Organization Description Kaiser Permanente (KP) is the nation’s largest integrated health care delivery system. KP serves nine states and over nine million members, with an annual operating revenue in 2013 of 53.1 billion. KP is a leader in quality improvement efforts in the health care industry through participation in studies performed by the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA), The Joint Commission (TJC) accreditations, and the implementation of a state of the art electronic health records system, which focuses on integration and quality of care standardization. The focus of this summary is on KP hospitals in the northern California region and will include topics such as the purpose of risk and quality management, risk identification and management, current risks, quality outcomes, organizational goals, and the relationship between risk and quality management.
Risk and Quality Management Purpose
General
The purpose of risk management in health care is simply the process of protecting the assets and minimizing financial losses to the organization (Singh & Habeeb Ghatala, 2012). A comprehensive risk management strategy within a health care organization will include focus on continuous quality improvement (CQI). The purpose of CQI in health care, according to Sollecito and Johnson (2013), is to offer a “structured organizational process for involving personnel in planning and executing a continuous flow of improvements to provide quality health care that meets or exceeds expectations” (p. 4). Through linking the processes of risk management and quality improvement the success of both processes is more likely to be realized.
Kaiser Permanente The key concepts for risk and quality management at KP are commitment to quality, patient safety, privacy protection, and fraud prevention. KP risk management and quality management programs are central to their mission, values, and
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