health care reform

“We have demonstrated that empowered health care workers deliver higher quality care at a more affordable cost—and in so doing, create the value that provides for industry-leading wages, benefits and quality of work life. Our model serves to inspire the movement for affordable, high-quality universal health care.”—Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions

A few years ago, our union coalition which represents more than 90,000 Kaiser Permanente employees, adopted this as our “legacy statement.” We believe that, as opposed to a mission statement, a legacy statement provides not just inspiration but also deep accountability for the changes we want to see.

To take good care of others—our patients and members, our families or our teammates at work—we first have to take care of ourselves.

The health care reform law is changing the way care is delivered in the United States--for the better. And as those changes take hold, unit-based teams are a big plus for Kaiser Permanente, says George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Watch highlights of George's recent conversation with senior LMP VP Barb Grimm. (Interested in learning even more? View Halvorson's slide deck from the 2011 Union Delegates Conference.)

Urgency!

This is the word that comes to mind as we begin the New Year. Merriam-Webster defines urgency as:

The quality or state of being urgent : insistence

A force or impulse that impels or constrains : urge 

The health care reform law has a name: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590). What’s in a name? In this case, a great deal. 

Our Value Compass and health care reform; it’s a great fit. 

President Obama recently nominated Don Berwick, MD, to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that oversees the programs and payment of more than $800 billion annually. This is the largest source of payments to health care providers in the U.S. If he is confirmed, the appointment of Dr. Berwick may be the most significant first step since the passage of the Health Care Reform bill.

The United States Congress has passed a law that President Obama will sign that will guarantee access to health insurance for nearly everyone who lives in the US. This legislation is a huge step in the direction of making access to health care a right, not a privilege.

Finally.

There is much to be critical and unsure of in the new law. But, I don’t think that is what we should focus on.

Team-based care is the path to the future, Jack Cochran, MD, executive director of the Permanente Federation, told Sunday’s morning plenary session.

“We are proving to the world it can be done,” George Halvorson, chief executive officer  and president of Kaiser Health Plan and Hospitals, told the delegates in the opening plenary session this morning (March 13). Proving, that is, that quality health care can be delivered at lower costs.

More than 600 delegates opened their annual conference on March 12 with a tribute to John Sweeney, president emeritus of the AFL-CIO.   Before the event got under way, Union Coalition Executive Director John August caught up with Sweeney, who played a pivotal role in launching the Partnership in 1997. The two chatted about where the Partnership has come and where we're headed.