Kaiser Permanente Executive Summary

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The passing of the Hi-Tech Act in conjunction with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) created a platform that has allowed for electronic medical records and health information system to become some of the defining factors for high quality service in health care. Both of these act have been key in pushing the standards of health care to the next level of high quality care. Before their passing, there was little to no reason for to health organizations to make such a costly switch to something that, at the time seemed, not worth the investment. Kaiser Permanente as long since been a big name in pushing the boundaries for health information. The truth of the matter was that both the Hi-Tech Act and the ACA did not have a hand in Kaiser’s decision …show more content…

For Kaiser, the implementation process began with their budding HealthConnect system in 2004. For a majority of health providers, key staff member can be the part of the organization holding back a health system roll out. In a point of care communication evaluation by the Spyglass Consulting Group found that 83 percent of physicians expressed difficulties trying to use EHRs and clinical support tools (Malkary, n.d.). Mr. Valli said that Kaiser was an exception this common problem in healthcare. He credits Kaiser’s successful use of change management strategies to help move things along. In a HIMSS article by Claire McCarthy, the Director of Organizational Effectiveness for Kaiser, she talks more about the actual thinking and application of Kaiser’s change management strategies. She breaks it down into three steps. First is understanding what change management is for the organization and informing staff (Change Management 101 - Getting Started, 2011). Secondly is ensuring the leaders of the organization are held responsible for facilitating the staff and the outcomes they produce (Change Management 101 - Getting Started, 2011). Lastly, is to engage the stake holders and establish a clear reinforcement plan for bring the change into fruition (Change Management 101 - Getting Started, 2011). Another key aspect Kaiser Employees to help with the transitions into EMRs and health systems is they have teachers for their systems which is what Mr. Valli does. These courses help nurses and physicians alike learn parts of Kaiser expansive health information system with the help of an instructor. One other large issue Kaiser faced was their first system was a Clinical Information System (CIS) developed by IBM. However, the initial implementation was rocky and did not work out (Smelcer, 2009). This first bad implementation lead to a 400 million dollar lose to Kaiser according to