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The Future is Now: Recap

In The Future is Now webinar series, KP International featured topics that are made possible by our integrated care system. While many of these programs existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the scale and the acceptance of many programs changed during the pandemic and continue to evolve.

KP Integrated Care Experience April 24-26, 2023

The topics covered in The Future is Now series are critical pieces of the Kaiser Permanente model. We will weave in all of these topics and more in our in-person Integrated Care Experience In April 2023. Join us to hear how we continue to leverage and evolve our integrated care model to provide high quality and convenient care.

Innovations in Care

Innovations in Patient Experience

Dennis Truong, MD, shared how virtual care required new ways of supporting the patient experience, starting with supporting the care team experience. He talked about how as a physician, he is “curbsided,” meaning that friends and family pull him aside for quick medical questions. When he thinks about virtual solutions, he thinks about how to create the ease and comfort that friends and family experience and how can he deliver that to Kaiser Permanente members.

What’s Next in Home Care

Kaiser Permanente Southern California has been testing the feasibility of hospital care at home for years, even prior to the pandemic. Angel Vargas, Vice President, Care at Home and Dr. Christopher Subject shared what makes their advanced care at home program work: 24/7 access to nurses and physicians, Kaiser Permanente’s comfort and experience with virtual care, connected ancillary systems, integrated pharmacy, and member education. The member education starts with providing an overview of what to expect.

Innovations in Virtual Care

Lisa Arellanes, Vice President, Care Delivery Ancillary Services and Support, highlighted the latest in virtual care capabilities, including the recently launched Get Care Now, which offers 24/7 urgent care virtually to our members.

Big Data

Business Case for Equity

Laura Long, Vice President, Operations, Performance & Compliance, National Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, highlighted the data supporting the imperative to build an equitable and inclusive workplace and to reduce healthcare disparities across our diverse patient populations. This includes a focus on increasing diversity in clinical trials so that results reflect the patients we serve. You may see more of Laura’s work and insight into our journey to become a more equitable place to work and receive care here.

Rx Insights: Big Data and Pharmacy

In this conversation, Vivian Tan, Vice President, Strategic Information and Global Relations; Nataraj Prakash, Vice President, Analytic Digital Platform and Program Delivery; and Mihir Matre, Vice President, National Pharmacy Home Delivery and Analytics, spoke to Kaiser Permanente’s analytics function, capabilities, and pharmacy use cases for big data. With the volume of data, and the desire to have access in real-time, the foundational capabilities are changing, with considerations for security, speed of processing data, and cloud to cloud integration. Mihir shared how use of advanced analytics has facilitated support of medication adherence. Kaiser Permanente research supports that pharmacy home delivery of medications increases adherence.

Clinical Predictive Models: Challenges and Opportunities

Dr. Vincent Liu highlighted his research team’s focus not only on data science, but on delivery science. If researchers have studied and validated a clinical model, the focus needs to be on getting it into operations. He prefers the term augmented intelligence, as the data from predictive models is just one value a clinician might use to determine the best care. Artificial intelligence implies that the model is sufficient, but it rarely is. Healthy systems need to continue to evaluate the clinical outcomes of the models to ensure that the models are having the intended impact. Read more about Dr. Liu’s perspectives on augmented intelligence and on his research work.

Primary Care

Empowering Patients through Health Education

Arleen Carino, Director, Health Education, and Dr. Kristi VanWinden shared how health education expands primary care to provide vital health coaching, patient education classes, and support for key clinical areas. Interesting shifts have happened since the pandemic. There Participation in virtual group classes and one-to-one coaching tripled during the pandemic. Additionally, demand for new health education topics increased, including parenting support and techniques to improve sleep.

Kaiser Permanente television ad, highlighting care for patients

Digital Capabilities in Primary Care

Dr. Sos Mboijana from KP Mid-Atlantic States highlighted how primary care doctors work with their patients using a variety of virtual care capabilities. In a recent interview, Dr. Mboijana highlights the potential of remote monitoring, which Kaiser Permanente has been using since 2017.

Evidenced-Based Primary Care

This session highlighted practices that have been proven to lead to better outcomes in primary care, research led by Katie Coleman, Director, Center for Accelerating Care Transformation in KP Washington. And, in KP Washington, a full model of evidenced-based practices was implemented in a new ambulatory care facility. One key component of successful primary care: team-based care! Read more here.

Population Health

Transforming the Cancer Care Experience

Dr. Tatjana Kolevska shares that 42% of cancers are preventable. Kaiser Permanente has redesigned our approach to cancer care with a focus on prevention and screening, and developing internal expertise on 150 different cancers. Data shows that Kaiser Permanente patients are 20% less likely to die prematurely from cancer.

Cancer care for all that is you.

Depression Care Management in an Integrated Care Model

More people are experiencing mental health distress, and there is a global shortage of mental health professionals. Kaiser Permanente is building ways to create more access and support for our members. Depression Care Management and Collaborative Care models bring treatment for mental health into primary care. Now members with mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety can receive diagnosis and treatment in primary care. Primary care physicians collaborate closely with psychiatrists and pharmacists in the ongoing support of the patients. Read more about the Collaborative Care approach.

Diabetes Management: Leveraging Remote Glucose Monitoring

Dr. John Martin highlighted the remote monitoring program that allows Kaiser Permanente members with diabetes to automatically send their blood glucose readings to their care team. Care teams can intervene to support members in keeping their A1Cs in control. This is convenient for members and allows Kaiser Permanente to provide support when it is needed, in addition to at routine check-ins.

Missed the live sessions this year?

Recordings for all sessions will be available starting December 16. Sign up here if you are interested.

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