Week 2-Effective Communication Paper Kaiser Permanente based in Oakland California is the largest not-for-profit health plan in the United States. They do primary, secondary and hospital care emphasizing prevention to its members. They use electronic medical records and use care pathways that provide its 8.7 million members cost effective and high quality care ("What Health Systems Can Learn from Kaiser Permanente: An Interview with Hal Wolf", 2009). Kaiser covers all of the health care needs to its members in one place which includes hospitals, laboratories and pharmacies. In this essay we will discuss the organizational model used, the communication style, both positive and negative communications and how technology could affect the organization. Kaiser Permanente is made up of 3 organizations which are Kaiser Foundations Health Plan (KFHP), Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (KFH) and the Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) ("Our Business Structure", n.d.). KFHP is a nonprofit prepaid plan that contracts with individuals and groups to receive health care. KFH is a nonprofit public corporation that owns and operates its own facilities in California, Oregon and Hawaii to provide services such as hospital stays, sponsors charitable, educational and research endeavors ("Our Business Structure", n.d.). TPMG is the group of physicians that contract strictly with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan to deliver care for the patients and members. Also with our organization is one known as National Functions which encompasses the national efforts, administrative and corporate service that make up 2 subgroups Kaiser Permanente Information Technology (IT group) and corporate. The Kaiser model is not the traditional way that most health care services are delivered. All your health care needs are delivered in one place. Kaiser starts with you right from the beginning as caregiver, hospital, pharmacy, laboratory, etc. whatever your needs are they can take care of them. This means there is a variety of workers from health care to business professionals to construction to experts in customer service. The universal commitment to members, patients, colleagues and communities brings all of these professionals together to improve health. The organization uses a cross-functional team (CFT) which is comprised of people from different functional areas in the company all working toward a common goal. Cross-functional teams in health care could include service excellence, environmental sustainability and green initiatives, and clinical services marketing (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2012). They also are associated with creative solutions, quality decision making, an increase in effectiveness and retaining the staff. At Kaiser Permanente each staff member’s mission is the well-being and satisfaction of the patient. As a team the organization from the CEO to the Nurse and more all strive towards the same goal which is “our universal commitment to improve the health and wellness of our members, patients, colleagues, and communities” ("Our Business Structure", n.d.). Currently to keep everyone up to date the organization uses many different forms of communication. This includes emails, mailings, websites and newsletters just to name a few. The CEO of the company has a section in our daily newsletter for any updates for the organization. We also receive emails updating the employees on new hires to key positions, how membership has increased or decreased, and how the organization is doing overall. As employees we are given feedback about member satisfaction. One way we know this is at each clinic there is box where members can put comments, good or bad, into and they are evaluated by patient services. This help in our patient-centered model emphasis on quality of care. As employees we are also asked to fill out surveys about how we feel the work environment is and if it needs improvement. We also can approach our immediate managers on any issues or ways that we can improve our job. The organization tends to be pretty transparent on all aspects such as our financial status to the direction we are going in. An example would be when the stock market crash. The organization let us know that they lost a lot of money on that as they had invested in the stock market. This lead to some really lean years but we have worked through it. The openness and constant dialogue that we have within the organization is good. The emails, surveys and newsletters are the most efficient forms of communication as they keep us constantly up to date about what is going on with the organization. The surveys also make the employee feel like they are contributing to the organization as a lot of our suggestions are used. Besides the high level communication the open dialogue the staff has with management and employees is very effective in maintaining the quality of care. Even with all of this open dialogue there are times that communication breaks down within the organization. Even though we are considered one organization because we are different entities within the organization, communication can be hard. Each area seems to almost run independently at times. The major part of this breakdown it our computer system. Our information technology is very advanced and for the most part works efficiently. But efficiency is not the problem. Each program is an individual program and not made to interact with the other programs. This becomes a problem because many times we are asked to do the same steps over and over again. This is an inefficient use of our time. It seems that we should all be together as one entity. But at times the entity seems to function independently instead of as a group. It is a communication breakdown. If we are able to link all of our programs together it could change how we communicate. A prime example is the implementation of healthconnect. This Kaiser Permanente’s electronic medical record. This has made our jobs that much easier as now we can see what is going on with a patient no matter where they have been seen within Kaiser. This is a more effective and efficient way to conduct patient care. Integrating technology into health care will be a benefit to the staff and the patients. Overall our organization has good communication, teamwork and use of technology. We are a big organization that utilizes the cross-functional team model to ensure quality of care for our patients and an excellent work environment for the staff. Our goal to ensure excellent patient care and satisfaction is reached by everyone doing their part in the organization. Teamwork is our number one goal.

References
Buchbinder, S. B., & Shanks, N. H. (2012). Introduction to Health Care Management (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA; Jones & Bartlett.

Our business structure. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.kaiserpermanentejobs.org/our- business-structure.aspx

What health systems can learn from Kaiser Permanente: an interview with Hal
Wolf. (2009). Retrieved from
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/health_systems_and_services/what_health_systems_can_learn_from_kaiser_permanente_an_interview_with_hal_wolf