|
Kaiser Permanente's Disease Management Expertise Now Available to All Large Employer Groups Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions Offers Health Coaches, Help With Rising Costs Oakland, CA (January 17, 2006) - Kaiser Permanente (KP) has launched a new disease management subsidiary, Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions, that will offer its award-winning disease management programs to large, national employers (10,000+ employees) with self-funded employee populations, as well as labor and trust unions, and government payors. "KP Healthy Solutions has been created to encourage informed health care decisions by employers and their employees, and is a direct response to numerous requests from our large employer customers," explained Chris Stenzel, CEO of Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions. "Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions is an opportunity for purchasers and their benefits consultants to mitigate the drivers of health care costs, while offering employees and dependents improved care, and higher levels of satisfaction." "Most large employers are looking for ways to improve quality and promote a healthier, more engaged and productive workforce," stated Al Weiland, MD, chief medical officer for Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions, and former medical director of the Northwest Permanente Medical Group. "Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions leverages the proven strategies used in caring for our 8.4 million Kaiser Permanente members to promote healthier lifestyles, create more informed patients, and utilize the best evidence to care for chronic illness." KP Healthy Solutions' services will include features for three critical groups, employers, employees and their dependents, and physicians which can dramatically impact the overall effectiveness of the health care experience. The first is the employers who are providing health plan coverage. Employer-focused services include an initial assessment to identify areas of opportunity within the covered population to improve quality and outcomes. This information can then be used to create customized outreach campaigns to help employees and dependents become better-informed health care consumers. Employers can gauge the effectiveness of strategies through feedback on overall program performance. Employees and dependents can take advantage of 24/7 telephone health coaching, and benefit from comprehensive support for their health concerns using web, video and print materials. Health education will be available for everything from nutrition, weight loss, smoking cessation, stress reduction, to self-care and decision support for chronic and preference-sensitive conditions. Community physicians will be offered convenient access to tools and resources via a web portal, access to evidence-based knowledge and registries, feedback on their patient population, improved panel management and ability to meet pay for performance goals. "We can help improve the physician patient relationship, and we can become the trusted advisor for community physicians wherever Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions is offered," added Dr. Weiland. Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser Permanente Healthy Solutions is headquartered in Oakland, California, with administrative offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles. Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program headquartered in Oakland, Calif. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of about 8.4 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Today it encompasses the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Permanente Medical Groups. # ## Kaiser
Permanente Launches Disease Management Unit Kaiser
Permanente has launched a subsidiary -- Kaiser Permanente Healthy
Solutions -- to market disease management programs to large, self-funded
employers, the East Bay Business Times reports. |