Aligning organizational strategic planning and research priorities: the Kaiser experience.
Kaiser Permanente, the largest nonprofit HMO in the country, is a prepaid group practice program which provides comprehensive health benefits coverage to more than 8 million Americans in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The Northern California region of Kaiser Permanente is the largest region with more than 2.6 million members. This article describes the creation of a research effort in the Northern California region to develop a long-range strategic research plan. This effort was initiated in order to align research priorities with organizational strategic planning. The plan's aim was to better guide the process of using research to help the region meet its mission, goals and objectives. Twenty-seven strategic research areas were identified organized into four major categories. The top six strategic research areas are discussed.
Miller
B
B
Permanente Medical Group Research Institute, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. barryxmiller@ncal.kaiperm.org
Crosson
F J
FJ
D002140:California; D018672:Community Health Planning; D019468:Disease Management; D006125:Group Practice, Prepaid / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010934:Planning Techniques; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D015397:Program Evaluation; D014481:United States