Meet the Member: Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute Annual Meeting, Behavior Change track

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The photograph on the left is from the graphical recording of an immersive experience around the Kaiser Permanente member perspective around the issue of behavior change. The experience was created by Kaiser Permanente’s Innovation Consultancy (@kpinnovation), led by Christi Zuber (@czuber) (of course!) in partnership with the Care Management Institute, who hosted the discussion, which was part of a much larger curriculum around behavior change. 

After being introduced to the member via video ethnography pieces, our group adopted their persona and then were the recipients of several “pitches” from different parts of the health system interested in promoting their healthy lives. It was a great way to see all of the potential interventions in the eyes of the people we’re trying to serve. What I learned is that in their eyes, there are a lot of interventions going on, and maybe they don’t really want interventions, or the perception of interventions, just a clear path. The other thing I learned (or was actually reinforced, I’ve always believed this), was that patients don’t want to be unhealthy or sick – the ethnography work clearly showed the awareness of personal health challenges and interest and motivation in overcoming them.

Before you say, “Ted, this may have been an experience, but it’s not the same as having real members/patients there,” I can tell you that there were also real members and their families present as well. With that in mind, this meeting earns the Patients Included badge.

The curriculum overall was the perfect next step after last year’s discussion around obesity prevention and work underway to understand what we can do next as part of a well-functioning, technologically enabled, total health focused health system (See: At KP Care Management Institute: The US’ Obesity Rate has Plateaued – What is our opportunity? | Ted Eytan, MD). Thanks again to the Care Management Institute team, including Trina Histon (@trinahistonphd), Lisa Schilling (@tilden45), Scott Young MD (@scottyoungmd), who by the way, also celebrated the organization’s 15th year of work in 2012.

Other photos below. Click to enlarge and enjoy.