Northwest Permanente President and CEO Leong Koh, MD, honored among Modern Healthcare's "Top Diversity Leaders" for 2024

Dr. Koh, co-lead of Kaiser Permanente's national health equity workgroup, recognized for championing a new center to improve the health of Black members, screening for social determinants of health, and supporting anti-bias training for health care team members

OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Permanente Federation today announced that Leong Koh, MD, president and CEO of Northwest Permanente, was named among Modern Healthcare's "Top Diversity Leaders in Healthcare" for 2024. The Modern Healthcare recognition program honors individuals and organizations working to further equity and inclusion at their organizations and across the industry.

Modern Healthcare recognized Dr. Koh for his role in championing the Kaiser Permanente Center for Black Health and Wellness, due to open next spring in Portland, Oregon. He was also honored for collaborating with Kaiser Foundation Hospitals to implement screening practices, facilitate rigorous data analyses to help identify areas of service inequity, and decrease the amount of time patients need to spend in the hospital. In addition, Modern Healthcare recognized Dr. Koh for supporting a program that requires senior physician leaders and all administrative staff to undergo anti-racism and anti-bias training.

"This recognition highlights the long-standing commitment of our physician leaders, clinicians, nurses and staff to provide equitable care and improve the health of our communities by addressing racial inequity and closing care gaps," said Dr. Koh, who serves as executive sponsor and co-lead of Kaiser Permanente's national health equity group. "It also underscores our willingness to train ourselves to understand our biases and learn how best to care for our patients in a culturally responsive way."

Modern Healthcare's complete list of honorees and their profiles are available at Diversity Leaders in Healthcare - 2024 | Modern Healthcare and in the September 9 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine. A digital subscription is required to view the online profiles.

To learn more about Permanente Medicine, visit permanente.org.

About Permanente Medical Groups
The Permanente Medical Groups are self-governed, physician-led, prepaid, multispecialty medical groups composed of more than 24,000 physicians. We are dedicated to the mission of improving the health of our patients and communities. Together with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, we are Kaiser Permanente — an award-winning health care system that delivers Permanente Medicine, care that is person- and family-centered, compassionate, evidence-based, technology-enabled, culturally responsive, team-delivered and physician-led, to 12.5 million Kaiser Permanente members. We work collaboratively, enabled by state-of-the art facilities and technology, to provide world-class preventive and complex care centered in eight states — from Hawaii to Maryland — and the District of Columbia.

About The Permanente Federation
The Permanente Federation LLC is the national leadership and consulting organization for the Permanente Medical Groups, which, together with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, comprise Kaiser Permanente. The Federation works on behalf of the Permanente Medical Groups to optimize care delivery and spread Permanente Medicine — care that is person- and family-centered, compassionate, evidence-based, technology-enabled, culturally responsive, team-delivered and physician-led. The Federation, based in Oakland, California, fosters an open learning environment and accelerates research, innovation, and performance improvements across the Permanente Medical Groups to expand the reach of Kaiser Permanente's integrated care delivery model and to lead the nation in transforming health care delivery.

SOURCE The Permanente Federation