Podcast: Maneuvering the changing landscape of quality improvement

April 24, 2023
Podcast

Nancy Gin, MD, and Kedar Mate, MD, discuss the challenges and innovations around improving care delivery

The 2023 season of The Permanente Medicine Podcast, hosted by Chris Grant, premieres with an episode looking at the latest advancements in quality care improvement.

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred dramatic changes in quality initiatives and health care delivery over the last few years, including the rapid rise in telehealth and virtual care. These changes also spotlighted the need for greater focus on access, social determinants of health, and equity in medicine.

Grant is joined by 2 physician quality experts who explore the latest advancements and challenges facing their field.

Nancy Gin, MD, is executive vice president of Quality and chief quality officer of The Permanente Federation. She oversees quality improvement and patient safety initiatives for Permanente Medical Groups providing care to more than 12.6 million Kaiser Permanente members. Gin was named to Modern Healthcare’s “Top 25 Innovators” list in 2022 and also serves as the medical director of Quality and Clinical Analysis for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group.
Kedar Mate, MD, is president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. As president of the IHI’s Lucian Leape Institute and a member of the faculty at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, Dr. Mate is an authority on health care improvement and has led several key quality and health equity initiatives.

Consumer expectation that the health system will reach me wherever I am, no matter where I am, is something that is here to stay.

– Kedar Mate, MD

We are addressing social determinants as drivers of health disparities, and that crucial link to the elimination of inequities.

– Nancy Gin, MD

In the podcast, Drs. Gin and Mate speak to recent changes in care delivery and how those changes will impact patient care moving forward. They also offer a glimpse into their current work on key quality initiatives and how these efforts go hand-in-hand with addressing health care disparities, which were heightened during the pandemic.

In this episode

2:35 Roles of Drs. Gin and Mate in advancing quality care

8:32 How quality systems can support care teams

9:32 How the COVID-19 pandemic transformed health care delivery

14:54 Addressing deferred care and closing care gaps

17:20 The “virtuous cycle” between research and clinical quality

21:03 Current areas of focus at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement

24:22 Health care’s impact on climate change

26:23 Improving health equity in quality care

In the podcast’s new season, Chris Grant, executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Permanente Federation, talks to physician leaders about some of the top challenges and issues facing health care today. Topics include the role of physicians in supporting firearm safety, the evolution and growth of advanced care at home programs, the effects of technology on physician well-being, and strategies for advancing equity, inclusion, and diversity in medicine.

Guests for upcoming episodes include:

Pavan Somusetty, MD, psychiatrist and chief of Mental Health, Northwest Permanente
Garen Wintemute, MD, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program, University of California, Davis
Vivian Reyes, MD, regional medical director of Strategic Hospital Initiatives and national physician leader for Kaiser Permanente Care at Home, The Permanente Medical Group
Margaret Paulson, DO, medical director for Advanced Care at Home and Home Health, Mayo Clinic Health System
Edward Lee, MD, executive vice president for information technology and chief information officer, The Permanente Federation
Ruth Chang, MD, family medicine physician and chief people officer, Northwest Permanente
Nkem Chukwumerije, MD, president and executive medical director, The Southeast Permanente Medical Group; executive sponsor and national physician lead for equity, inclusion, and diversity, the Permanente Medical Groups
Ronald Copeland, MD, senior vice president of National Equity, Inclusion and Diversity strategy and policy, and chief equity, inclusion, and diversity officer, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals