Kaiser Permanente Examines Complexity and Potential of Diversity at 32nd Annual Conference

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente will host its 2009 National Diversity Conference November 4-6 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

Kaiser Permanente senior executives, physicians and employees from across the country will convene for the organization's premiere annual diversity learning forum, which will feature some of the nation's foremost authorities on culturally competent care, linguistic services, workforce diversity, and diversity business strategies. The three-day event offers keynote presentations, interactive workshops, best-practice exhibits and presentation of prestigious diversity achievement and HIV/AIDS awards, and employee inductions into Kaiser Permanente's diversity hall of fame.

"The diversity conference is a well-established institution in our organization, and a learning forum that provides critical information and skills development to better address the unique health care needs of our members and customize service delivery to diverse populations," said Ronald Knox, senior vice president and chief diversity officer at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. "As health and health care disparities continue to expand, particularly among populations of color, convening the nation's best thinkers on this topic is critically important and valuable. The racial and ethnic diversity of our members and workforce far exceed national averages, so refining our ability to deliver culturally informed care and leveraging the vast cultural expertise of our workforce are consistent with our organization's mission to improve our members' health status and, frankly, good for business."

Some of the conference highlights include the first-ever gathering of all four presidents of the country's largest medical associations discussing health care reform from a diversity perspective. A Socratic Dialogue on Race, moderated by distinguished, former Harvard law professor, Arthur Miller, and featuring a panel consisting of legislators, health care executives, judges and diversity experts, will explore the complex, and still highly sensitive race issue and its manifestations in society, business and politics.

Twenty concurrent workshops, on topics ranging from women's health to genomics, also will be offered. The conference will also explore the phenomenon of unconscious bias and its impact on health disparities and quality of care relative to people of color.

"In my opinion, unconscious bias represents the next sea change in diversity management. It explores our propensity to view interactions and make decisions based on our experience and worldview which invariably is biased. As a consequence, the impact on medical treatment, employment and other business decisions and interpersonal interactions can be unintentionally affected, frequently yielding undesirable results," said Knox. "For these reasons, we are developing a comprehensive agenda focused on the identification and remediation of unconscious bias' negative effects. This is consistent with our commitment to continuous improvement in diversity management and potentially provides enormous benefits to our members and workforce. Our CEO, George Halvorson, an acknowledged diversity expert and author, developed a large body of work in this area many years before diversity practitioners, psychologists and academicians began exploring application of this phenomenon to business, medicine and social interactions. He fully supports our foray into this exciting and challenging area of diversity management."

Rounding out the conference program are presentations on the use of virtual technology in healthcare by Futurework CEO, Margaret Reagan; issues of sexual orientation by psychologist and New York Times best-selling author John Amaechi; keynote addresses by Kaiser Permanente leaders, including CEO George Halvorson, Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions Executive Director John August, and John H. Cochran, MD, FACS, executive director of The Permanente Federation, and a panel on demographic data collection and its application to care improvement, and many others.

Earlier this year, Kaiser Permanente was ranked No. 1 in the fourth annual 50 Out Front for Diversity Leadership: Best Places for Diverse Managers to Work by DiversityMBA Magazine. Kaiser Permanente also was named the 2009 Corporation of the Year by the Hispanic College Fund and ranked No. 1 by LATINA Style magazine on the publication's list of the 50 Best Companies for Latinas to Work for in the United States. Additionally, Kaiser Permanente was ranked No. 7 on the 2009 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list and was the only health care organization ranked in the top 20 of this list. Kaiser Permanente also was the recipient of the Filipina Women's Network Corporate Award.

Media registration: Complimentary media registration for Kaiser Permanente's National Diversity conferences is open to credentialed journalists working for media companies (e.g., news editors, reporters, magazine writers, etc.) and bloggers. Advanced permission is required for news cameras and radio broadcasts onsite during the conference, but in-studio interviews may be arranged. Recording all or part of the conference without prior approval from Kaiser Permanente is prohibited.

Journalists may contact: Laura Dunn at laura.c.dunn@kp.org or 510.267.2818.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.6 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.