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Jun 02
0

Here’s What Happened in May at the Center

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If you haven’t visited the Center for Total Health recently, May was a busy month with events covering a wide range of topics and initiatives. In addition to hosting robust discussions about preventing violence, preventing and treating cancer, and creating innovative, healthy workplaces, we also had the opportunity to celebrate National Nurses Week (May 6-12) with leaders from the American Nurses Foundation. We not only welcomed this organization to the Center, but also showcased onsite displays that bring to life nursing leadership and communicate our appreciation for the difference nurses make in patients’ lives.

  • We welcomed the National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse (NHCVA) – including representatives from more than 30 health professional organizations – to discuss ways to reduce and address the health consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) and abuse. Our very own Brigid McCaw, MD, represented Kaiser Permanente’s Family Violence Prevention Program, highlighting the crucial role health care play in caring for victims.
  • DC’s Colorectal Cancer Roundtable Summit brought local and national providers, advocates and educators to the Center to discuss the prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer and ways to improve screening rates to 80% by 2018 – a lifesaving goal set by the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable. Joseph Territo, MD, of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, shared how Kaiser Permanente consistently ranks in the top 10% of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) HEDIS Measures, which assess the number of adults who have had appropriate screening for colorectal cancer. NCQA data is also featured throughout the Center’s onsite displays.
  • The Center hosted the third annual Better Together event, All Systems Go! Closing the Gaps in Cancer Care, with the American Cancer Society and the Council for Accountable Physician Practices. The event highlighted patient stories, representing how coverage and accountable healthcare systems can improve survival and reduce morbidity for people living with complex conditions like cancer.
  • We hosted the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation (NEHI) and challenged attendees to think about Health Care Without Walls, a mind-shift to caring for patients outside of conventional institutional settings. To help get the conversation started, the center’s staff presented “Imaging Care Anywhere,” an example of our own provocation used with staff to think about the next generation of care for Kaiser Permanente members.
  • CoreNet Global’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter turned to Center to host an educational event focused on The Healthy Workplace, highlighting the subtle nudges that can be built into our work environments to drive healthier behaviors. Architects, designers, facility managers and other professionals learned how improving the health and wellbeing of employees through facility design can improve an organization’s bottom line, and also toured the Center’s interactive space to see the learnings come to life.

During the month, the Center also hosted meetings on improving prenatal conversations, credentialing of community health workers, and increasing the quality of ambulatory services, and welcomed a wide range of students, health care leaders, government employees and medical professionals for tours of our interactive and educational facility.

Jun 01
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Supporting Healthy Communities through Collaboration: The Healthcare Anchor Network

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Supporting Healthy Communities through Collaboration: The Healthcare Anchor Network

Last December, 40 health systems gathered at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health in Washington DC, to explore together how we can advance thriving, inclusive economies in the communities we serve across the country. This week, we’ll gather again to officially launch the Healthcare Anchor Network.

This collaboration represents a critical milestone in mobilizing our sector towards action and collaboration, and we are so proud to be a founding member.

Other founders include Advocate Health Care, Catholic Health Initiatives, Dignity Health, Henry Ford Health System, ProMedica, Providence St. Joseph Health, RWJBarnabas Health, UMass Memorial Health Care, Rush University Medical Center and Trinity Health.

And the Network continues to grow – new members include Adventist Health System, Bon Secours Health System, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Christiana Care Health System, Cleveland Clinic, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Gundersen Health System, HealthEast Care System, Mercy Health, Northwell Health, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Partners Healthcare (Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s), Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Presence Health, Seattle Children’s Hospital, UC San Francisco and VCU Health.

The lessons from the December meeting, and the vision of the Healthcare Anchor Network are presented in a report produced in partnership with the Democracy Collaborative and the founding members of the Network. The report reflects our collective voice calling our sector to action. It also provides useful examples and tools, to help health systems across the country become familiar with the policies and practices they might adopt to more intentionally support inclusive economic development in their communities. The examples and tools (produced with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) focus in particular on how healthcare providers can hire, buy goods and services, and invest capital in ways which benefit communities and residents most effectively.

These efforts are not easy—at Kaiser Permanente, we are working day-by-day to overcome the obstacles to adopting an anchor approach cross-functionally across our organization. We believe that our individual and collective journey in this important work will be greatly improved and our positive impacts amplified, if we work together.

The new Healthcare Anchor Network will convene health systems in order to share best practices, address common challenges, and identify areas where collaborative efforts may be possible. Our initial efforts will focus around:

1.     Making the case for adopting an anchor strategy;

2.     Effective collaboration with community stakeholders in these efforts;

3.     Shifting incentives to reward upstream health investments;

4.     Aligning approaches for scale;

5.     Building evidence of impact; and,

6.     Developing a shared policy agenda around addressing upstream determinants of health.

The Center for Total Health—an interactive learning destination committed to supporting innovation in how healthcare is delivered and experienced—provides the perfect venue for these conversations. We’re looking forward to gathering again at the Center this week to continue advancing healthcare sector innovation and collaboration for inclusive, thriving communities. We hope you and your health system will join us!

To learn more about the Healthcare Anchor Network, including how to join, contact David Zuckerman at the Democracy Collaborative, dave@democracycollaborative.org.

Feb 21
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Hospitals target nutrition, other social needs to boost health

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nirav shah

Kaiser Permanente’s Nirav Shah, MD, MPH, spoke with USA Today about the social determinants of health, and shared some of Kaiser Permanente’s efforts to improve the health of its members most in need.

Dr. Shah, a former New York state commissioner of health, is senior vice president and chief operating officer for clinical operations for Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

In Southern California, Dr. Shah is working with the non-profit Health Leads to “fundamentally redefine what counts as health care” by helping to coordinate social needs hospitals don’t typically focus upon.

To read the full story, click here.