Kaiser Permanente’s Health Hub Experience has been named a Health category finalist in Fast Company‘s prestigious 2016 Innovation by Design Awards.

Staff collaborative area in Kaiser Permanente Manhattan Beach Medical Offices. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente Southern California

Staff collaborative area in Kaiser Permanente Manhattan Beach Medical Offices. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente Southern California

“The health hub experience is part of Kaiser Permanente’s strategic framework for a life-integration concept, which acknowledges that health care must be integrated into the lives of patients, that it must be intuitive, pervasive and aspirational,” said Jodie Lesh, senior vice president, strategic planning & new ventures, for Kaiser Permanente Southern California. “The life-integration approach expands access to health care beyond our traditional system and challenges us to utilize a variety of innovative options to deliver the highest quality care to each member.”

“Health hub is Kaiser Permanente’s physical manifestation of an intentionally designed ambulatory experience,” notes Lesh. “Health hubs represent a total overhaul of the patient experience, from pre-arrival to the check-in process to the engagement of the waiting area to the way providers and care teams interact with members and one another.”

One of Kaiser Permanente’s first health hubs, located in Manhattan Beach, was featured in Fast Company’s April 2016 “life-changing ideas” issue. The hub serves as a “real-world laboratory” to fine-tune the physical features and workflow. Nine other health hubs will be built in Southern California, and aspects of the health hubs will be introduced in the design of Kaiser Permanente medical centers across the country.

Exterior of the Kaiser Permanente Manhattan Beach Medical Offices. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente Southern California

Exterior of the Kaiser Permanente Manhattan Beach Medical Offices. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente Southern California

The “Health Hub Experience” was designed by HDR for Kaiser Permanente’s Reimagining Ambulatory Health project.

“Health hub is more than a specific building design. Health hub is an experience model that scales to different facility sizes and configurations,” said David Grandy, FACHE, CMPE, managing director of HDR’s Strategic Innovation Group. “This collaboration with Kaiser Permanente to improve the health and health experience of their patients through human-centered design resulted in truly advancing the thinking and models of care for the future.”

The Innovation by Design Awards program, now in its fifth year, honors the most innovative and disruptive design solutions to today’s business problems. This year’s judging panel, which included some of the world’s best design minds, selected the finalists from more than 1,700 international submissions across 11 categories — the most ever.

Fast Company is one of the world’s leading business media brands, with an editorial focus on creativity and innovation in technology, ethical economics, leadership, and design. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with its sister publication Inc. and can be found online at fastcompany.com.

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 and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 10.6 million members in eight 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: kp.org/share.

Waiting area at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Monica Medical Offices. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente

Physicians enclave area at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Monica Medical Offices. The Physician enclave area is a place to focus, collaborate, and recharge. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente

Exterior of the Kaiser Permanente Santa Monica Medical Offices. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente

Front desk and waiting area at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Monica Medical Offices. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente

An exam room at the Kaiser Permanente Santa Monica Medical Offices. Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente