Kaiser Permanente Delivers on Breastfeeding Commitment With Partnership For A Healthier America

OAKLAND, Calif., April 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As a part of its commitment with the Partnership for a Healthier America, Kaiser Permanente launches its breastfeeding toolkit today. This toolkit is designed to provide hospitals and health care systems with information and resources to promote exclusive breastfeeding when moms leave the hospital.

"At Kaiser Permanente, we are committed to giving every baby the healthiest start possible," said Jed Weissberg, MD, senior vice president, Hospitals, Quality and Care Delivery Excellence, Kaiser Permanente. "We believe a healthy beginning with breastfeeding sets the stage for the total health of our patients and communities."

The toolkit, available at http://kpcmi.org/how-we-work/breastfeeding-support/ comes as the result of a commitment made by Kaiser Permanente in 2011 to develop and make publicly available a breastfeeding practices guide to help physicians, nurses, and care teams promote breastfeeding in the hospital setting.

The new toolkit provides hospital leaders and teams with information on planning and implementing performance improvement projects to promote breastfeeding as an option and give babies the healthiest start possible.  It includes:

• Evidence-based practices
• Processes used by Kaiser Permanente improvement teams to meet the needs of their patients
• Strategies around leadership engagement, measurement, planning and ongoing improvement, patient-centeredness, and sustainability
• Additional templates, tools, and videos
  

"Kaiser Permanente is deeply committed to improving health care through collaboration and sharing clinical best practices," said Scott Young, MD, Associate Executive Director, Clinical Care and Innovation, The Permanente Federation; Senior Medical Director & Executive Director, Care Management Institute.  "The breastfeeding toolkit is part of our ongoing effort to make the right thing easier to do for patients and clinicians by providing information and tools."

Kaiser Permanente strives to bolster this commitment in order to further enhance the health of members and their children. With more than 77,000 births in Kaiser Permanente hospitals every year, the breastfeeding-friendly hospital practices described in the toolkit aim to promote early bonding and improved health for both mothers and babies.    

"Kaiser Permanente's commitment to make breastfeeding an option for each child born in one of their hospitals has potential to make a very big impact, and we're pleased with their progress toward meeting their commitment," said Lawrence A. Soler, PHA CEO. "We know that breastfeeding is a healthy choice for families, and while we understand that breastfeeding is not a viable alternative for all mothers and babies, enabling more moms who want to breastfeed to do so is an important step forward."

Kaiser Permanente is a founding member of the Partnership for a Healthier America. Both organizations support making breastfeeding an option for mothers and babies. Other organizations such as The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Institute of Medicine have all identified breastfeeding as one of the most important actions families can take to promote a healthy childhood.

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.

Media Contact: Farra Levin, 510-267-7364, [email protected]

 

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente