Two Permanente physician leaders were named to the 2026 Becker’s Healthcare Chief Transformation Officers to Know list, recognizing their work to reimagine care delivery through technology, health care innovations, and clinical leadership.

Kristine Lee, MD, chief transformation officer and associate executive director of The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG), and Khang Nguyen, MD, medical director for care transformation and chief health care information officer of Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG), earned the distinction for advancing innovative approaches that improve patient outcomes, enhance the care experience, and support clinicians in delivering high-quality care.

Their recognition reflects Kaiser Permanente’s ongoing commitment to responsibly leveraging digital innovation, AI, and physician-led collaboration to meet the evolving needs of patients and communities.

Expanding access and personalizing care through innovation

At TPMG, Dr. Lee oversees virtual and desktop medicine across primary and specialty care, as well as technology, innovation, and research initiatives for the 10,000-physician medical group. Her work includes:

• Launching TPMG’s Virtual Medical Center, an integrated telehealth hub designed to provide around-the-clock care to patients. During its first full year of operation, the Center helped address 5.7 million patient concerns through phone, video, and online channels, resolving many routine, urgent, and chronic disease management issues without the need for an in-person visit.
• Advancing one of the nation’s largest health system pilots exploring digital twin technology. The initiative uses AI to combine data from wearable devices, sensors, and patient-reported information to create personalized recommendations that support healthier behaviors and better disease management.
• Using digital tools to improve population health management. TPMG is making use of technology to analyze patient data and surface actionable insights, enabling care teams to identify and close care gaps, such as facilitating preventive screenings and follow-up care.
• Optimizing ambient AI scribe workflows across settings and specialties. By streamlining documentation workflows, the technology reduces administrative burden, gives physicians more time with patients, and improves the patient and clinician experience.
• Co-authoring a study published in JAMA Network Open on an AI-powered system launched by TPMG categorize patient messages and help regional staff resolve about a third of the messages instead of directing them to busy physicians.

Improving patient navigation and digital care

At SCPMG, Dr. Nguyen leads a team of physician experts dedicated to advancing care transformation across an organization of more than 9,000 physicians. His work includes:

• Leading development of the Kaiser Permanente Intelligent Navigator (KPIN), an AI-powered tool that allows patients to describe their health concerns in their own words. KPIN recommends the most clinically appropriate next step, identifies higher-acuity symptoms, and directs patients to immediate clinical evaluation when necessary. Research published in Nature found that the platform identified urgent medical cases with 97.7% accuracy while also increasing patient satisfaction.
• Driving implementation of the Smart Messaging Tool (SMT), which uses AI to categorize patient messages by topic. By helping clinicians prioritize and manage inboxes more efficiently, the tool supports faster review of potentially urgent messages. A study published in JAMA Network Open found SMT achieved 81.0% classification accuracy and the time between receipt and initial review of high-acuity messages by 17 hours.
• Connecting patients with clinicians in less than two hours through e-visits via the Get Care Now initiative, a 24/7 virtual urgent care service. Research published in Nature showed the program has delivered strong patient satisfaction results helping patients receive care in the most appropriate setting and reducing unnecessary emergency department visits.

The recognition of Drs. Lee and Nguyen underscores the role physician leadership plays in shaping the future of value-based care. Permanente clinicians are harnessing technology not for the sake of technology, but as a tool to strengthen the patient-clinician relationship, improve outcomes, and expand access to high-quality care.

The complete list of Becker’s Healthcare honorees and their profiles are available here.