Since September 27, 2007, George Halvorson has personally written a weekly letter—delivered each Friday to all employees—celebrating achievements, successes, awards, and milestones of Kaiser Permanente. He has not missed a week. Topics have included Kaiser Permanente’s leadership role in slashing HIV-AIDS mortality rates in half, reducing pressure ulcers by 60 percent, preventing the number of broken bones in senior citizens by more than 30 percent—plus achieving recognition for health plan quality and service, electronic health records, research, environmental stewardship, employee diversity, and member satisfaction. These letters provide a unique and personal glimpse inside Kaiser Permanente, an organization that is both learning how to deliver the next generation of care, and teaching the world how to provide the very best patient-focused, electronically connected team care resulting in measurable and continuously improving medical outcomes. These are the exact letters that went to all members of the Kaiser Permanente care teams. Every single letter is a celebration. Enjoy the book. “ This book tells a fascinating story of what it means to be a high-performing organization at the top of its game—week in and week out.” Stephen M. Shortell, PhD Dean, School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley “ The letters are fun to read. They celebrate great achievements. They show what an organization based on a strong patient-centered physician culture, supported by state-of-the-art information technology well used, and by visionary leadership can do to improve health care.” Alain Enthoven, PhD Eccles Professor of Public and Private Management (Emeritus) Knight Management Center Stanford University Graduate School of Business
KP Inside - 101 Letters to Us at Kaiser Permanente
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About the Author
George C. Halvorson was named chairman and chief executive officer of Kaiser Permanente, headquartered in Oakland, California, in March 2002. Kaiser Permanente is the nation’s largest nonprofit health plan and hospital system, serving more than 9 million members and generating nearly $50 billion in annual revenue. George Halvorson has won several awards for his commitment to health technology and for his leadership and achievements in advancing health care quality. The development, implementation, and maintenance of Kaiser Permanente’s information technology infrastructure represent a multi-billion dollar strategic investment that provides comprehensive care coordination and continually improving quality of care and service to members. He is the author of five comprehensive books on the U.S. health care system including Health Care Will Not Reform Itself: A User's Guide to Refocusing and Reforming American Health Care. Mr. Halvorson lends his time and expertise to a number of organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, the American Hospital Association, the Commonwealth Fund, and the New America Foundation. He serves on the boards of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, America’s Health Insurance Plans, and the Alliance of Community Health Plans. Halvorson chairs the International Federation of Health Plans and co-chairs the 2010 Institute for Healthcare Improvement Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care. He is the 2012 social media chair for the Global Health Policy Forum. In 2009, he chaired the World Economic Forum’s Health Governors meetings in Davos. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Mr. Halvorson was president and chief executive officer of HealthPartners, headquartered in Minneapolis, for nearly 18 years. With more than 30 years of health care management experience, he has also held several senior management positions with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, and Health Accord International.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By Liz Jazwiec
Format:Paperback
As a long time leader in Healthcare I was so excited to read this book. I have always known that Kaiser Permanente has a remarkable outcome in patient care. This book demonstrates on the difference that communication makes in galvanizing a healthcare organization to continuously improve on everything from cancer care, to preventing falls and decreasing length of stay. This book is a MUST read for all healthcare leaders. It is easy to talk about effective communication, but I have never seen such an excellent example of HOW we should be communicating, educating, and celebrating with our teams. This book needs to be on every leader's desk. Thanks so much to Kaiser Permanente for once again leading the way in Healthcare Leadership.
Format:Paperback
What a great "feel good" book about Kaiser Permanente from their CEO who is retiring later this year. Each letter celebrates accomplishments that are hallmarks of this integrated healthcare system. The book is easy to read and written in a "warm" style and weaves in a bit of Kaiser Permanente history for good measure. Intertwined are personal stories tied to organization results. Kaiser Permanente was the first healthcare system I worked for and this book made me so proud of this organization. This is a must read for anyone forming an ACO, anyone concerned about population health and anyone wanting to celebrate What's Right in Healthcare.
By Jeneanne Rae
Format:Paperback
In a world of noise and distraction coming from every possible direction, how does a CEO break through to keep his elite workforce focused on what matters most? George Halvorson's book of letters shows us how one person can have an enormous impact on the performance of an organization. Weekly for more than five years he has delivered to each employee thoughtful, grown-up communication regarding how KP advances in technology, clinical research, teamwork, and progress towards wellness and prevention work together to define a highly differentiated health care experience for KP members. At the same time he sets forth notable vision and direction for how medicine can and should be delivered by modern providers.
All leaders can learn from this book, especially when it comes to creating a mission-driven culture. Halvorson's acknowledgements as well as strong conversations about areas in need of improvement, serve to stoke the fire to become the best while also providing explicit direction for the next hills the organization needs to conquer. It is inspiring to see a leader so on top of his organization and the issues it faces sharing in a way that helps all employees do their jobs better while also instilling an enormous sense of pride in their organization.
The book is also a fantastic way to learn about Kaiser Permanente, whose model for health care delivery brings alignment of incentives as well as peace of mind to more than nine million lucky people every day.
All leaders can learn from this book, especially when it comes to creating a mission-driven culture. Halvorson's acknowledgements as well as strong conversations about areas in need of improvement, serve to stoke the fire to become the best while also providing explicit direction for the next hills the organization needs to conquer. It is inspiring to see a leader so on top of his organization and the issues it faces sharing in a way that helps all employees do their jobs better while also instilling an enormous sense of pride in their organization.
The book is also a fantastic way to learn about Kaiser Permanente, whose model for health care delivery brings alignment of incentives as well as peace of mind to more than nine million lucky people every day.
Format:Paperback
What is so compelling about this book is the remarkable range of the work that author George Halvorson describes at Kaiser Permanente. These letters give the reader the feeling of looking over the CEO's shoulder as he pens his weekly missive to employees. The fact that Halvorson has kept up this weekly pace for five years -- while running the largest integrated health system in the country -- is truly amazing. And he has done it in simple, clear prose that contains an almost avuncular tone to it. Most amazing of course is the extraordinary work Halvorson describes. Nearly a decade ago I read one of Halvorson's earlier books, ``Epidemic of Care: A Call for Safer, Better, and More Accountable Health Care'' (written with George Isham MD). It was a readable, highly instructive policy book. This new book of letters is different in that it feels more intimate, though just as instructive in many ways. Whether the subject is patient-focused care teams, Medicare, technology or innovation, Halvorson weighs in with letters that describe and celebrate work by the immensely talented KP work force. The book, clearly intended as a celebration of Kaiser Permanente and its people, serves its purpose well.
By Jon Alley
Format:Paperback
KP Inside is a collection of letters that Kaiser Permanete CEO George Halvorson personally writes each week and sends to each employee via email every Friday afternoon. He has not missed a single week since he began writing these letters in 2007. This book is a collection of 101 of the most memorable letters Halvorson has written - with introductions explaining how and why he chose each particular topic. No other CEO - in health care or any other space - has crafted such a publication. Each letter celebrates an aspect of health care success made possible by teams of caregivers working in this unique organization.
Kaiser Permanente is touted by many industry thought leaders as the future of global health care. This California organization serves more than nine million members, mostly in California, but also in other strategic pockets of the United States including Hawaii, parts of Colorado, Ohio, Georgia, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Washington, D.C. area. It is unusual in that it is both an insurance plan and a provider.
Members pay a monthly fee to join Kaiser Permanente, or KP as it is known, then receive all services from the organization provided by salaried physicians who work exclusively for KP, in KP owned hospitals and medical office buildings, using equipment, labs, and pharmacies also owned by KP. The organization promotes preventive, team based, medicine designed to keep members healthy in the first place so that they do not get ill and require hospital admissions, or other "sick" care.... Read more ›
Kaiser Permanente is touted by many industry thought leaders as the future of global health care. This California organization serves more than nine million members, mostly in California, but also in other strategic pockets of the United States including Hawaii, parts of Colorado, Ohio, Georgia, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Washington, D.C. area. It is unusual in that it is both an insurance plan and a provider.
Members pay a monthly fee to join Kaiser Permanente, or KP as it is known, then receive all services from the organization provided by salaried physicians who work exclusively for KP, in KP owned hospitals and medical office buildings, using equipment, labs, and pharmacies also owned by KP. The organization promotes preventive, team based, medicine designed to keep members healthy in the first place so that they do not get ill and require hospital admissions, or other "sick" care.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
As a new retiree from Kaiser Permanente these are wonderful to read!
Each week I looked forward to these affirming letters from George Halvorson! His writings reaffirmed why I joined Kaiser Permanente in1993 to work on the electronic record known as... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Loretta K. Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and inspiring stories from Kaiser Permanente
I retired from Kaiser last year after 32 years. The last five I looked forward each Friday to the letter from CEO George Halvorson celebrating the good things that Kaiser had done. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Rhonda Sato
