairman and CEO George Halvorson Announces 2013 Retirement

Video: George Halvorson’s Perfect Health Care Plan

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