Kaiser Permanente CEO's Personal Letters to Staff Celebrate Successes and Encourage Future Achievements
George Halvorson's New Book, KP Inside, Helps Create a "Culture of Celebration"
OAKLAND, Calif., March 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente Chairman and CEO George Halvorson announced the release of his latest book, KP Inside. The book is a compilation of 101 letters Halvorson personally wrote to Kaiser Permanente employees to celebrate their major strides in health IT, innovation, care delivery, patient safety and disease prevention.
Every Friday for the past five years, Halvorson has sent a new "celebration letter" to the more than 180,000 physicians and employees at Kaiser Permanente.
"Health care is rapidly changing, but Kaiser Permanente has been at the forefront of the change. We have found ways to deliver smarter, more efficient, and more accessible care," said Halvorson. "One thing I learned over the past 10 years as CEO is that one very effective way to encourage success in the future is to celebrate the successes of today. That belief anchored my weekly letters to our staff. KP Inside is a window into the people and the actions that have transformed Kaiser Permanente into an industry leader."
As an integrated health provider that unifies hospitals and care facilities, health plans and physicians, Kaiser Permanente is a complex organization of significant scale: Kaiser Permanente has $50 billion in revenue, nearly 9 million members and 180,000 physicians and employees across nine states and the District of Columbia. Halvorson's celebration letters emerged as a working tool to encourage Kaiser Permanente's staff. Topics include Kaiser Permanente's leadership role in slashing HIV-AIDS mortality rates in half; dramatically reducing sepsis mortality rates; reducing pressure ulcers by 60 percent; and preventing the number of broken bones in senior citizens by more than 30 percent.
Kaiser Permanente's culture of celebration has helped it achieve top industry accolades. Members in four geographic regions rated the organization's health plans highest in member satisfaction in the J.D. Power and Associates 2013 Member Health Insurance Plan Study(SM). The Leapfrog Group just rated Kaiser Permanente hospitals some of the safest in the nation: 31 out of 33 were given an A rating for patient safety, and none received lower than a B. Out of more than 400 Medicare plans in the United States, only 11 Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage earned five stars, the highest possible rating. Six of the top plans are Kaiser Permanente plans.
Halvorson's letters provide a unique and sometimes very personal glimpse inside Kaiser Permanente, an organization that is often cited as a model for 21st century health care, demonstrating to the world how to provide team care that is patient-focused and electronically connected.
KP Inside is available in print and electronically. To purchase a copy, go to http://amzn.to/XPHkDK. All proceeds go to La Clinica and Asian Health Services, two community health care organizations based in Oakland, Calif., where Kaiser Permanente is headquartered.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 9 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/newscenter.
CONTACT: Sheryl Fishman, Kaiser Permanente, 510-271-5859, [email protected]
SOURCE Kaiser Permanente
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