Kaiser Permanente Executive Summary

Kaiser Permanente’s Risk Management (RM) program was implemented to reduce adverse events, to learn from their experience, to improve their system, to reduce risks, to prevent injuries, and assist the health care providers in resolving conflicts. The Risk Management program is focused on constructing a substructure for a comprehensive and proactive risk management program (Kaiser Permanente, 2011). With executive and board level approval, Kaiser Permanente implemented the Enterprise Risk Management strategies in 2011 to improve patient safety and reduce adverse events. The Risk Management program reports to the chief strategic planning officer and provides senior management with the understanding of enterprise risk processes and how it is

• To orientate new staff to their responsibility of providing a safe environment for patients and staff as well as proper reporting of incidents and future occurrence prevention.
• Incorporate data received from performance improvement activities as they are relevant to potential losses to the organization, staff, and patients. They make recommendations toward resolving issues which cause loss.
• Investigate, classify, and evaluate incidents, including complaints, to establish patterns or trends and to determine appropriate action to prevent a recurrence.
• Provide and coordinate education programs related to risk management issues and concerns. The topics branch from process issues identified by critical incident reviews, incident reports, and closed claims.
• Communicate their findings to appropriate departments and committees.
• Maintain a safe environment for patients and

Kaiser Permanente entrusts the responsibility for the implementation and oversight of the Risk Management program to the Director of Accreditation and Resource Stewardship and the Department of Performance Improvement and Patient Safety. The Risk Management committee provides a multidisciplinary environment for analysis of risk to in regards to patient safety on identified risk for the purposes of improving patient care, and reducing morbidity and death. It reviews reports on occurrences whether they have caused any harm to near misses to sentinel events. The information on identified risks are distributed as it is received to the Senior Quality Council, chairmen of clinical departments, and appropriate administrative staff. It prioritizes patient safety and forms teams to analyze processes and develop action plans for