Managed-care behemoth Kaiser Permanente, the $56 billion nonprofit that integrates healthcare plans with provider entities in eight states plus the District of Columbia, has announced that it is getting into the business of medical education.
The Oakland, Calif.-based company said in a Dec. 17 news release that it will open the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine in the autumn of 2019 somewhere in Southern California.
Recruitment for the founding dean will begin in 2016, according to the announcement.
Kaiser explains its thinking by pointing to shifts in the U.S. population that “have created more diverse communities, which require greater cultural competency and understanding.”
It says the new medical school will innovate ways to train medical students in such non-traditional med school disciplines as decision-making, teamwork, technology deployment, evidenced-based medicine and communication tailored to specific populations.
Kaiser adds that the creation of the school “advances work the organization already does in physician education—with more than 600 new physicians currently completing their residency programs at Kaiser Permanente, and several thousand more from 50 affiliated programs who complete a portion of their training” with Kaiser each year.
Kaiser executives told the Wall Street Journal the school will be structured as a nonprofit subsidiary after receiving startup funding from the parent company in Oakland.
Click here to read the announcement and here for extensive coverage of the development in the Los Angeles Times.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.