Project Themes and Interviews

Plans for a project documenting KP history after 1970 began with lengthy conversations with management and staff from KP’s national, Northern California, Southern California, and Northwest organizations. These groups of advisers, coming from both the medical group and health plan sides, were asked to identify the most important stories that exemplified their understanding of the history of KP after 1970. Five major themes reappeared in every discussion as central for understanding KP’s development over the last thirty-five years. The themes, in the order in which they will be explored, are:

Evidence-Based Medicine (interviews conducted 2005-2007)

Kaiser Permanente “Core Values” (interviews conducted 2007-2008)

Diversity and Culturally Competent Care (interviews conducted 2008-2009)

Government Regulation and Public Policy (interviews to be conducted 2009-2010)

A Viable Economic Model (projected; interviews to be conducted in 2010)